Chapter 4

After that night, my life went quiet again.

Same route as before, back and forth between the same three points.

A soft chime. A reminder popped up on my phone.

"Today is Agnes's birthday. Remember to leave work early."

I stopped for a moment, then deleted every message on my phone that had anything to do with them.

Right then, from outside the office, came the envious chatter of the staff.

"Look at the screen across the street. Someone's proposing!"

I followed the direction of their pointing fingers.

On the big screen of the downtown high-rise, a few words stood out.

"Happy birthday, Agnes. Will you marry me?"

Behind them, photos of Agnes scrolled past one after another.

I stared at the screen, blank, until the sharp ring of my phone cut through my thoughts.

"Ms. Swanson, we found the witness who saw Darrell Chavez killed twelve years ago. He's agreed to testify in court."

My knuckles went white around the phone.

It took me a long time to steady myself. When I spoke, my voice was shaking.

"Can he prove that the one who killed Darrell Chavez was Warren Gallagher?"

The answer on the other end was yes.

A film of water blurred my eyes all at once, my hands trembling so hard I could barely hold anything.

Twelve years, Dad. I can finally clear your name with my own hands.

Before I knew it, the day of the trial arrived.

But the witness recanted right there in court, glaring at me with vicious eyes.

"I can't prove Warren Gallagher is the killer. It was all her. She said if I came and pointed the finger at Warren Gallagher, she'd give me a hundred thousand."

He'd even forged our chat records to use as proof.

I'd been set up. The case was lost.

Hollowed out, I made my way back to the old house, never once noticing Warren Gallagher trailing behind me.

The moment I closed the door, a group of men rushed in behind me.

I quietly switched on the voice recorder in my bag.

I forced myself calm and steered him toward saying what he'd done.

"You're the one who really killed Darrell Chavez. And the witness was someone you arranged to set me up, wasn't he?"

Warren Gallagher's lips curled in a sneer.

"So what if I did? I'm not just putting your father away. I'm going to destroy you too."

As he said it, he dumped the voice recorder and phone out of my bag and crushed them under his heel.

In the chaos I used my watch to dial Ervin Dickerson, still steering Warren Gallagher on.

All I could do was pray the old rapport between me and Ervin was still there, that he'd catch the crucial evidence on the line.

But it went the other way. Warren Gallagher found me out in the end, grinding my wrist beneath his foot.

"Kathy Swanson, you filthy bitch, still trying to play clever. I'll beat the life out of you."

He knocked me out with one punch after another.

When I came to, three days had already passed.

The one keeping watch beside me was Ervin Dickerson, his eyes red and raw.

Seeing him was like seeing a lifeline. I grabbed his hand hard.

"Ervin, did you get the recording?"

Watching him bow his head in silence, I refused to give up and shook him.

"You must have recorded it, right? We always worked so well together…"

Beside us, Agnes spoke through her tears.

"I'm sorry, Kathy. Ervin and I were at a movie then…"

The hope that had just flared died right there. Trouble never comes alone.

Warren Gallagher bought an army of paid trolls, and the story that I'd bribed the witness caught fire online.

The firm was hit with one problem after another. My law license was revoked too.

By that point, betrayed, torn apart online, my career and my love had collapsed completely.

The sheer weight of it left me unwilling to say a single word.

The pain in my heart was long past anything words could hold.

Without alerting a soul, in the quiet of one midnight, I left the city alone.