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 head 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.”
He could practically hear her thinking, see all of the questions running behind her eyes. He needed to cut them off for now. “I have an appointment with Daniel Sterling, Quinten’s defense attorney, tomorrow. You can come and talk to him with me. He’ll probably have a copy of your statement for you to read. That’s if you’re free?” he questioned, almost like it was a dare, taunting her. A way for him to know for sure that she was all in.
She offered a small smile. “That’s who I planned on talking to when I promised my father to leave it all in the past.” She shrugged. “I can’t do that. I have to know what happened.”
* * *
11:55pm
* * *
Quinten lay on the narrow bed and tried not to think about the end, instead he focused on Saige. He knew Alex thought he was crazy for still longing for the girl who stole his heart the summer before everything went to hell…before she betrayed him.
However, his heart still ached every time he thought about her. Their love had been doomed from the minute they had laid eyes on each other. She’d taken his breath away, and every minute they’d spent together had made his heart race with longing. He hadn’t been free to pursue a relationship. At first, he’d tried to ignore the pull that she’d had over him, but then one day he’d found her upset in the boathouse when she’d thought no one else was around. After that day, they’d managed to spend time together every day. They’d only talked, but she’d kept him going, and it had given him something to look forward to.
He’d struggled to keep his hands to himself, but as long as he was married there wasn’t anything else that he could have done...and then, that last night that they’d met before she’d headed back to college, he did what he’d promised not to. He’d made love to her, over and over again.
Saige’s hands on his body, her lips against his, her breasts soft against his chest. It had all been too much for him, for her. They first came together in a frenzied haze of sexual need. The second and subsequent times that night had been slow and long, until they knew they had to part. Then it had been fast and hard.