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"But what about obstruction of justice?" she throws out "Miss Halstead didn't report the crime; she took thehere"
"She's already paid," Beck says quietly beside me, and I jump in surprise that he's spoken We were specifically advised to keep our mouths shut "She paid with her innocence when that ain and again She's paid in blood and tears and se else from her"
Hammond's eyes lock with Beck's, and I know this is the final shon
"Be quiet everyone," Willia room "It's on"
He's well on his way to being drunk, and fortunately, his girlfriend, Maria, is here to drive hiht
Williarabs the remote from the coffee table and aims it at the flat-screen TV mounted above the fireplace where he increases the volume It shows a picture of the Marin County Courthouse with a banner across the bottom that says BREAKING NEWS and below that TOWNSEND MURDER CHARGES
Everyone falls silent and Ito Kerry as they both sip on whiskey All eyes focus on the TV and mine fall to Sela for just a minute I haven't seen her look this carefree and easy in weeks It transforel beyond trite words of description
The courthouse picture fades and is replaced by video with the word LIVE in the upper right-hand corner and ain front of the courthouse His hair is perfectly coiffed and his tan expensive He looks soberly at the ca news out of Marin County this evening as Assistant District Attorney Suzette Haes are being dropped against Beck North and Sela Halstead As you know, North and Halstead were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder"
Williaives out a drunken whoop as the reporter drones on but none of us cheer This isn't surprising news to us, as before we left that conference rooree over the video so she could show it to Colin and Candace I didn't like the bitch one bit, but I did have a certain grudging respect for the fact that she wanted to ot some closure
And probably keep her can contribution intact
But whatever
The point being, we all came to the condo and cracked open the liquor to celebrate Sela followed Kerry's suit and had whiskey, Dennis and I beer, Doug sipped on red wine, while William alternated between
shots of whiskey chased by beer Maria was the only one not drinking since she was planning on driving a drunk Williaht out of San Francisco
Doug found out that Haive a press conference, and had in fact been fielding a few calls fro a state for this news segment as we celebrated
"said that evidence caht--a video apparently--that supported Miss Halstead's claim of self-defense and that Mr North was not involved at all ADA Hammond has said that video will be released once the victim's family has been able to view it In a call to North's attorney, Doug Shriver, a statement was issued on behalf of both defendants where they stated, 'We're just happy to have this ordeal over and look forward toon with our lives' "
The reporter signs off and everyone starts the happy buzz of chatter again, but Sela and I lock eyes on each other
Yes, we are ready to h I have no clue what that will even look like
It doesn't ht involve living in a dusty village in southern Mexico where Sela and I would raise goats or so
She smiles at ardless if we soat shit
I look around at the people in my home Some people I've known forever--namely Caroline and Ally, who came over as soon as I called them from the courthouse Most of the others are recent additions to my life and I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve this type of support I've done bad things and screwed up a few ti someone, bribed another, and eventually covered up a murder
Because I did it all in the naood man
It merely makes me cliched
Regardless, I can't castigate ht, as I'm merely too happy and satisfied that Sela's safe and she's not leaving a to relish the victory
Selfish?
Absolutely
Can I atone for these sins?
God I hope so