Chapter 52 "Aftermath"
MAYA
Maya couldn't breathe.
She watched helplessly as the officers led Ember through the side door, watched her best friend disappear behind that heavy wooden barrier like she was being swallowed whole. The sound of the door closing echoed in the suddenly quiet courtroom.
"No," Maya whispered. Then louder: "No! We need to talk to her! Please!"
But the courtroom was already clearing out. The judge had left. The prosecutor was packing up his briefcase with efficient, practiced movements. A few spectators probably journalists, based on the notebooks were hurrying out, probably to file their stories.
Local college student pleads guilty to triple murder. Sentenced to ten years.
It would be all over the news by tonight.
"Maya." Kelly's hand was on her arm, firm but gentle. "Maya, we can't do anything right now. She's gone."
"But she didn't do it!" Maya's voice cracked. Tears were streaming down her face, hot and angry. "Kelly, she didn't do this! Why would she plead guilty? Why would she"
"I don't know."
"We have to talk to her. We have to"
"Miss? Ma'am?" A bailiff approached, his expression sympathetic but firm. "You need to leave the courtroom now. There's another case starting in ten minutes."
Maya wanted to argue. Wanted to scream. Wanted to demand answers that no one seemed to have.
But Kelly was already guiding her toward the exit, one arm around her shoulders. Adrian followed silently, his face pale, his good hand clenched into a fist.
They stepped out into the courthouse hallway a wide corridor with marble floors and too-bright lights. Other people milled around lawyers in suits, officers, families waiting for their own cases to be called. The normalcy of it all made Maya want to scream.
How could the world just keep turning when Ember's life had just ended?
"I need some air," Maya gasped. "I can't I need to get out of here."
They pushed through the main doors and out into the cold January morning. The sky was grey, threatening snow. Maya gulped in freezing air, trying to steady herself.
"This doesn't make sense," she said, mostly to herself. "Ember wouldn't plead guilty. She wouldn't. Not unless..."
"Not unless what?" Kelly asked quietly.
"Not unless she really did it."
The words hung in the air between them.
"No." Adrian spoke for the first time since they'd left the courtroom. His voice was rough, like he'd been the one crying instead of Maya. "No, I don't believe that. I don't believe Ember will plea guilty on her own".
Adrian's sudden vehemence made both girls flinch. "I know her," he repeated, more quietly this time. "There has to be another explanation."
Maya wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to believe him so badly. But Ember had stood in that courtroom and said the word guilty. Had accepted ten years in prison. And the look on her face...
Maya had seen that look before. Back when Ember's dad had died. Back when Ember's mom had left. That look of someone who'd already given up. Someone who'd stopped fighting because fighting hurt too much.
"Excuse me?"
The voice came from behind them. Maya turned to see a woman standing a few feet away mid-forties, wearing a long coat and carrying an expensive leather purse. Her hair was pulled back severely, and her face was carefully neutral.
But her eyes were Ember's eyes. The same unusual hazel-green, the same shape.
"You're Ember's friends?" the woman asked.
"Yes," Maya said cautiously. "Who are you?"
"Allison Winters. I'm Ember's mother."
Maya's mouth fell open. She'd seen pictures
old ones, from before Mrs. Winters had left. But those photos had shown a different woman. Younger. Softer. The woman standing before them now looked like she'd been carved from ice.
"You came," Maya said stupidly.
"Of course I came. She's my daughter." Allison's tone suggested this should be obvious.
"She didn't do it," Maya blurted out. "I know what it looks like, I know she pleaded guilty, but Ember didn't kill anyone."
"Stop." Allison held up a hand. "Just stop. I don't want to hear your excuses or your theories or whatever it is you're about to say."
Maya blinked. "What?"
"My daughter just pleaded guilty to three murders. Three." Allison's voice was sharp, controlled, but there was something underneath it something that sounded like barely contained fury. "Do you understand what that means? Do you have any idea what the last twenty-four hours have been like? I got a phone call from a police station. My daughter, who I haven't properly spoken to in two years, calling to tell me she's been arrested for murder."
"Mrs. Winters" Kelly started.
"Do you know what I did?" Allison continued, ignoring Kelly. "I dropped everything. Cancelled my appointments. Drove three hours to get here. Called in every favor I had to get her a meeting with a lawyer. And what does she do? She pleads guilty without even consulting with me first."
"Maybe she had a reason" Maya tried.
"A reason? What possible reason could justify pleading guilty to murder?" Allison's carefully controlled façade was cracking. "Unless she actually did it. Unless everything the police said is true, and my daughter is a killer."
"She's not!" Maya's voice rose. People in the courthouse parking lot were starting to stare, but she didn't care. "Ember isn't a killer! Something else is going on, something none of us understand"
"Oh, I'm sure." Allison's laugh was bitter. "Something else is going on. Let me guess you think she was framed? Or maybe you think this is all some big misunderstanding? Wake up. The police had evidence. Security footage. Witness statements. And instead of fighting, instead of defending herself, she stood there and said 'guilty.' What does that tell you?"
"It tells me she's scared," Adrian said quietly. "It tells me she thinks she has no other choice."
Allison turned her cold gaze on him. "And you are?"
"Adrian Crane. I'm... I'm Ember's boyfriend."
Something flickered in Allison's expression surprise, maybe, or recognition of the name. But it was gone too quickly for Maya to read.
"Well, Adrian." Allison adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "I suggest you find yourself a new girlfriend. Because mine is going to prison for the next ten years."
"That's not fair," Maya said, her voice breaking. "She's your daughter. How can you just"