Page 37 of The System

“My life isn’t a story,” Kieran argued. “It’s my life. And I’m trying to live it and get my sister out of going to prison for the rest of her life.”

“Ripley will be the first person to tell you that I get a little ahead of myself sometimes, but I mean well. Look, all I’m trying to say is that I have a bit of a personal connection here, and I have a global audience. You can talk to people I’ve interviewed before, including Dylan and Ada – I take care of the people I talk to. I might be a reporter by trade, but I am human, and I think people should hear this story.”

“There’s not much of a story yet,” Kieran said. “Don’t you want to wait until you know what happens after the trial?”

“No, it’s always best to be there when things start. We’d get the interviews and the footage, and we’d stick around through the trial and after. This is a long story. We wouldn’t run the episode until later. It might be before the trial, but we’d do another episode after with reactions and updates.”

“Reactions?” Kieran shook her head. “I don’t even know how I feel right now. I don’t think I have any reactions yet.”

“I meant reactions from the community and Marin. Yours, too, of course, but mainly, just overall reactions.”

“That would require you to interview Marin. You’d have to get her permission.”

“I already have it. I just got it this morning, which is why I’m calling you.”

Kieran sat up ramrod straight in her chair and asked, “You got her to agree to an interview? How?”

“I just asked,” Kenna replied simply. “And she said she wanted to tell her side of the story.”

“How did you get past her attorney? There’s no way he’s going to let her talk to reporters before her trial.”

“I don’t need his permission. I just need hers. She has to decide what she wants to do for herself, ultimately.”

“So, you’re taking advantage of that and getting an interview for your show that could be used against her later?”

“I’m not taking advantage of her. She’ll have access to all of my questions before the interview, and I’ll include in the contract that she gets approval over everything that gets put in the final cut,” Kenna explained. “I do this for all of these situations because I understand that sometimes, people don’t realize what they’re agreeing to, and other times, they say things that they wish they could take back later. Trust me, I’m the only person in network news who does this.”

Kieran sat back a bit and asked, “Why? You obviously don’t have to, and you could get a better interview out of it, probably.”

“Yes, I could. But I’ve seen crime reporting from the inside. If you look Ripley up online, you’ll see why, but I’ve been doing the show for a while now, and I’ve interviewed so many people going through the worst times in their lives. Just a couple of years ago, for example, I did a story on a woman whose daughter was kidnapped and another one about a woman who had been taken by her father as a child because of a custody dispute. She’d grown up most of her life thinking her name was Heidi and that she was Canadian, when her real name was Hollis, and she was an American and from around here, actually. I did right by them because that’s important to me. Believe it or not, we found Raleigh’s daughter, Eden, and Hollis and Raleigh are engaged now. So, this story has a happy ending, but many of them don’t. Dylan and Ada’s, for example. Yes, they found out that Ada had a biological brother out there, Dylan found him, and now, they’ve also found Noah’s body, but it’s still a body; Noah isn’t coming back.”

“I’m glad that you do things the right way, but I don’t know about this,” Kieran told her. “I can’t agree to anything until I talk to my sister and her attorney.”

“I understand. Just keep this number and call or text me to let me know what you decide,” Kenna replied. “To be honest, it’s not much of a story without the long-lost twin angle, and to tell that well, I’d need you.”

“So, we’re back to my life being a story, huh?” Kieran said.

“Everyone’s life is a story,” Kenna replied.

After they hung up, Kieran instantly dialed Diego’s number but got his voicemail instead.

“Hey. Have you heard that Marin has agreed to do an interview for a crime show? The host just called me and asked me for an interview. I can’t see you telling Marin that this is a good idea before her trial. I’m guessing you’re in meetings. I’m going to see if I can get in to see her now that she’s at least added me to her approved visitor list. Thank you for convincing her to do that, by the way. Call me later.”

She hung up the phone for a second time and stared at the unfinished code on her screen. This bug fix would have to wait until she got back because she didn’t expect Kenna to wait around to get this interview with Marin. The woman might even be on her way there now. It wasn’t just that, though. Kieran had been putting off another visit, but she shouldn’t be doing that much longer. Marin wouldn’t be in the county jail for her trial. She was going to be sent to the state prison two hours away, according to Diego. They had some additional motions and hearings coming up, so she’d stay put for now, but soon, she’d be transferred, and visiting her would be even harder.

The drive wasn’t long, but parking and getting through security at the jail took forever, and when Kieran finally sat in the chair, waiting to be called back, she checked the time on the schoolhouse-style clock on the beige wall. It was already four in the afternoon. By the time she got home to get back to work, it would be well past six. She’d be late at turning in her bug fix. She messaged her boss to let him know about the delay, hating having to hit send, and looked back up when her name was called. The door buzzed and clicked, but she didn’t have her badge yet, so she looked over to see someone walking out.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Carina said.

“We’ve got to start meeting other places that don’t involve the criminal justice system,” Kieran replied, taking her badge and pinning it to her chest.

“Agreed.” Carina laughed a bit. “Visiting?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Making a deal with a defendant,” Carina replied. “Need me to wait and give you a ride?”

“Oh, no. I drove. I only needed a ride that day because I’d driven in with Diego.”

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