Page 13 of Watch Me Burn

I dropped my gaze to the floor. “Honestly, I don’t know how to convince you, other than with every honest word I’ve just said.” I looked straight into her eyes, noticing the tears running down her cheek. At first, I wanted to reach out and wipe them away, but then, this woman had sent me to prison, not believing in me, the boy who would take a beating to save a bird. How could she betray me like this?

I passed a hand through my hair, frustration and resignation intermingling. “Anna, I’ve laid all my cards on the table. If you believe I’m the sickest fuck out there, a sociopath who could kill the father of the woman he once loved without a shred of reason, only to resurface after fifteen years to convince her of his innocence, then by all means, call the cops. But if you can still see the boy who would go up against bullies twice his size alongside you to save a bird, then I suggest you take a deep breath in and face reality.”

My voice cracked slightly as I continued, “The harsh reality is that this same boy sat in a prison cell for fifteen years for a crime he never committed. I wasn’t even granted the small mercy of attending my grandmother’s funeral. She died alone, the only person who truly believed in my innocence.”

We sat next to each other in thought. This was a lot to digest. But Anna needed to accept this reality if she wanted to truly have justice for her father’s death. It was going to be a painful event to revisit, I knew that equally as much, but we had to reevaluate what happened the day of his murder. Because if a killer was walking loose, knowing he could get away with his actions so long as people were emotionally manipulated, there was no telling what pile of bodies he’d accumulate during his run.

“I know it’s tough to take a shot on me,” I piped up. “For fifteen god damn years, the news, the police, everyone has said that I’m the coldblooded guy who tore apart the family I could never have. But here’s one thing you and I both know they got wrong: your family was my family. And I’d do anything, including risking my own life, if I could go back in time and not wait around in the kitchen but step out into the yard and save your dad.”

Anna glanced away from me. “I just . . . you’re loading a lot onto me. But where’s the proof? You can say my dad was dead by the time you got there, but the fact is there’s no witnesses besides what I saw of you.”

“I know it sounds crazy,” I argued. “But at the end of the day, I’ve done my time and technically am restricted to a halfway house that has regulations and curfews I’m definitely breaking by being here right now. Plus, there’s the no-contact order. Anna, do you really think I’d risk my freedom to sell a lie?”

She bit her lip, her skeptical expression softening. “You do have a point. Deep down, I always wondered if the same guy who would save a bird with a broken wing would just kill my dad.”

“I wouldn’t,” I said. My hands instinctively reached to palm hers, but then I pulled away again.

“But everybody was so sure it was you,” she said. Crying. “The police, my mom, even my brother.”

“I know . . . but they were all wrong.”

Our relationship might be strained after all those years of navigating different lives, shouldering different impacts of where we stood on her father’s death. Anna went on to graduate from high school and work her way up to a career while I suffered the dredges of our toilet-water justice system.

Of course, she was ultimately the one who lost her father. She was left to live through her trauma, and how I wished I could’ve embraced her through the trial and assure her everything would be okay. But things didn’t wind up being okay, and our lives went to shit because some murderer entered it and destroyed us all.

“I . . .” Anna said weakly. “I believe you, Ethan.”

My eyes lit up like they were a battery fueled by LSD. “You do?”

She nodded, weakly.

“You don’t know how much those words mean to me, Anna.” Tears threatened to wet my eyes, but I forced them back. No need to ruin this moment with some babyish breakdown. We’d battle through this together.

Anna, however, wasn’t as interested in fully warming up. As soon as she let down her walls to me, she switched to her cold, steely stance. “I’m a lawyer—public defender, to be exact. Looking at the whole case from the eyes of a confident woman who navigated the justice system for years, the case against you looks pretty weak. Which means . . . my dad’s real killer is still out there.”

I nodded. “I’ll find that bastard, believe me. And I could use the help of a smart lawyer.”

I regarded her with awe. She completely ignored it.

“I just can’t understand. Why would anyone want to harm my dad? He was a teacher, not some drug lord. People really liked him.”

“He was a good man,” I agreed.

Anna turned around, her eyes filled with determination. “I’ll do whatever it takes to find his killer. Anything.”

I nodded, then glanced at the front door as if it held me captive. “Any chance you can do something about that no-contact order? If they see me anywhere near you, I’m headed straight back to the slammer.”

I nervously scratched the back of my head. If my parole officer found out I even set foot on the street outside Anna’s condo, I’d be on a fast track back to prison.

“No need for that.”

“What?”

“The no-contact order expired a few months ago. I blocked it from becoming permanent years ago, so its fifteen-year duration is officially over—unless someone decides to extend it.”

I was tempted to ask why she didn’t let me know while I was still inside, but I held my tongue to avoid starting another argument. Our relationship, if it could even be called that, was shaky, to put it mildly.

Anna seemed to pick up on my hesitation. “So I guess we’re playing detective now, trying to find my dad’s killer?”

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