Page 36 of The System

“I go to that bar and drink a glass of wine sometimes, and I read the paper and do the crossword every Sunday. That’s about it.”

“I used to do the Sunday crossword when I lived with Diego. He got the paper on Sunday, and I’d take that while he read whatever. I don’t get the paper anymore, but I have an app.”

“I prefer the old-school method, and I’m hardcore about it,” Carina said. “I use a pen.”

Kieran laughed, and Carina watched the woman open the ketchup bottle and add some to her plate. She knew she shouldn’t be spending this kind of time with a likely witness in her murder trial, but she liked Kieran, and as long as they didn’t talk too much about the case, maybe they could keep doing things like this.

CHAPTER 12

“You’re a little behind on that P zero,” her boss said, referring to the priority zero or top-priority bug Kieran had been working on for the past few days.

“I know. I’m sorry. I finished the P one, and it’s been deployed on all accounts.”

“And on the P zero?” he asked, trying to be nice but needing to get his update.

Kieran stared at his face on the screen and shrugged.

“I’m behind, yeah. I’ve run tests on the fix, and we’ve sent it to QA twice, but they keep coming back with errors.”

“I know things are a little… tricky for you right now, but we need this thing fixed. It’s causing our support team to have to give customers workarounds that we’ll have to deal with fixing later.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry. I know you’re being really patient with me, and you’ve given me time off when I only just started. I’ve got another fix to deploy today, and I’ll get it done.”

“Great. If you can’t, let me know. I’ll need to assign someone else.”

“I will. Thanks,” she replied before they ended their weekly one-on-one meeting, and she closed out the video conferencing software.

Kieran hated that her work had suffered recently. It was the thing she prided herself in the most, yet she’d been falling behind and not living up not only to her own expectations but also her boss’s. If she kept this up, they’d just put her on some kind of performance plan or give her a warning. Then, they’d just fire her. Since the arraignment, though, she’d gotten herself even further behind. Hearing that Marin wouldn’t be getting out on bail until her trial had really stung. After their first meeting, she’d been hoping to have time with her sister outside of a visitor’s room to get to know her, but now, Kieran might never see her out of an orange jumpsuit.

Her phone rang, and while it was an unknown number, she still picked it up because she’d been hearing from a lot of unknown numbers lately, and nearly all of them had had to do with Marin’s case.

“Hello?”

“Is this Kieran Hart?” a female voice said.

“This is she,” Kieran replied and moved the phone to her other ear.

“My name is Kenna Crawford. I’m the producer and host of–”

“I know who you are,” she interrupted.

“You do? Great. Well, I was reaching out because I’ve heard about your story and your sister’s case. I’d love to get an interview with you.”

“With me? Why?”

“Because you just found out you have a twin sister you never knew about, and she’s been arrested. I’d love to tell your story. I promise, I’ll do it justice.”

“How did you even find out about–” Kieran stopped when she remembered. “You know Dylan Easton.”

“Yes, we’re friends,” Kenna said. “But Dylan didn’t tell me about this. She mentioned it to my wife, but only in the context of Ripley helping you, if you need it, not to give me a heads-up on a good story.”

“I told her that I didn’t need to talk to your wife. At least, not now.”

“She mentioned that, too,” Kenna said. “But Ripley is amazing at what she does. It’s how we met years ago now. She’s won the state’s social-worker-of-the-year award three times in the past seven years. She has a way with kids that just makes them open up to her, and she finds them the best homes she can and tries to get as many of them as she can get adopted and out of the system as well. You should see our refrigerator.” Kenna laughed. “It’s covered in pictures and drawings and even letters from families she’s helped.”

“Well, I’m glad she’s out there helping kids, but I’m not exactly a kid, and neither is my sister.”

“I know. When she told me about what Dylan had said, I looked you up and the story. It’s starting to hit local papers. They’re small papers with limited distribution, but the story will get picked up by someone soon. It’s just too good not to have a major reporter on it.”

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