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"Yes, please," Leah says about the bubbles

I step into the bathroom and draw her bath, then when she comes in with her folded towel and pajaainst the opposite wall and try to focus on only the sounds of the song oes

"Mering, no real pattern or tone for anything Randoether about mermaids, because mermaids make her happy It’s so perfect I let it draw a smile on my face, and closeelse out for a few minutes, but eventually, the reality of what I no shadows it

When the doorbell rang this afternoon, my heart leapt I was so sure I would open that door and find Paige there I left the book for her early this reetedI hadn’t seen hio and told me both my wife and my father were dead

I was seventeen Married with my parents’ consent, ed by a careless act of selfish behavior

Myupstairs when I let the three officers into our house today The second she saw theave out, and she slipped four or five steps down Her ankle swelled i sensation happening to her heart froreith their visit, with every minute they were here, and each piece of information they shared, until my mother couldn’t listen anythe car that killed Beth and my father And Martin Campbell covered it up The only reason it’s out is because Detective Hornsby’s partner, Detective Christo, was caught--nearly a million dollars in bribes hidden in accounts overseas A tenacious reporter, the sa at the department for years

The body of the driver, who supposedly died in the crash, was actually a homeless man found drunk in a don alley earlier that day Detective Christo was told to take care of things--like he’d done for Chandra’s other indiscretions--though those other things were usually tickets and stops for driving under the influence Christo split his payoff with the two beat cops who responded to the call They helped hi his body appear to have been the one involved They got rid of Chandra’s car, paid off anyone they thought would talk, and made sure Chandra was delivered to her father in Texas, more than four hundred miles away from her crime

Detective Hornsby was off that day But he knew my father from church, and when he heard the news, he wanted to be the one to deliver it to my mother He ruined our lives that day--Michael and Bethany Orr were dead Every loose end was paid for and tied up before he had a chance to do anything but pity us and offer us a card with his name on it and a false condolence to call hi he could do

An entire state away, the story was unraveling differently, though Martin Cae had killed his daughter from another--and he spent thousands of dollars to uilt, he threatened to disown Chandra, too, just as he’d always done with problems in his life--cut the ties that bind But Chandra is so much like her father She threatened to tell the truth, so he kept his mouth shut

As evil as she is, Chandra is also capable of souilt That’s why she visited That’s why she was drunk for Leah’s birthday And that’s why Leah’s trust fund will never go away That money is there for insurance, should I ever start to question things I bet if I did, thatuntil I shut ht That money--it’s worthless

And I don’t want Leah to have any part of it any edies come in two phases--the first one that shocks you, rocks your earth, murders your soul, and leaves you lifeless--all without warning Then there’s the second phase, the one that you see co This phase is full of process, full of justice--or failed justice--and it feels…endless

Meetings with lawyers and police officials dictated the first teeks after the arrest Anyrequests fro, e outside our house was that it distracted h the house listlessly, barely sleeping, and hardly eating--which she did for two days--she beca off reporters Our fale story, and our lawyer quickly corrected the few reports that did attempt to quote us