"I'll pay you thirty million dollars if you bring the culprit to me," Grandma Allie said. Her voice carried a weight that pressed down on everyone in the room. The kind of voice no one could easily refuse.
The private investigator nodded at once, but her eyes turned to me. Her frown was carved deep, like a wound that would never close.
My unbothered self leaned against the doorframe of the interrogation room, with my phone in hand. She still blamed me for her granddaughter's death. I didn't bother to defend myself anymore. She needed someone to carry her grief, and I was the closest, easiest target.
Hailey was all she had left. Her only daughter had died long ago, and Hailey had been her last string of family. Now, she had nothing. No husband. No child. No grandchild. Just a fortune that couldn't keep her warm at night.
And she would never move on. Instead of mourning, she would pin it on me, always, because Hailey and I never got along.
