Katherine's testimony was somewhat... easy. A.D.A. Johnson was frustrated because she was skilled at deflecting questions subtly so the judge couldn't quite say anything on real grounds. He asks a question, she gives a vague answer and adds something that's practically unrelated to the topic. It's distracting.
And helpful.
When she leaves the stand, though, we don't know who to expect next. We've had an inkling of the witnesses from the beginning, but now it was shots in the dark. Luckily, it was a few trivial, irrelevant people who didn't actually know what they were talking about.
Then we went home for the day. It had been a long one. The jurors were obviously perplexed by the case. They were instructed not to read, watch, or listen to the news because protesters and opinions might sway them in a biased direction. They didn't need to watch the news to hear what people thought about this, though.
When we walked out of the courthouse, it was obvious Louise was feeling a little better. She'd adjusted slowly to the scene, growing accustomed to the questions and officers. Mr. Hudson had informed her that the jury looked as though they were leaning in the direction of innocence. When she was bombarded by reporters, she handled it a little better.
"Ms. Bren, what is it like in the courtroom after years of hiding?"
"Ms. Bren, how do you feel about the accusations being made towards you?"
"Ms. Bren, why did you run?"
She didn't answer any but one. At the last one, she turned and smiled, but I knew that smile. They weren't getting a real answer. "I just felt like running."
I wonder if they knew she was quoting Forrest Gump?
Katherine came to my house when we got home. Immediately, Louise smiled at her. "Thank you," she said quietly. I knew it must have been hard because neither Selena nor Louise liked Katherine. "For lying, I mean."
"It was my pleasure to lie to the authorities," she promised sincerely. "Anything to ruffle their feathers."
"I don't think you ruffled them too much," I said, opening the pantry for some food. "Most people seem to think that she's been in the wrong place at the wrong time for her whole life, like it just sucks to be her."
"It kind of does," Selena said earnestly, smiling to take off sting as she looked at Louise. "But you have us to make up for it. We're pretty great."
Louise laughed briefly, nodding. "I'm going to go lay down for a nap." We all nodded and she disappeared up the stairs.
Katherine scoffed. "You guys aren't ordering pizza or going out to celebrate a good trial?" We all shook our heads in unison, frowning. "I only came over here because I thought you would get good food."
"So have the cops talked to your dad?" I asked, sitting at the island.
She grinned. "He managed to make a deal. He talked and, in exchange, they let him out on good behavior within the year. They were already planning on doing that, so it wasn't much, but my dad is really happy with it."
"Did he help?"
"Mostly just talked trash about Robbie. That discredited both him and his men, though. If Mr. Hudson uses it, the jury will distrust the D.A.'s witnesses even more."
"They say he's got one up his sleeve, though. Some boy," Selena said, looking between us all. I nodded.
"I guess they haven't told you that the boy isn't all they've got." Jay frowned at Katherine's words, looking from Selena to her. "Someone said they have a girl. Nineteen or twenty. She's going to rip Hudson's case to shreds."
My heart sped up, my eyes widening. "Who?"
"Don't know," Katherine said, shrugging. Let's just hope she has a good heart tomorrow, because otherwise, she'll get Louise put in prison. Agent Cassidy is pretty nervous about her." At our confusion with her association with the agents, she added, "I talked with them at the courthouse."
That night, I made a point of locking the cabinets so Louise couldn't go binge-drinking again and turned to see Louise standing there. She'd taken about four hours to nap, so I doubted she was that tired. "I'm just down for a sleeping pill."
She ambled to the medicines and began combing through the pill bottles. She was wearing some old sweatshirt of hers, probably cold. She was skinny, and she'd always gotten cold before. Her hands were always freezing. Half her hair was thrown into a bun. I was growing quite fond of that half kempt hairdo of hers. It was too short to do much else.
I grabbed the right one, opening the melatonin bottle and handing it over. "How are you?" she asked.
I cocked an eyebrow, looking over. "You're asking me?"
Blushing, she shrugged. "I know how I'm doing. I just don't know how you're handling all this." I didn't reply, grabbing a water bottle for each of us. "You spend so much time worrying about me, it's kind of difficult to see where you stand in this trial. Does it bother you or are you fine?"
"It would bother anyone," I said vaguely, tiredly. "I'm not special."
She grinned playfully. "You are to me." I almost laughed. It had been a while since she'd shown her sillier side. Maybe it could come out once again. "Thanks," she said, downing the vitamins. "I was thinking we could do something fun before the trial was over. We don't really know if I'll be locked up for the rest of my life, so we might as well do something now."
"Like what?" I asked, putting the pills back in the cabinet.
"A day at the beach or something?" I frowned, not having thought of that. "If it's not too far away, I mean. You know, I'm always so caught up in not dying that I forget we actually live near a beach."
"We did in high school," I corrected. "At Auburn, though, I never really went." Even though I wasn't actually that far from the beach in Alabama, I never went. I was too busy wallowing in self pity to enjoy life. I was pathetic. Now, though, I was ready to begin life.
"There's a good chance you've lost your scholarship by now," she said, her lips curling.
"I'll be a veterinarian," I waved, grinning. "Student loans shouldn't bother me too badly." It wasn't sound logic, but it would be enough to appease her.
Louise sat on the counter, downing a little more water. "I think there's something wrong with me," she began, screwing the cap back on slowly and using it as an excuse not to look me in the face. "I mean, like, in my head."
I breathed out slowly, wondering how to approach this. Katherine had warned me extensively that she wouldn't leave this unscarred. "Louise, there was bound to be something messed up anyway after what you've been through."
She was quiet, not responding. She didn't want to accept it, but I needed her to. For once, I needed her to accept that something was wrong with her. She wouldn't accept that she needed the wheelchair, she wouldn't accept that she needed to stop running, and I just needed her to know that it was possible not to be perfectly okay. As many times as I'd told her it would be okay, I needed to stop saying that and I needed her to stop letting me say it.
I grabbed her hands, smiling comfortingly. "But we'll all still love you if you're never the same again. Even if you were a diagnosed crazy pants, we'd love you."
She laughed, shaking her head and resting her arms around my shoulders. "I'm not too crazy. I don't hear voices or anything."
That wasn't good. I heard voices a lot. I heard her voice, five years from now when we were stable and utterly in love with a kid. Ten years from now, when we were arguing over what color to paint the walls of our bedroom. I could just hear her, arguing for black when all I wanted was to lighten things up. Or was her favorite color red, now? It suited her.
Red was bold and confident. While her confidence was hard to find under all those layers of paranoia, it was there and it was fiery and red. Yes, red was definitely her color. Maybe I'd let her choose red walls in ten years.
"I love you," I murmured, still smiling stupidly. Her forehead met mine as she beamed right back. Why couldn't the rest of the world see this her? It was my favorite of her personalities.
"I love you too," she replied happily. I laid my hand on hers, feeling her wrist. Her pulse was moving rapidly. I could feel my heart beating in sync with it. I couldn't help but kiss her, reveling in the old but still so new feeling of it. It was familiar, but still different each time. Her skin was smooth, just like it had been years ago and days ago. If skin renewed itself every couple of weeks, how did hers always feel so perfectly identical?
I felt her giggle and move a piece of my hair out of the way, opening her eyes. I didn't leave her for long, though. I kissed her again and again, not able to get enough.
The trial was exactly the same when we went back. This time, though, there was a special witness. I heard the A.D.A. approaching the judge along with Mr. Hudson, saying something about not calling a witness.
When the judge announced the next witness, though, I think I along with all my friends blanched. "The People call Sarah Collins to the stand," she called, organizing a few papers in front of her like the name she just said was possible. Everyone in the jury and the audience also shifted in disbelief; one of the reasons Louise was on trial was Sarah's murder.
We heard heels clacking. They clacked to the beat of my hammering heart, and I didn't turn to see what she looked like. I knew she looked just like Selena; blue eyes, blonde hair, and a large smile. It was probably less enthusiastic now, though. At least she had something in common with Louise.
Both she and my girlfriend were supposed to be dead.
I saw her looking, flashing me that old, mischievous smile while I looked on, struck dumb. Her teeth were perfect; she must have gotten her braces off. Remarkably, there were no scars even though she'd been hit with a car. She had a ring on her finger, glistening in the light. Her blonde curls bounced with her flouncy walk and her blue eyes shone with power and mischief. She knew she held Louise's fate in the palm of her hand and she loved it.
She'd always been that way; manipulative and just plain mean. She did things because she could and enjoyed the misfortune it brought others.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" I heard when I tuned back in to what was happening.
"I do," came her strong, smug voice.
It was quiet for a minute. The A.D.A. was sitting back, letting her presence soak into the trial goers. Sarah basked in the attention she was getting.
"Mrs. Collins," A.D.A. Johnson began. I was floored at the usage of "Mrs." and "Collins." She was married. She had a life yet none of us knew she existed. Why didn't she come to Selena? "I'm going to began very..." He looked at the jury, then at Louise pointedly, then at us. "Very simply. Why were you out that night?"
Her lips twitched. "I was stupid. I was only thirteen and met a boy who snuck out just to see me. It felt pretty special back then, but it was only reckless. That boy is crazy now, anyway." She rolled her eyes.
Since Mr. Hudson didn't object, the judge didn't say anything to her words. "And you did not notice that Louise wasn't home?"
It was silent. Louise's breathing was quiet in front of me. She scratched her arms furiously and tapped her leg. Her body trembled slightly. Finally, her eyes slid to the terrified Louise. A sick smirk came across her face. "Louise was home." The scratching stopped. Her trembling ceased. Her leg stilled.
My breathing stopped.
"She was home the whole time. My father wasn't, so I thought I had time to make it out and back in before he got home." She rolled her eyes, easily making the lie believable. "He was always 'working late' when I was younger. Wouldn't be home until just before dawn."
The A.D.A. twitched. His eyebrows crashed into each other, turning into a dark uni-brow. This was obviously not what they rehearsed. I didn't know why she was helping; Louise fake-killed her. "Haven't you listened to a word Louise has said?" she asked, feigning disbelief.
I didn't miss the twitching of the corner of her mouth as she took in our dumbfounded faces. "But you said..." He combed through his papers furiously. Mr. Hudson was leaned forward in his seat, obviously caught in disbelief as well.
"I said my father was a monster. He tried to kill me and made it look like my foster sister did it. It was the perfect cover for him." She shook her head. "When I saw what he did to those poor girls... and their looks! They looked just like Louise." She even sounded a bit choked up. I was beyond floored with her performance. "He killed them all, just like he tried to kill her that night."
Of course she'd seen; it was on national television. It was a huge case. The press had a field day with that murder.
"He's crazy. She had to run, and I had to pretend I was dead to get away. I just wish she could have found me. Maybe together," she said, staring holes into Louise, "we could have gotten away and none of this would have happened."
Johnson was practically stuttering. She blew his case to bits. "N-Nothing further," he muttered, shaking his head. "Your witness," he added bitterly to Mr. Hudson on the way back to his seat.
Mr. Hudson had a smile, smug and douchebag-like. "No questions, Your Honor." We could all hear the unspoken message: I think the jury has heard enough.
Later, outside, we were approached by Sarah. Selena was crying. Jay was comforting her. Louise was shaken, her eyes wide as she looked at the flashy blonde. "I see I managed to come back in with a bang."
The first thing Selena did was slap her sister. It took us all by surprise; Sarah looked at her in disbelief. Then, she hugged her, holding her so tight I thought Sarah would pop. I think I even saw a tear on the younger girl's face. "Why?" Louise asked quietly, shaking her head. She had to look up at all of us from her wheelchair.
Sarah smiled. It still looked snakelike, but less so now that it was genuine. "I left the hospital to search for my dad and I couldn't find him. He just left. Then, I saw you. You were exactly the same; quiet, ignoring the world and acting squirrely, but I think I matured enough to realize that it wasn't out of arrogance. You just thought everything would fall apart around you, which it kind of did." Louise watched her talk, mesmerized. I suppose she now knew what it was like for someone to come back from the dead. "Then, I found him."
"Was he hurting Louise?" I asked, wondering if it was at the house where she "died" that Sarah found him.
"No," she said, still obviously horrified. "He was hurting someone else. It could have been Louise's twin with how much she looked like her. He stabbed her so many times, and I couldn't look away. I left before he could catch me, but I can never unsee it. From them on, I hated him. I couldn't hate you anymore for hitting me; it was eye-opening. I saw my dad for who he was. I searched for you after that, trying to find you and we could put a stop to him, but you were a hard girl to find. I thought to go to Michigan.
"It was crazy," she continued, laughing to herself. "I discovered alcohol at about sixteen and was in some Christmas party in a warehouse when these two crashed it. She didn't recognize me, which was annoying, but I guess she was pretty drunk or something." Selena glanced at Louise, who was glaring at the floor. She was obviously annoyed with herself. I was even more upset that I hadn't recognized Sarah, but decided I probably hadn't even seen her.
Louise finally met her eyes. I think everyone had watery eyes but Jay, who was just staring at Sarah and Selena solemnly. "Thank you," Louise finally whispered, smiling.