AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It doesn’t matter that you hated her,” I counter. “Just try to remember that Lizzie was important to Toni. Andsheneeds us.”
“Yeah.” Opening the sack of a purse she calls a handbag, Lyla fishes out a letterman jacket. When she sees my face, she smirks. “What? You didn’t actually think I’d wear a boob tube? Inthere? You forget,” she unstraps her seatbelt so that she can slide her arms into her jacket, “I have spent a night in a police station before.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“But surprisingly loveable too?”
I can’t help it. I laugh. “Sure.”
We get out of the car together and make our way to where the girls are standing.
There’s something eerie about police stations in general. Even standing outside, minding my own business, I feel like I’m being watched. It’s as if there’s someone stalking me, gauging my every move from some hidden location. When the feeling doesn’t subside, I turn around and face the street, my eyes taking in the slogging traffic on 6th.
There are a few pedestrians loitering on the sidewalk by the traffic lights, talking and waiting for the walk sign to flash. The little strip mall across the street is bustling with people. I can imagine them, standing in line for a donut or sitting in the laundromat, going about their business, completely unaware of the lives changing forever just across the street. Cars are packed into the small lot; all of them except one, a new blackRange Rover, have the well-loved patina of the working class. Nothing seems out of place.
“You okay?” Lyla asks, looking at me.
“Yeah. I…I don’t know. Being here makes my skin crawl.” Toni and Juliette are talking to Joan, our attorney, on the little patch of lawn out front, and, needing a distraction from my unease, I go to them.
Lyla follows close behind.
Joan is a bird-like woman with stern, angular features and a crisp, no-nonsense voice. She’s probably in her sixties, and, while she manages her own law firm and could wear anything she wants, she prioritizes boxy pantsuits and square-heeled, ugly shoes to make her seem less…Well, I don’t know. Just less. The only thing about her that stands out are her cat-eye reading glasses.
Dressing down never made much sense to me. If you’re going to go head-to-head with men, especially in a courtroom, you’d think being a distraction would be advantageous. I’ve concluded that Joan has got to be a freak in the bedroom. I bet the moment she’s out of that drab pantsuit, the woman in the funky glasses, the one who was thirty in the seventies, appears.
“Hi, Joan,” I greet her as we come closer.
“Catherine. Lyla. How are you?”
I say, “Good.”
Lyla goes with, “Can you run in those heels? They look super comfy.”
Toni closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose.
“Seven-minute mile,” Joan quips back.
We all dissolve into a fit of giggles, the nerves apparent in all of us except for our attorney.
Toni glances toward the double doors leading into the station, and her obvious dread heightens mine.Antoinette isn’t afraid of much, and seeing her like this makes me think she lied when she told us we had nothing to worry about.
Juliette is pale, her dark eyes wide with fear, her hands clasping her purse in a death grip. Lyla has clearly lost control of her mouth. And under my calm façade, I can’t help but feel that everything will change once we walk through those doors.
“Ready?”
We all nod confidently in reply to Joan’s question. But, then again, we’re all incredible liars.
Aiden
“Ah, Aiden. Bro!Youhaveto come and see this.” Mani’s voice is pitched with excitement, his smile filled with child-like glee.
“Mani, I’m up to my eyeballs in paperwork and we have the York interview in twenty minutes. I need some quiet.”
“Elizabeth York’s roommates are here already.”
I glance at the clock on the wall; it shows that it’s twelve-ten and that I do, orshould, have another twenty minutes.
“They’re early,” Mani helpfully informs me.
