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"Oh my God." There was a lump in Ariana's throat now. "What did you do?"
"I freaked. I told my father he had to end it or I would never be able to look at him again."
Here the tears really started to fall. Briana Leigh wept silently, her head bowed. Ariana waited in silence. The creeping feeling intensified. It was so powerful she had to acknowledge that Briana Leigh was telling the truth. There was nothing disingenuous about her. This moment... it was raw. Real.
"So he did. He ended it." She stopped yanking on the scarf and
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brought her trembling, purple fingertips to her forehead. "And she killed him."
Ariana felt as if she was about to throw up. What was she supposed to believe? Briana Leigh's confession seemed so genuine. Was it really possible that Kaitlynn had been lying to her all this time? That she was actually guilty? Had that note Ariana had found in Briana Leigh's father's office been started by him? Maybe he had planned to break up with her by letter, but had been interrupted by Kaitlynn and never had a chance to finish writing.
My dear Kaitlynn...
Ariana got up and crossed over to the desk, just to give her jittering nerves some sort of outlet. She pulled a piece of paper from the drawer and started to fold. Halves, then quarters, then eighths... The systematic motion calmed her slightly. Allowed her to think.
Mr. Covington had started that letter. It made sense. So much more sense than the idea of Briana Leigh writing to Kaitlynn in prison.
"Oh my God," Ariana said breathlessly.
"It gets worse," Briana Leigh said, finally turning to face Ariana. She leaned back against the dressing table and took a deep breath. Ariana attempted to focus. She wanted so badly to be wrong now, instead of then. She wanted to find the lie behind Briana Leigh's eyes. Wanted to believe Kaitlynn, as she had so trustingly for the past year and a half. "During her trial... this awful, long, drawn-out trial, she tried to pin the whole thing on me. She said that I had done it so that I could get my inheritance and that I had framed her. But it was totally ridiculous. I loved my father and he always gave me everything
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I wanted. I didn't need my inheritance. Plus her fingerprints were on the gun, not mine."
Ariana blinked. Was that true? But then, something like that was easily explained. Maybe Kaitlynn had held the gun at some point, but that didn't mean she'd fired it. And Briana Leigh could have been wearing gloves when she'd done the deed....
"And I had an alibi. So they called me to the stand, and when I was telling the court where I'd been at the moment my dad was murdered, Kaitlynn had a fit, screaming about how I was a liar and a spoiled brat. The whole thing was just too awful. We were best friends and she took my dad from me. And then, as if that wasn't enough, she sent me this letter...."
"A letter?" Ariana asked.
"From jail," Briana Leigh said. "Do you want to see it?"
Did she want to see it? Ariana was practically salivating to see it. She tried as hard as she could to keep her face placid. "Sure."
Briana Leigh left the room and Ariana found herself staring into the mirror. Staring into her unfamiliar green eyes as she tried to keep a handle on her emotions. This couldn't be. It just couldn't. Kaitlynn was not a murderer. Not sweet, innocent Kaitlynn. It was just not possible. There was no way Ariana could have been so very wrong about her.
Within moments Briana Leigh had returned. She handed Ariana a letter that was so worn it seemed as if it had been folded and opened and refolded hundreds of times. Instantly, Ariana recognized the standard-issue stationery of the Brenda T, with the prison's seal in the
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center of the top of the page. Her fingers trembled as she looked down at the hand-scrawled note.
Kaitlynn's handwriting. No mistaking it.
Briana Leigh,I thought you were my friend. I thought we were sisters. But clearly you care about no one but yourself. You broke my heart up on that stand. I was so sure you were going to stand up for me. Going to set me free so that at least we could be together. But you had to go and tell the truth? Do you even realize what you've done to me? My life is over. And it's all because of you.
I'm glad I took your father away from you. I wish you could have seen the petrified, pleading look on his face when I shoved the barrel of the gun between his eyes. I know I'll never forget it. Because it was the moment I ruined your life, you ungrateful little bitch. It was the moment I made sure you'd be alone forever, just like I will be.
Sweet dreams, BL.
Love and kisses,
Kaitlynn
