“I’m not afraid.”
I looked down pointedly at the denim-clad leg that was jiggling a mere inch from my own.
“Fine. I’m not afraid, I’m nervous. Okay?”
“What do you have to be nervous about? You get to walk out of here.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. But what if she’s wonderful? What if she really is in here based on some gross injustice? What if she’s lost all these years of her life to an unfair sentence?”
“Then you’ll help her.”
She went back to chewing on her lower lip for a few moments and then shifted to face me. Her knee was pressing into my thigh. Those green eyes were earnest. “What if her sentence was unfairly harsh but she’s a terrible person?”
I felt myself softening toward her. Just like her father, she wanted to make a difference in the lives of strangers. But Sloane didn’t have Simon’s unlimited capacity for forgiveness. Neither did I.
“Then we’ll talk afterward and figure out the best way forward. There’s no point wasting any mental energy on a scenario that hasn’t played out yet.”
She frowned. “You strike me as the kind of man who goes into every situation having considered every possible scenario.”
My lips quirked. “It’s a luxury of someone who has no human feelings.”
“Lucian, I’m serious.”
“As am I. You approach this conversation your way, and I’ll approach it mine. We’ll discuss it later. For now, all you need to do is ask questions and listen.”
“I just… I don’t want to give her false hope.”
“You won’t,” I assured her.
It was a lie. One look at Sloane’s earnest face, those eager eyes, and Mary Louise Upshaw was going to feel what I had felt at seventeen. Hope.
The heavy metal door on the far end of the room opened, and a woman in a beige jumpsuit entered.
My throat felt dry and tight.
She was white with thick, wavy chestnut-brown hair streaked with gray. Without the jumpsuit, she would have looked like anyone’s middle-aged mom. The guard pointed to us, and a look of curiosity flitted across her features.
She headed in our direction, and I felt Sloane stop breathing.
I slid my arm around the back of her chair and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “It’s just a conversation,” I said, keeping my voice low.
I felt her relax infinitesimally.
“Hello,” Mary Louise said, pulling out the chair across from us and sitting.
“Hi.” Sloane’s voice squeaked. She cleared her throat and began again. “Mary Louise, I’m Sloane Walton, and this is my…associate Lucian Rollins. We had some questions about your case and sentence.”
“Are you reporters?” Mary Louise asked, cocking her head.
Sloane’s gaze slid to me. “No.”
There was a guard stationed across the room, looking blank-faced and bored. It made my skin crawl.
“Lawyers?” Mary Louise looked hopeful.
Sloane shook her head. “No. Just…” She looked at me again, help written in those lovely green eyes.
I leaned forward. “Ms. Upshaw, we recently stumbled across a mention of your case. Did you ever meet with a Simon Walton? He was an attorney.”
She shook her head slowly. “No. I’ve only had public defenders. Simon was my son’s mentor. He helped Allen get into law school. He unfortunately passed away recently.”
Sloane tensed against me as if bracing for the inevitable blow of grief.
“It looked as though Simon had taken an interest in your case, specifically your sentencing,” I continued. “Can you shed any light as to why that might be?”
Mary Louise shrugged and interlaced her fingers on the table. “Maybe because it was one of the harshest sentences for possession and trafficking in the state of Virginia in the last thirty-five years.”
Sloane cleared her throat. “You said initially that the drugs found in your car during your traffic stop weren’t yours. And then you changed your statement and pled guilty.”
Mary Louise studied us with narrowed eyes for a beat. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
“I’m Sloane Walton. Simon was my father. I think he wanted to help you, but he got sick before he could.”
Mary Louise took a breath, sympathy shining in her eyes. “Your father was a good man. He changed my son’s life, so I can only imagine what he did for you. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Sloane reached across the table with one hand. Mary Louise took it and squeezed.
And there it was. That sneaky bastard that would only lead to disappointment, devastation. Hope. It bloomed over both women’s faces, and I resigned myself to the fact that things were going to get messy…and expensive.
“I met Allen the day of my dad’s funeral,” Sloane told her. “You raised a great kid.”
Mary Louise’s face rearranged into maternal pride. “I know it. I wish I could take credit for it, but I’ve been in here since he was sixteen.”
“What happened the night you were arrested?” Sloane asked. “We’re not here to judge. We want to help if we can.”
Mary Louise shook her head. “Honey, I appreciate that, but I’ve been in here eleven years. I don’t believe in miracles anymore.”
“We’re not offering a miracle,” I clarified.
“Anything that would get me out of this place one day early would be a miracle,” she insisted.
“Then tell us what happened that night,” I said.
Under the table, Sloane’s hand found my thigh and squeezed. Hard.
“Please,” I added briskly.
Mary Louise closed her eyes and reached up to rub the back of her neck. “My son was fifteen. His father and I had just split up, and he fell in with the wrong crowd. He had plans. He was going to be the first kid in my family to go to college.”
Sloane’s knee pressed more firmly against my leg. I kept my arm where it was on the back of her chair but allowed my fingers to brush her shoulder. I felt better, less anxious in here touching her.
Mary Louise locked eyes with me. “He was a good kid. A really good kid.”
“Good kids can make stupid choices,” I said.
Sloane tensed.
“I was working two jobs at the time. I wasn’t around as much as I should have been. I missed the signs. He’d started experimenting. Nothing too crazy. But his ‘friend’ told Allen he had a way they could make some money. Allen being Allen knew times were tough and thought this was a way he could help out the family. They took my car from the parking lot while I was working third shift to meet some dealer somewhere.”
She interlaced her fingers and rested them on the table.
“I got pulled over on the highway halfway between work and home. I had a headlight out. It turns out they decided it was safer to keep the drugs in my car. I had no idea I was driving around with almost five pounds of marijuana in my back seat. I didn’t even know what a dime bag was until I came here. I’ve learned a lot of things in here.”
There was no blame, no malice in her tone. She was simply stating facts.
“When you found out the drugs belonged to your son, that’s when you changed your plea, isn’t it?” Sloane guessed.
Mary Louise nodded. “He had a whole bright future ahead of him. I wasn’t going to let one mistake ruin all that.”
I felt a tightness in my chest. The sacrifice this woman had willingly made for her son was unfathomable. At least in my family.
“I had a public defender. The prosecutor offered me a deal. If I pled guilty, she would recommend one year with time served and the possibility of early parole. I was only supposed to do six months max. Six months and then I would be home. I’d see my baby’s high school graduation. I’d send him off to college.”
“What happened to the deal?” Sloane asked, leaning forward.
Mary Louise shrugged. “The prosecutor made the recommendation. But for whatever reason, the judge didn’t like the deal. He said drugs had been infiltrating his community for far too long and it was time to set an example for criminals like me.”
Sloane winced.