Page 30 of Kept in the Dark

Lines had begun to form at his eyes. His once boyish face was now replaced with that of a man. She also couldn’t help but notice the contour of the fabric as his t-shirt pulled taut around his muscles.

A breath caught in her throat, and she chastised herself for even allowing her eyes to wander.

Focusing, Hailey swallowed and said, “This is going to sound crazy, but Sara didn’t kill my mother.”

Trey whipped his head toward her, brows raised.

She held up her hand. “Let me finish before you say anything.”

Trey slowly nodded and she proceeded, “At the wedding, Angie mentioned leaving me a video that would give Sara an alibi. I watched it and it's time stamped. Sara says she was basically railroaded into a guilty plea because my father was going to get the judge to extend sentencing if she didn’t.”

Hailey shifted in her seat. The whole thing sounded asinine after saying it out loud.

Trey shook his head. “Stop. What is it you want me to do, exactly?”

“I want you to reopen my mother’s case.”

“Based on a video, Hailey?” Trey demanded. “You’re telling me a convicted murderer claims she’s innocent and you believe her because of some tape?”

Hailey glared at him. “Don’t patronize me. I’m serious. I know it sounds like something out of a movie, but at least watch it. It even shows them parked at a gas station. You could interview people who worked there, maybe help strengthen her alibi?”

Trey shook his head. “This is crazy. I can’t exactly open a closed case- where someone has already been convicted and served time, I might add- without some solid evidence to at least suggest otherwise. I need more than Sara’s claims of innocence and a tape. And why is this coming up all of a sudden? Where has the tape been this whole time?”

A car drove by slowly, trying to see if anything exciting was happening. Once they were satisfied it was a regular traffic stop, they sped back up and their taillights disappeared into the darkness.

Hailey sighed. “After my mother died, I didn’t want to see anyone, talk to anyone, accept any condolences…my whole world had been flipped upside down between her death, our breakup, and Sara being arrested. Angie gave me a package with the tape inside but because I was so upset, I never opened it. She mentioned it at the wedding and when I got home, it was still in the box, so I watched it. And it’s pretty convincing, especially because of the time stamp.”

“I just don’t think a video is going to get the district attorney to reopen the case.”

Hailey’s heart sank but she pushed harder, “Gen gave me some of my mother’s old diaries. Apparently, my father had an affair and has a kid with someone else. That's a possible motive, isn’t it?” She quickly added, “And Sara said my father was manipulating the trial. We’ve all heard the rumors. We know what kind of a man he is; he’s not exactly above blackmail and manipulation. ”

Trey looked at her and she saw the pity in his eyes. She didn’t want his pity; she wanted his help. Though, to be fair, she wouldn’t blame him for refusing to help after the way they had left things.

“It could be a motive if someone else actually killed your mother. But at this point, everything is a theory. And closed investigations don’t get reopened on theories.”

“Please, Trey?” she said softly. “I know it’s a stretch, but I need you to help me. I need to know the truth and both Sara and my mother deserve justice.”

Trey rubbed his jaw, mulling over everything Hailey had said. She hated that she had to depend on him for this, that Sara’s innocence was ultimately in his hands. It annoyed her to her core.

But even though Hailey would much rather ask someone else, she couldn’t deny the fact that Trey could remain unbiased, already having stated he wouldn't believe Sara to be innocent until evidence proved otherwise.

Not only that, Trey wouldn’t let David stonewall him, manipulate him, or threaten him. That would likely be one of the biggest challenges they’d face once her father inevitably found out what they were doing. If her father had manipulated the trial in order to put Sara behind bars, there was no doubt he would do the same to Trey if he reopened the case.

“I can admit I’m curious to see the tape, but what if you’re wrong? Do you really want to bring all this up again? You left town when everything initially happened. Are you prepared to go down that road? Because if this gets reopened, that’s it. You don’t get to close it if you don’t like the way the investigation is going.”

Despite the obvious friction between the two of them, Hailey appreciated Trey’s honesty. Even through all the heartache, he still had her best interest at heart, despite how cold she’d been toward him. She would have thanked him if she knew it wouldn't have inflated his ego.

“If there's even a slight chance Sara didn’t kill my mother, she lost thirteen years of her life. I lost out on time I could have spent with her. Not to mention everything she missed with my daughter.” Hailey sighed and looked at her hands that were placed in her lap. “And a killer has been free while my sister paid for his crime.”

She could see Trey calculating everything, weighing the pros and cons and the likelihood and solidity of what she’d told him. There was a big possibility for this to blow up in his face. It would be easy for him to deny her request and Hailey couldn’t blame him if he did.

She still hoped he’d say yes.

“I want to see the tape and talk to Sara tomorrow. Then I’ll decide if this is worth pursuing. Bring the tape to my office and we’ll go from there.”

She smiled at him as a gust of wind from the open window blew her hair in her face. Without a thought, he brushed it away, his fingertips caressing her cheek. She sucked in a breath as she leaned into his touch instinctively.

It reminded her of a night they shared so long ago, the night she knew she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Hailey felt those same butterflies in her stomach she had years before.

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