“I don’t know what to say about that, but if you don’t have any memory of what happened, how were you able to make a statement accusing my brother of taking you? How were you able to identify him from a selection of photographs given to you?”
He loved you and you betrayed him.
A barrage of emotion crossed Saige’s face—shock being the main one.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, and buried her face in her hands. “I really don’t know. How could I have done that if I don’t have any memory?”
Her tear stained eyes lifted to his and Alex found himself swallowing back the harsh words he’d had prepared for the last eight years.
“That’s a good question that I think you need to ask your father,” he hissed.
Saige dried her tears up with a napkin that he passed to her while staying silent. She stared out of the window and drank some of her coffee, her fingers only shaking slightly around the tall cup.
“I tried to ask my father about the trial.” She faced him. “He wanted me to leave it in the past.”
Alex clenched his jaw in anger. “I heard.”
Saige paused and then nodded. “I agreed, but had no intention of letting it go.”
“Why? Why would you lie to your father?” He knew she lied but needed to hear the reason from her, and he knew how close she was to her father. She always had been and he overheard enough of their conversation earlier to know that she still was.
“He’s protecting me.”
Alex wondered if there was something more to her father wanting her to leave it in the past. Did he have secrets too?
Saige’s attention went outside the coffee shop again, as though she was seeing something he couldn’t.
“If I tell you something, will you tell me if you think I’m crazy?” she asked so quietly.
He nodded, his curiosity piqued.
“When I saw your brother’s picture on television yesterday, that was the first time I recall seeing him. I know I can’t remember, but I didn’t feel anything like I thought I would if I ever saw the man who took me. I felt safe. I don’t understand why I didn’t fear him if he was the one responsible for what happened to me. That’s what set me off wanting to know what happened.” She leaned forward. “And now, are you telling me that it was my statement, and selecting him from a photographic lineup, that got him convicted?”
If she was lying, then she was a damn good actress. He wanted to believe she was lying, except his gut told him she wasn’t.
So he decided to be even more honest. “There was evidence at the scene of the crime to suggest that he was responsible. After your statement, they didn’t look for anyone else and went after Quinten. Eventually they charged him, not only with your abduction and torture, but also with five counts of first-degree murder of the college girls who disappeared before you. As far as they were concerned, they had their man so why look elsewhere.”
Saige paled and nodded her hea
d with acceptance.
“I need to see my statement and I need to know what evidence they used to convict him.” Saige grabbed her purse and rummaged around before she brought out a small notepad and a pen. “We’ll make a list.”
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” Alex asked, bemused that she now seemed comfortable with him. She even treated him like they were a team.
She tilted her head to the side. “Should I be?”
“I won’t hurt you, Saige. I just want to do everything I can for my brother.”
“If I knew you before, then I must have known Quinten too, right?”
He wasn’t sure how much to tell Saige because their relationship had been wrong in a lot of ways. Quinten had been married at the time, even though he started to seek a divorce from the bitch, Jocelyn. His brother still hadn’t been totally free to be with Saige.
“You knew the both of us. We did the wooden carving on the staircase in your family’s home the summer before...” he paused, trying to think of what to call everything before, he finally finished with, “hell happened.”
“So I’d talk to you both?”
“Yes.”