Dean’s funeral, surprisingly, wasn’t the emptiest one I’d attended since coming to Fair Haven. Even though Oliver tried to kill me, I’d gone to his. Russ, Mark, and I were the only ones who attended Oliver’s interment besides the funeral director and the man who ran the backhoe to fill in the hole. It’d been so sad. I was glad I didn’t have to relive that feeling now.
All the Cavanaughs turned out for Dean’s funeral for the sake of Arielle, Cameron, and Elise. To my surprise, Ken came, as well as Nadine and Sam.
Before Nadine went to the police, I’d offered to represent her. Since the police did decide to clear Dean, it wasn’t a conflict of interest anymore. I managed to get her probation. As long as she didn’t commit any other crimes for the next few years, she wouldn’t have to serve jail time.
I didn’t tell her that I’d lied to her. Apparently, I hadn’t been entirely lying even though I didn’t know it at the time. Once they found out from Griffin that Dean was with him during the time of death window, they had started to consider Ken.
Nadine confessed to finding Sandra face-down in her bed. When she realized that Sandra was dead, she started to call the police. Then she got scared. She knew Dean and his ability to manipulate and lie. She wanted to do something to ensure he’d be charged with Sandra’s murder the way he deserved. She was convinced he’d done it. She went out to her car, brought back duct tape and a plastic bag, and staged Sandra’s body. She knew they shopped at the same grocery store.
She hadn’t been thinking clearly enough to remember that Sandra used reusable bags. She’d thought about planting the duct tape as well, but she hadn’t been sure whether her finger prints could be wiped off the cardboard roll the tape was on. She took it home with her.
My explanation of the evidence, along with Nadine’s confession, was enough to convince the district attorney that Sandra’s death was an unfortunate, self-inflicted accident.
That hadn’t made telling Elise the truth about what had happened any easier. First I’d told her how much Dean wanted to do right by Arielle and Cameron, and then I had to tell her why he’d ended up in the hospital. Mark had offered to tell her for me, but it hadn’t seemed right to pass it off onto him. I wanted to take responsibility for the part I’d played.
The pastor started his final words, and Elise slipped her hand into mine. Arielle wedged herself up against our legs, and in the edge of my vision, I could barely see Erik holding a sleeping Cameron in his arms.
When I’d told Elise, she’d walked out without saying anything, and I’d cried for the rest of the day despite my best intentions not to. She’d showed up at my house the next day, gave me a hug, and left without another word. Things had slowly edged back to normal, and I was the second one she called—after Erik—when Dean’s brother called to tell her he passed away. The damage to his heart had been too great.
As the pastor finished, Elise laid her head on my shoulder. It reminded me of when our friendship first began, sitting by the side of the road. That time, she’d been the one to both hurt me and help me. Friendships, it turned out, weren’t as easy as they seemed on TV. At least, not ones where the bonds were deep and survived the stresses of life, where the people involved showed the worst sides of themselves along with the best and made mistakes that they had to apologize for.
And those were the kinds of friendships I wanted.
“I’m glad you’re staying,” Elise said. “I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
When Mark and I finally talked about it, it’d turned out he was relieved I didn’t want to move to DC. He hadn’t wanted to go, either, but he didn’t want to bias my preference. Being a medical examiner was more stressful at times than research, but he also found it more rewarding. And he hadn’t wanted to leave his family, either. “You wouldn’t have lost me even if we went to DC.”
“No, but it wouldn’t have been the same.”
“Nope, it wouldn’t have. I’m glad we’re staying, too.”
Now that Mark and I had decided to stay in Fair Haven and both turned down the jobs in DC, only one question remained. What in the world was I supposed to do for a career? Because a lawyer who couldn’t argue a case in court wasn’t much of a lawyer at all.
Will Nicole find a way to continue as a lawyer? And how will she prove her next client innocent when his defense if that he hallucinated a bear? Start reading the next book, Bucket List, to find out!