Софи Райан - No Escape Claws

“I’m sorry, Mrs. French,” she was saying. “This is my fault.”

“No, it isn’t,” Katy said. She looked at Liz. “It’s your fault. Please just stop this. I know you mean well but you’re just making things worse, not better, for Mallory and her brothers.”

Mallory put a hand on the woman’s arm. “Thank you for the ride over here,” she said. “You can go now. I can handle this.”

“We can just get your brother and leave,” Katy said. “You don’t have to stay here.”

Mallory forced a smile. She put her arms around Katy and gave her a hug. “Thank you for caring. But everything’s okay. Go home. I’ll call you later.”

She was very mature for her age, probably because life had forced her to be.

Katy looked from Mallory to Liz. “If you need me, you call me.”

Mallory nodded. “I promise.” She kept the smile on her face until Katy was gone then she turned to Liz. “I’m sorry about that,” she said. “Katy just doesn’t know when to let go.”

“Gina was her best friend,” I said. “It’s understandable that she’d worry about you and your brothers.”

She gave me a wry smile. “She drives Greg crazy, but I kind of feel sad for her.” She played with a strand of hair, twisting it around one finger. “A couple of months before the fire Katy was set to adopt a baby and it didn’t happen because the birth mother changed her mind.”

“That had to be very painful,” Liz said.

Mallory nodded. “The night of the fire, the night Dad took us to her house, I slept in the living room because the baby’s room was, well, still the baby’s room with a crib and everything.”

Katy’s overprotectiveness toward her best friend’s children made a little more sense now.

Mallory looked at Liz. “Would it be all right if I talked to Greg for a sec?” she asked.

“Of course,” Liz said.

“They’re out in the garage,” Charlotte said. She put an arm around Mallory’s shoulders. “I’ll show you.”

“I’ll come with you,” I said. I looked at Liz. “Go get some hot for your cup. I’ll be right back.”

Greg was moving things and Avery was wielding the shop vac when we got to the garage work space.

“They’re doing a good job,” I whispered to Charlotte. “This space hasn’t been this clean in I don’t know how long.”

Avery caught sight of us and turned off the vacuum. She tapped Greg on the arm and he turned around. Mallory walked over to her brother. She hugged him and then smacked his arm. “What the heck were you thinking?” she asked. “Were you trying to get suspended?” She gestured at Avery. “Were you trying to get her suspended?”

“They don’t suspend people at our school,” Avery said.

Charlotte shook her head.

“Not helping,” I said quietly.

Avery stared at her feet. “Fine,” she muttered.

“I was doing the same thing you are,” Greg said defiantly. “Trying to get Dad out of jail. Avery and I talked to most of the people at our end of the street and no one else saw Dad when the fire started, which means that judge guy is wrong. Why did they listen to him anyway?”

“He’s a good witness,” I said. “He’s careful, not impulsive. He knew your dad as a neighbor. He even recognized your father’s ball cap.” I didn’t say that I was starting to think that maybe someone had gone to a lot of effort to make Neill Halloran think he’d seen Mike Pearson.

Greg shoved his hair back out of his eyes. “Yeah, well, he isn’t always careful. About a week before . . . before the fire, he had his barbecue going in the snow and then forgot about it. He almost set his house on fire.”

Mallory wasn’t following the conversation, I realized. She was eyeing me, a frown knotting her forehead. “So the judge said Dad was wearing his ball cap?” she said slowly, like she was testing each word.

I nodded.

“Which one? Do you know?”

“The baseball cap from the Melbourne Olympics.”

“The blue and red one?” A smile was starting to spread across her face and she slowly shook her head. “He’s wrong,” she said. “He didn’t see Dad.” She grabbed Charlotte’s arm. “Mrs. Elliot, the judge didn’t see Dad. He’s wrong. He has to be.” She looked at us, the smile lighting up her face.

“Hang on a minute,” Charlotte said. “What makes you so sure?” She looked at me over Mallory’s head, a frown creasing her forehead.

“I know because I was wearing that hat,” Mallory said. She looked at her brother. “Greg, do you remember?”

I saw his expression change and his face light up as the memory came back. “Yeah. Dad was mad because you were washing your hair instead of getting ready to go. I would have given you my hat but Mom had taken it.”

Mallory nodded. “And my hair was still wet and then when we got outside it was cold and he put his hat on my head in the car on the way to Katy’s.” Her words were falling over one another. She turned back to Charlotte. “You see? This proves the judge is wrong. We can go to the police. We can get Dad out of jail!”

I could almost feel the excitement coming off of her.

“It’s not that simple,” Charlotte said.

Mallory looked confused. “What do you mean? I remember what happened and so does Greg. That’s two against one. They can’t keep Dad in jail now.”

“But you two are his children. It’s not the same as two strangers contradicting what Judge Halloran says he saw.”

“We’re not lying!” Greg said, a stubborn jut to his chin.

“We know that,” I said. “But the police, the prosecutor, they’ll say you two have more of a reason to lie than the judge does.”

“That bites!” Avery exclaimed.

I nodded. “Yes, it does.”

Mallory crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay fine,” she said. “I’ll just go talk to Judge Halloran myself. I’ll tell him he’s wrong. I’ll tell him about the hat and he can just go to the police and take back what he said.” She looked at the door and I realized she intended to go over there right now and confront the judge. From what I’d seen he was a kind man and I believed he’d listen to Mallory and treat her with respect, but he’d been a judge for a long time. He knew people would do or say anything to protect the people they loved and in the end I felt sure he’d dismiss Mallory’s story.

The thing was, I believed her. “I’ll go,” I said.

Mallory shook her head. “I’m not a child,” she said. “You don’t have to go with me and hold my hand or anything.”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” I said. “Let me go talk to Judge Halloran by myself.” I held up both hands to hopefully hold off her objections. I saw Greg make a face and Avery roll her eyes. “I believe you. I think if this were some kind of made-up story to get your dad out of prison you would have used it months ago.”

“So that’s something, right?” Avery said.

I rubbed my neck with one hand. “It is. But just for a minute, think about how many people must have stood in front of the judge, sworn to tell the truth and then lied. Not because they’re bad people, but because someone they loved was in trouble and they didn’t know what else to do.”

“But that’s not fair,” Greg said. “We’re not lying.”

“No it isn’t,” Charlotte said. “But sometimes that’s how life works. I’m with Sarah. I believe you. But everyone else is going to be harder to convince. Fair or not, that’s the way it is. Let Sarah go talk to the judge and make your case. If she doesn’t get anywhere, then you go. We won’t try to stop you.”

Mallory was looking past us toward the open door. I was pretty sure she was chewing the inside of her lip.

“I know this has nothing to do with me, but let Sarah go talk to that judge guy,” Avery said. She was still holding on to the vacuum cleaner hose, her other arm folded over her midsection. Her head was tilted to one side. “She’s really good at talking to people, even when they don’t want to listen. I’ve seen her do it. It’s like her superpower.”