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“Yeah, something like that.”
“Just after you ate your dinner?”
She nods. “Yes, I remember she checked in just after my daughter left.”
“What was your daughter doing here?”
Her face lights up when she remembers this part of the day. “She brought my granddaughter by to see me. She was about six months old then and I loved taking photos of her. They’d just been to a party and she was all dressed up so my daughter dropped by for me to take a photo. I know it sounds silly, but these are the kinds of things a grandmother treasures.”
I smile. “It’s not stupid, Amanda. I love that.”
“Let me show you the photos. I still have them on my phone. She’s just too gorgeous to delete, even after all these years.” She rushes out to the office to retrieve her phone.
A minute later I’m looking at photos of not only her beautiful granddaughter but also of a woman whose muffin top and face I would recognise anywhere. Well, maybe not anywhere, but definitely in this instance.
I stare at her. “Was this the woman who checked into the room where the murder took place?” My heart is racin
g.
She peers closer at the photo and then blows it up. “God, yes, that’s her. She was right there near my grandbaby.” This thought appears to horrify her.
I motion at the phone. “Can I please see?”
She passes me the phone and I look at all the photos she has of that day with her family. It’s the very last photo that gives me what I’m looking for—concrete evidence of who killed Jolene’s mother.
Alanis.
She’s in the background of the photo getting out of a rental car. The photo was snapped when she didn’t have the disguise on fully. The dumb bitch. She planned everything else down to the detail, but she drove without the hat and the scarf in place.
I glance up at Amanda. “Can I please send these to myself?”
She nods, clearly shaken. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know I had those on there.”
I quickly send the photos to my email and then hand her phone back. “You’re going to have to make a statement to the police. Please tell me you’ll do this.”
“Yes. When?”
“What time do you finish work?”
She checks the time. “In half an hour.”
“Right, I’ll stay here and then we can go to the police station, okay?”
We agree to do this together and then I head outside to wait in my car for her. My mind is bombarded with thoughts and my emotions race through me. After all this time, Jolene may be able to go home to her son. She may be able to start piecing her life back together.
And Luke?
I grip the steering wheel. In all the thinking I’ve done over this, I haven’t actually stopped to think about all the repercussions of Jolene being released from prison.
I haven’t considered Luke’s reaction in any of this. I was so focused on Jolene.
Oh, God.
My thinking has been so narrow right from the beginning. All I could think about was getting to the truth. I never reflected on what the truth would actually mean.
39
Callie
