Page 23 of Montana Silence

“Yes,” I confirmed and looked at Rayne.

“Mara came to me when she received the package, obviously concerned about both the contents and the origin of it. We called the prison where Novic is being held to confirm he was still in custody and were informed about the parole hearing.”

Claire sighed. “Yes, that was why I was going to call you. Because of good behavior over the length of his time served, he applied for parole and was granted a hearing. It’s not guaranteed, but it would help a lot if you came down and testified.”

Cold fear splashed down on me like a wave. I stood, pacing across Rayne’s office. The last thing I wanted in the entire world was to see Malcolm Novic again. He starred in enough of my nightmares and flashbacks without having to see his face and update what he looked like—or worse, see he was still the same man who went to prison and nothing had changed.

“We’ll come back to that in a minute,” Rayne said. “Do you know if he sent the package to Mara?”

“No.” Claire’s response was immediate. “Malcolm doesn’t have any personal effects in prison, and he doesn’t have mail privileges. I’ll double-check with the warden, but I can almost guarantee he didn’t send it. However, if he ordered someone to send it, that’s harder to pin down. And I doubt we’d be able to prove it.”

She wasn’t wrong. He could have visitors, and even though the cult had been disbanded, there were surely some who still visited him.

I shuddered. Malcolm was a charismatic man. Charming. There was a reason he was able to pull people in and make them believe what he wanted them to believe. It had taken me a long time to see the truth of it, but now I had. I also knew that the kind of influence he exerted on people’s minds didn’t just go away.

Even after I helped him get sent to prison, years had gone by before I’d fully understood I wasn’t guilty or at fault for anything that had been done to me. Every time I took a beating for some perceived infraction or looking in the wrong direction. And then he was all smiles and love.

“Good, thank you,” Rayne said. “Please confirm with Mara when you hear from the prison.”

“I will. Mara.” Claire’s voice was now directed straight at me. “I know you probably don’t want to come and testify, but I need you to.”

Wrapping my arms around myself, I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Of course you can. You did it the first time, and you’ve come so far since then.”

“Claire—” I swallowed. “I don’t want to see him.”

She sighed, her disappointment palpable through the phone. “I know. And if youreallythink you can’t handle it, you can send a witness impact statement. But I need to tell you that those aren’t very effective. Compared to seeing a living, breathing person who’s been affected by someone’s crimes? Letters are easy to ignore. Especially with someone like Malcolm, who will be able to talk almost anyone over to his side.”

All the heat had left my body, and I couldn’t seem to get warm. Goose bumps covered my skin, and they weren’t going away even as I rubbed my arms. “I don’t know.”

Rayne watched me carefully.

“Listen,” Claire said. “There were a lot of things that contributed, but your testimony was a huge part of his conviction. Still, these were largely invisible crimes. To some people, especially those who weren’t there at the original trial, they’re going to look at this man and wonder if twelve years is long enough. Maybe he served his time, and maybe it wasn’t all that bad.”

Rayne opened her mouth to say something, but Claire kept going, not giving her a chance to speak at all. “If you don’t come and do this, the chances are high he’ll be released. And then what? He’ll be free to find other girls and groom them the same way he did you. He did it once, and he’ll do it again. Is that what you want, Mara?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

Now Rayne looked angry. “This is a difficult enough decision for Mara without you using her emotions and guilt against her, Claire.”

“I’m just telling her the truth. If she wants to protect other people, she needs to do this.”

Rayne’s mouth formed a thin line, and I didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t wrong, and yet the idea of saying yes right this second made me want to run to the bathroom and be sick.

Leaning down, Rayne muted the phone. “Could you decide by tomorrow?”

I chewed on my lip. “I think so.”

Unmuting, she picked up the handset. “We’re going to discuss it, and Mara will give you a yes or no answer tomorrow. And whatever the answer is, my expectation is that you’ll respect it.”

Another sigh filtered through the phone. “Of course.”

“Good. You’ll hear from her soon.”

She ended the call and leaned farther back in her chair, watching me where I still stood.

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