“Come on in,” I said.
Grace nodded and walked inside, sinking down on the couch in the front room. Her conversation with Miller at the police station earlier had been every uncle’s worst nightmare. Grace had said little in the way of answering questions, but what she had said over and over again was that Tommy didn’t kill Hugh—she did. Unsure what to believe, the police allowed her to return home with James for the night, while they sorted out whom to believe, something I was questioning myself. She’d be questioned again in the morning, and if her answer didn’t change, there was a chance she could be arrested.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
She glanced up at me, and the tears started flowing. I reached for a box of tissues and handed it to her. She blew her nose a few times and set the box in her lap.
“It’s not fair,” she said. “I told them, and they still won’t let him go.”
“The problem is, you told them the same thing Tommy did, and now they don’t know who to believe. One of you isn’t telling the truth, and what I don’t want to see happen is for you both to be in trouble for it.”
“What do you mean?”
“If the police can’t be sure which one of you is telling the truth, you could both be held responsible. Did they explain that to you?”
“They said a lot of things. I wasn’t listening.”
“Murder isn’t the only charge a person can go to prison for,” I said. “There are other charges you could be convicted for, like murder by association.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s when you help someone else commit murder in some way. Even if you didn’t do it yourself, you could spend your entire life in prison for it.”
“We could both go to prison, even if only one of us did it?”
“Yes, because you’re both confessing to the crime. The police might decide you killed him together, and you’ll both go to trial.”
“But I didn’t know Hugh would fall down the stairs. I was just so angry.”
“I know, and I understand how the two of you found yourself in a situation where a hard decision needed to be made. Your uncle understands too. That’s why he’s been trying to protect you. But he can’t do that if you’re only concerned about protecting someone else.”
She was crying harder now.
“I don’t want Tommy to go to jail or prison or anywhere else! It’s not fair!”
“You don’t deserve to go to prison, either, but if the real truth doesn’t come out, both of you could be punished for Hugh’s death. I’m sorry to be telling you this, but you need to know.”