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His eyes darted to his boss before coming to rest on me. “Not knowingly, no.”
I shot to my feet. “What does that mean?”
He came back around and stood in front of me, seizing my hands. “It means you were taken advantage of from the very beginning, Maddy. There was never any scholarship sponsored by the lumber mills in your town.”
My heart fell to my feet. “That…that can’t be, can it?”
His stoic expression broke. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I think you were set up from the very beginning, maybe for identity theft, possibly something more or different, I just can’t figure it out, yet,” he said, pain roughening his voice.
Shaking, I pulled away from Holt and staggered across the office. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to yell, and curse, and shout at another injustice. I wanted to lash out and demand answers, but the person who had them was dead – by my hands. Instead, I remained silent, unable to think of a good answer. All the hope I’d once placed on getting out of my circumstances, all the blame I placed on myself for screwing it up so badly, and it had never been mine in the first place? If that option had never been placed in my path, the domino effect that followed would have never happened.
I felt detached, as if I was a helium balloon that had lost most of the gas that kept it in the air, hovering just above the ground, and now someone had taken a pin and popped a hole, letting any hope of staying afloat vanish.
The room spun slightly, and I threw out a hand to grab onto something before I fell. Strong arms caught me instead, lifting and carrying me to a loveseat where they carefully lowered me. Gentle hands stroked my cheeks while a deep voice called to me.
My eyes fluttered open. I captured one of Holt’s hands and held it tight, begging him with my eyes for answers I knew he didn’t have, but I wanted anyway. Mr. M hovered anxiously in the background, bringing me a cup of cold water. After several sips, Holt helped me to sit up. Taking a few minutes to digest what Holt had told me, the shock began to wear off, but anger was quick to leap up and take its place. I dropped his hand and stood up. What did he know that I didn’t? The one thing I’d asked of him was not to keep secrets from me.
“I want to know everything that made you leap to that conclusion,” I demanded.
He glanced at his boss, who nodded. “John and I were both worried about how you were being targeted, especially so soon after your release. With John’s backing, I used some of my contacts to start looking into anyone who had something to do with Regis’s death, including Regis himse
lf, his wife, and Charly. You asked me not to keep secrets from you, Maddy, but at the same time, I didn’t want you to stop me, especially when it came to Charly. I know you feel responsible for her in some way.”
“Oh, I think I stopped feeling sorry for her a long time ago,” I muttered. “Sooo,” I stared hard at each of them, “does this mean you’ve found something on one of them?”
“Yes. Something didn’t sound right about Regis and the scholarship he offered to you. I’d never heard of anyone going directly to a school and seeking a recipient. And further, he made it much too personal when he sought you out at your house. Schools might be made aware of grant or scholarship monies, but it’s up to the individuals to apply for it. I’m not sure why your counselor didn’t pick up on it.”
I scowled. “We were the only high school in the area, and he was very convincing, trust me.”
“I also contacted the lumber company about the scholarship, and they said they’ve never offered one, not before or since the year you were a senior. We also snooped into the history of Regis’s finances. He seemed to maintain a fairly moderate account for several years, then there was a significant bump for a few months.”
“So what’s so strange about that? Maybe he got a pay raise.”
“On the surface, that would be a normal conclusion,” Holt confirmed. “Only his records show him maintaining the same title and position over that same time period, and my investigator was able to confirm in an interview with the company that he’d never been promoted or earned any bonuses.”
“So maybe he was working a second job or his wife earned some extra income.”
He laughed sharply. “Unlikely. Sharon Regis has never held a job in her miserable life until her husband died.”
“You mean until I took her and her children’s provider away from her,” I corrected sadly.
Mr. M intervened. “No, Madelyn. You protected your sister from an evil man who would have raped her or worse, and then you were wrongly accused and wrongly sentenced.”
“It doesn’t matter. In the end, I still took a man’s life.”
“And saved a woman’s, Madelyn!” Holt practically shouted and threw his hands in the air. “It isn’t pretty, but it isn’t a black and white scenario, either. You did what you had to.”
“How do you know that, Holt? What makes you so certain when you weren’t even there?”
“Because I know you, Madelyn Grace Stone. I’ve seen you here at work, and I hear what people say about you. I watched you with my family. I’ve listened, really listened, to what you told me about your family growing up, and I heard between the lines what you didn’t say. I know you are incapable of hurting anyone deliberately. You’d rather allow others to hurt you. You’re genuine and you’re not afraid to stand up for others you care about, whether it’s standing up to brawly barkeeps, cleaning up after an alcoholic father, or protecting a self-absorbed sister. Those are the actions of a woman who would never deliberately hurt another person.”
Seeing myself through his eyes made me pause. I had always assumed it was my role in life to take care of those around me since in a twisted sense I felt responsible for their circumstances. But he was right. I could have ignored them. So many times I could have chosen to walk away because on some level, I knew they’d never care one way or the other. Instead I chose to keep trying. “Is that your closing statement, Counselor?” I smiled.
“More like my opening argument,” he chuckled. “I sense there’s still one juror I have to convince, and since she’s kind of stubborn I have a feeling I have some more work to do. But know this, Madelyn Stone, this is not a case I’m going to lose.”
He’d closed the distance between us while he finished speaking. He stood so close I had to crane my neck to look up at him.
“I like it when you try to go all legalese on me,” he whispered, making such ordinary words sound so seductive. His head began to lower, but a sudden clearing of the throat jerked us apart.
