“No. I believe life is weird, and odd things happen all the time.”
“Still, everyone who has ever lived at Black Oaks was met with tragedy. There are the McTavishes and Ian and Alice Standish at the original manor house, and Frank, Katherine, and Nelly Melville at the copy. You could also count Sheila Monroe as a victim because she lost her fiancé, and there’s Justin Trent.”
“You make a good point. I’m just too rational to believe in the supernatural.”
“What will happen to Black Oaks?”
“I don’t have any idea. I heard that Nelly tried to sell it to use for her legal fees, but I don’t think there have been any offers.”
“I haven’t seen the place, but, from the way you and Ken have described it, you’d have to be a real oddball to want to live there.”
“Amen to that,” Robin agreed.
Loretta shook her head. “What a tragedy. Look at how many lives were ruined.”
“There is one happy ending,” Robin said. “Jose Alvarez called. He’s enrolled in a paralegal program at Portland Community College. He’s even talking about going to law school. And the Innocence Project has asked him to be the keynote speaker at their annual fundraiser. They’ve also found him a part-time job at their office.”
“Will it be enough to live on?”
“No. Nelly reneged on her promise to help Jose, but I’ve given him the fee Nelly gave us to work on Corey Rockwell’s case and the money Frank Melville gave us to get him out of prison. It should be enough to tide him over for a while.”
“A life for a life,” Loretta said. “Nelly is in, and Jose is out. There’s some justice in that.”
“Not much,” Robin said sadly.
“At least there was something good that’s come out of this mess. That’s better than a lot of what happens in a lot of our cases.”
“But it is what keeps us going,” Robin answered. “And now, I’ve got to get back to this brief in hopes that there may be one more happy ending.”