Chapter 12 - My Sister's Voice
The next afternoon, Naomi returned with news I hadn't expected to hear: "Your sister is here."
Beth walked into the attorney visitation room carrying a canvas bag and a look of fury. She was four years younger than me, but she'd always been the one who stepped between our mother and a broken washing machine, a landlord, or a threatening letter.
"You took a plea," she said, sitting down, "and then decided to investigate a prison from inside it?"
"I didn't plan the blanket."
"You planned not calling me."
I stared at the tabletop. "You told me not to take the deal. I couldn't stand hearing you say it again."
Her face softened. "I wasn't angry you were scared. I was angry they made you think you were alone."
I told her about Mina, the hem, Jo's fall and Nora Bell's missing testimony. Beth wrote without interrupting. She had been gathering my old case papers while I hid behind shame.
"Nora's statement was revised three times," she said. "My office obtained the court's version history. The first draft didn't say she saw you sign anything. That line appeared after HalePoint's lawyer met with the prosecutor."
"Can we reopen the case?"
"We can ask. We need more than a bad feeling."
She pulled out a photo of a woman in a grocery-store parking lot. Brown coat, dark braid, grocery cart. Nora Bell. The time stamp was from two days earlier.
"My investigator found her in Reno," Beth said. "She says she lied. But she won't talk unless we can protect her daughter."
"What's the threat?"
"She says the person who arranged the false statement still has access to her address."
May you like
Before I could answer, the visitation phone crackled. An officer entered on Beth's side and placed an urgent message beside her notepad. She read it once and turned white.
"Someone picked up Nora's daughter from school," she whispered. "It wasn't Nora."
