From before I came in, I continued, and audio. She recalculated. I could see it happening. The thing about Holly is she's not stupid. That was never the problem.
She'd built and maintained a seven trip alibi system with enough operational discipline that I might never have found it if she hadn't handed me that iPad. So when I said video and audio, she understood immediately what that meant and what it didn't leave room for. She shifted. Okay, she said, her voice dropping. Okay.
Can we just Can we talk about this somewhere private? Just us? Before anything else happens? No, I answered. Nathan, 12 years, she pressed.
I know how long it's been, I said. She looked at me for a moment. Her eyes were wet, but her jaw was set, and there was something almost business-like in her expression, which told me she hadn't fully given up on finding a lever that worked. That was the thing I kept noticing. Even now, she was still looking for the angle.
It wasn't She stopped, started again. This wasn't supposed to be what it became. It just Holly, I said it the way you'd say stop. She stopped. Brent was still on the floor.
He'd moved from sitting against the wall to sitting with his knees up, forearms resting on them, looking at a spot on the carpet about 3 ft in front of him. The cut under his eye had slowed. He'd said exactly nothing since I'd told him to stay there, and I respected that in a very limited sense. He'd read the room correctly, which may have been the only intelligent decision he made all year. There was nothing for him to say.
He knew it. He stayed quiet and looked at the floor. I didn't speak to him. There wasn't a version of this where I needed anything from Brent. In the main room, Amber was talking to Rick.
I couldn't hear the words clearly from where I was standing, just the shape of it. Her voice low and effortful, working through something, trying to find purchase. Rick's voice came back once, quiet and short, and then nothing, just Amber again. Then silence. Rick appeared in the bedroom doorway.
He looked at me and gave a small nod, not a happy one, not a dramatic one, just an acknowledgement, something confirmed. He'd gotten what he came for, same as me, and now there was nothing left to do here. He walked back out. Holly watched him go and then looked at me. Can we please just she started, her voice cracking.