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CHAPTER 18

The afternoon sun shone through the window in Caitlin's cell, casting long, barred shadows along the floor. She lay on her bunk and looked up at the rough-textured ceiling, thinking back to the night at Amanda's and trying even harder to pierce the veil of her memory. She kept being distracted as her brain picked out shapes and forms in the random dots on the ceiling, and try as she might, she couldn't get that far back.

She'd sat with Poppy out in the yard for the rest of their time, and she'd walked behind the other girl all the way to her cell before Orfeo took her back to her own. There wasn't any way for the two of them to talk as Poppy's cell was all the way across the yard from hers and one floor down, but she'd taken Poppy's hand and given it a little squeeze before she moved on. She could still feel the Poppy's warm paw in hers when she thought about it.

Lunch came and went with her eating very little, leaving the tray in the corner for it to be picked up when the cart came round again, and still she stared at the ceiling. Nothing changed here. Every day seemed to be the same. Time in the cell when the lights came on, then breakfast, then yard time, then lunch, then lots and lots of time to merely sit and think. Unfortunately, thinking is not what Caitlin wanted to be doing now. Every time she let her mind wander, it went right back to the look on Lilly's face when she'd almost locked eyes just before they shot her.

A sound outside the cell made her lift her head and she saw Orfeo standing at the door, reaching into her pocket for her keycard. Caitlin sat up on the bed and swung her legs around to rest on the floor while she waited for Orfeo to open the door. With a sound that Caitlin was growing used to, the door slid open and Orfeo smiled softly at her.

"Your parents are here, girl."

Caitlin took a breath and looked down at her feet while her heart leapt into her throat. There was no one that she wanted to see more, but she didn't want to be seeing them here. Not in a cage like she was, she should be home with them in her room, listening to her father going on about the stories on the news all the time. But this is what she had, and her desire to see them overcame her shame of the situation. She stood up and nodded at Orfeo, and then walked to the door and turned around with her hands behind her back, ready for the handcuffs.

"You going to give me trouble, girl?" Orfeo asked.

"No, Momma Wolf," Caitlin replied, still waiting.

"Then turn around, Kincaid. Your folks don't need to see you all chained up. Come with me."

Caitlin turned around and Orfeo took her by the arm to lead her down the hall to the stairs. There were no catcalls as she passed the cells. Every one that she passed, the girl inside had turned to look through the bars at her. Some had looks of anger and malice on their faces, but others she could see sadness, shame and in some cases, sympathy. She knew from the little news that she'd heard that her story had circulated through all the girls in the wing, probably further, and the girl in the cell next to hers had spread her version of the story too. She could tell from the looks on their faces which ones believed her version and which ones had already judged her because of the news.

Orfeo walked her down the stairs and at the bottom, a girl's arm snaked out through the bars and reached out for Caitlin. Caitlin turned as she felt the fingers wrap around her other arm and she looked back at Daisy, the girl who'd been so crude when she'd arrived. When she looked this time, there was only sympathy on the girl's face.

"Hey, Caitlin," she said through a little ghost of a smile. "You gonna be fine, girl."

Orfeo didn't pull Caitlin along, just let her stand there with Daisy for a minute. Caitlin lifted her hand and Daisy slid her own down Caitlin's arm to entwine their fingers together.

"Thanks Daisy," Caitlin said, trying hard to dredge a smile from the well of emotions that she was feeling. She had to wonder if she succeeded, but whether she did or not, Daisy smiled at her and held her eyes for a moment longer before she let go of her hand.

Caitlin turned and started walking again, following Orfeo's subtle leading tugs on her arm through the door that led to the offices. This time, she took her through a door on the wall opposite the interrogation room hallway. This one opened to another hallway, painted in the same dull blue as the rest of the prison. This one had doors and windows on both sides of the hallway and a large steel door set into the far end of the hall. The doors were the same as the ones that led to the interrogation rooms, and the windows were thick glass crisscrossed by sturdy wire that divided the large pane into small diamonds. Through the windows, Caitlin could see rooms with tables and stools, all of them bolted to the floor just like almost every other piece of furniture that she'd seen in the prison so far.

Orfeo took her to the farthest room and opened the door for her. Caitlin looked at the guard and Orfeo smiled.

"Just wait in here and I'll go get your folks. Just be a minute," she said.

Caitlin nodded and stepped into the room. She heard the heavy door shut behind her and the lock slide home, and even through the thick steel, she could hear Orfeo's steps as she walked towards the far door. She looked out through the window at the empty hallway for a moment before she felt the shaking start, and she made it to the table closest to the door before it got so bad that she couldn't stand any more.

She took deep breaths, trying to calm the anxiety and the panic starting to rise in her chest, but the long, deep breaths quickly became faster, panting breaths as her throat choked back a sob. She was so focused on keeping back the panic that she didn't notice that her arms had crossed her own chest and she was rubbing her hands back and forth on her upper arms while she rocked on the stool. When she noticed, she tried to calm them as well as her breath, but nothing seemed to work.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened again and when she looked up, she saw the familiar plaid shirt hanging off a very familiar pair of shoulders. When she raised her face a little more, she saw her father's concerned face staring at her and she couldn't stop herself from running across the room and throwing herself into her arms.

She clung tightly to her father and finally everything let go when the big strong arms wrapped around her. Dams that she didn't know she'd been building broke inside her and she couldn't stop the tears or the whimpering sobs that broke forth.

She was dimly aware of Orfeo behind her father holding the door open, but she didn't care that she was holding anything up. After a minute, though, she felt her father shift his grip and lift her into his arms to step into the room.

"Take your time, Mister Kincaid," Orfeo said. "You have about three hours before lights out, and I'll let you stay until then."

"Thank you, officer," Jeremy said. Then he carried his daughter in his arms across the room back to the table and sat down on one of the stools while Orfeo closed and locked the door behind him. He let Caitlin rest against his legs while he held her to him, and Caitlin clung tightly to his warm and familiar body, eyes shut tight against the rest of the world while she cried and sobbed.

After a while of her father whispering in her ear and talking gently to her, she slowly calmed and her breathing slowed and finally she became aware of another two sets of hands on her shoulders and arms and when she opened her eyes, she found herself looking at her mother. She was smiling softly at her daughter and gently rubbing her shoulder.

Another face caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and when she turned her head, her sister Sarah was sitting on the stool next to her father. Sarah looked worried and upset, but she still kept her hands on Caitlin's other shoulder. When the two of them saw her looking up, they both wrapped their arms around her and held both her and her father in a very close hug.

Caitlin could feel herself enveloped by their warmth and for the first time in two days she felt a measure of safety. It wasn't much, but with the way she was feeling the last two days, just that little bit made all the difference in the world.

Too soon, though, the moment passed and they let go of her and sat back down. Jeremy kept Caitlin on his lap, but she turned so she could see the other two. All of them, her mother, her father, and her sister had worried looks on their faces, and she could picture the scene in the house the last couple days with her father going crazy with his worry, and she turned back to look up at him.

"Sorry, Daddy," she whispered.

"Shhh," Jeremy whispered. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

Caitlin caught back a sob and hugged her father tightly, and she managed to keep the emotions in check for the moment.

"They think I killed Amanda and everyone, Daddy. And I don't remember anything."

Jeremy frowned down at his daughter. He wanted nothing more than to be able to hold her to his chest and make everything be all better. He could see the terror in her eyes as she looked back at him, even though the redness and the puffy eyelids. "What happened, Caitlin?" he asked, voice soft and filled with worry.

Caitlin took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to pull away from her father. She knew that he wouldn't like what she was going to tell him, but she started the story, anyway, even keeping in the part about drinking.

"I only had a couple of bottles of cider, daddy," she said, trying to justify her actions, or perhaps explain them away.

"It's all right, Caitlin. We're not mad about the drinking," her father said, and when she looked into his eyes again, she saw that he was telling the truth. There was no anger there, and she relaxed.

Jeremy Kincaid smiled lovingly down at his daughter, and though he tried, he couldn't keep the worry off his face, nor out of his voice. "The inspector came to talk to us yesterday," he said.

Caitlin nodded, wondering what Inspector Corbett had visited her family for.

"He said that he thinks you didn't do it," Jeremy said.

"But he left so quickly and he said that all the evidence said that I did when he talked to me yesterday," Caitlin said, confusion plain on her face.

"He said he was going to try to get you out of here, kiddo. So you just hang on, okay."

Caitlin looked up at her father and she could feel the tears starting up again. "I'm scared, Daddy. Do you know what they're going to do?"

Jeremy nodded and swallowed hard. He'd looked up the statues when he first heard the news and he knew what his daughter was facing. "I know, sweetie. But Corbett is going to do everything he can, so you just have to stay strong, okay. We'll all be there at the hearing tomorrow. If the inspector doesn't think that you did it, then it should all be over then, okay?"

Caitlin nodded, seeing a little glimmer of hope at the end of the long, dark tunnel. She couldn't help but think back to the sight of Lilly's lifeless body bleeding onto the grass in her blood-soaked robe, and she trembled violently in her father's arms.

Jeremy pulled her close with his strong arms and sat rocking her on the stool while her mother and sister looked on. No one had any words to say that would make anything any better, so the family stayed that way until Orfeo returned.

"Sorry, Mister Kincaid," she said. "Have to take you out now."

Caitlin hugged her father hard and then stood up off his lap, taking a moment to look at Sarah and her mother before they all converged on her and held her close. Over her mother's shoulder, she could see Orfeo watching the four of them, and the look on her face disturbed Caitlin. It was one of concern, but tinged with a bit of resignation, as if she knew what was going to happen and there wasn't anything she could do about it. A sense of foreboding filled Caitlin and she clung tightly to her family for as long as she could before they finally let her go and followed Orfeo out the door.

She heard the door latch behind them and she sat down on the stool, too exhausted to even cry. She just looked at the blank door, waiting for it to open. Her father had told her to stay strong and that there was hope, and she had to believe him, but every time she thought about Lilly, she started thinking about what it was going to be like to be out there, at the mercy of the elements and anyone who came in the yard. She remembered the moaning cries that she'd heard through the night, and she tried hard not to think about why they were made.

Finally, the lock sounded again and the door opened. Orfeo swung it in on its hinges and beckoned for her. "Come on, Caitlin. Let's get you back to your bunk. You're going to see the Magistrate tomorrow, so you should get some sleep."

Caitlin nodded and clung tightly to the hope that her father had given her. If Inspector Corbett didn't think that she did it, then she had to trust that he'd find a way to make sure that she got out of this. It felt strange, trusting someone that she hardly knew with nothing less than her life, but it was the only chance of hope that she had, and she was willing to cling to it no matter what.