CHAPTER 12

"Y ou're a little behind on that P zero," her boss said, referring to the priority zero or top-priority bug Kieran had been working on for the past few days.

"I know. I'm sorry. I finished the P one, and it's been deployed on all accounts."

"And on the P zero?" he asked, trying to be nice but needing to get his update.

Kieran stared at his face on the screen and shrugged.

"I'm behind, yeah. I've run tests on the fix, and we've sent it to QA twice, but they keep coming back with errors."

"I know things are a little… tricky for you right now, but we need this thing fixed. It's causing our support team to have to give customers workarounds that we'll have to deal with fixing later."

"I know," she said. "I'm sorry. I know you're being really patient with me, and you've given me time off when I only just started. I've got another fix to deploy today, and I'll get it done."

"Great. If you can't, let me know. I'll need to assign someone else."

"I will. Thanks," she replied before they ended their weekly one-on-one meeting, and she closed out the video conferencing software.

Kieran hated that her work had suffered recently. It was the thing she prided herself in the most, yet she'd been falling behind and not living up not only to her own expectations but also her boss's. If she kept this up, they'd just put her on some kind of performance plan or give her a warning. Then, they'd just fire her. Since the arraignment, though, she'd gotten herself even further behind. Hearing that Marin wouldn't be getting out on bail until her trial had really stung. After their first meeting, she'd been hoping to have time with her sister outside of a visitor's room to get to know her, but now, Kieran might never see her out of an orange jumpsuit.

Her phone rang, and while it was an unknown number, she still picked it up because she'd been hearing from a lot of unknown numbers lately, and nearly all of them had had to do with Marin's case.

"Hello?"

"Is this Kieran Hart?" a female voice said.

"This is she," Kieran replied and moved the phone to her other ear.

"My name is Kenna Crawford. I'm the producer and host of–"

"I know who you are," she interrupted.

"You do? Great. Well, I was reaching out because I've heard about your story and your sister's case. I'd love to get an interview with you."

"With me ? Why?"

"Because you just found out you have a twin sister you never knew about, and she's been arrested. I'd love to tell your story. I promise, I'll do it justice."

"How did you even find out about–" Kieran stopped when she remembered. "You know Dylan Easton."

"Yes, we're friends," Kenna said. "But Dylan didn't tell me about this. She mentioned it to my wife, but only in the context of Ripley helping you, if you need it, not to give me a heads-up on a good story."

"I told her that I didn't need to talk to your wife. At least, not now."

"She mentioned that, too," Kenna said. "But Ripley is amazing at what she does. It's how we met years ago now. She's won the state's social-worker-of-the-year award three times in the past seven years. She has a way with kids that just makes them open up to her, and she finds them the best homes she can and tries to get as many of them as she can get adopted and out of the system as well. You should see our refrigerator." Kenna laughed. "It's covered in pictures and drawings and even letters from families she's helped."

"Well, I'm glad she's out there helping kids, but I'm not exactly a kid, and neither is my sister."

"I know. When she told me about what Dylan had said, I looked you up and the story. It's starting to hit local papers. They're small papers with limited distribution, but the story will get picked up by someone soon. It's just too good not to have a major reporter on it."

"My life isn't a story," Kieran argued. "It's my life. And I'm trying to live it and get my sister out of going to prison for the rest of her life."

"Ripley will be the first person to tell you that I get a little ahead of myself sometimes, but I mean well. Look, all I'm trying to say is that I have a bit of a personal connection here, and I have a global audience. You can talk to people I've interviewed before, including Dylan and Ada – I take care of the people I talk to. I might be a reporter by trade, but I am human, and I think people should hear this story."

"There's not much of a story yet," Kieran said. "Don't you want to wait until you know what happens after the trial?"

"No, it's always best to be there when things start. We'd get the interviews and the footage, and we'd stick around through the trial and after. This is a long story. We wouldn't run the episode until later. It might be before the trial, but we'd do another episode after with reactions and updates."

"Reactions?" Kieran shook her head. "I don't even know how I feel right now. I don't think I have any reactions yet."

"I meant reactions from the community and Marin. Yours, too, of course, but mainly, just overall reactions."

"That would require you to interview Marin. You'd have to get her permission."

"I already have it. I just got it this morning, which is why I'm calling you."

Kieran sat up ramrod straight in her chair and asked, "You got her to agree to an interview? How?"

"I just asked," Kenna replied simply. "And she said she wanted to tell her side of the story."

"How did you get past her attorney? There's no way he's going to let her talk to reporters before her trial."

"I don't need his permission. I just need hers. She has to decide what she wants to do for herself, ultimately."

"So, you're taking advantage of that and getting an interview for your show that could be used against her later?"

"I'm not taking advantage of her. She'll have access to all of my questions before the interview, and I'll include in the contract that she gets approval over everything that gets put in the final cut," Kenna explained. "I do this for all of these situations because I understand that sometimes, people don't realize what they're agreeing to, and other times, they say things that they wish they could take back later. Trust me, I'm the only person in network news who does this."

Kieran sat back a bit and asked, "Why? You obviously don't have to, and you could get a better interview out of it, probably."

"Yes, I could. But I've seen crime reporting from the inside. If you look Ripley up online, you'll see why, but I've been doing the show for a while now, and I've interviewed so many people going through the worst times in their lives. Just a couple of years ago, for example, I did a story on a woman whose daughter was kidnapped and another one about a woman who had been taken by her father as a child because of a custody dispute. She'd grown up most of her life thinking her name was Heidi and that she was Canadian, when her real name was Hollis, and she was an American and from around here, actually. I did right by them because that's important to me. Believe it or not, we found Raleigh's daughter, Eden, and Hollis and Raleigh are engaged now. So, this story has a happy ending, but many of them don't. Dylan and Ada's, for example. Yes, they found out that Ada had a biological brother out there, Dylan found him, and now, they've also found Noah's body, but it's still a body; Noah isn't coming back."

"I'm glad that you do things the right way, but I don't know about this," Kieran told her. "I can't agree to anything until I talk to my sister and her attorney."

"I understand. Just keep this number and call or text me to let me know what you decide," Kenna replied. "To be honest, it's not much of a story without the long-lost twin angle, and to tell that well, I'd need you."

"So, we're back to my life being a story, huh?" Kieran said.

"Everyone's life is a story," Kenna replied.

After they hung up, Kieran instantly dialed Diego's number but got his voicemail instead.

"Hey. Have you heard that Marin has agreed to do an interview for a crime show? The host just called me and asked me for an interview. I can't see you telling Marin that this is a good idea before her trial. I'm guessing you're in meetings. I'm going to see if I can get in to see her now that she's at least added me to her approved visitor list. Thank you for convincing her to do that, by the way. Call me later."

She hung up the phone for a second time and stared at the unfinished code on her screen. This bug fix would have to wait until she got back because she didn't expect Kenna to wait around to get this interview with Marin. The woman might even be on her way there now. It wasn't just that, though. Kieran had been putting off another visit, but she shouldn't be doing that much longer. Marin wouldn't be in the county jail for her trial. She was going to be sent to the state prison two hours away, according to Diego. They had some additional motions and hearings coming up, so she'd stay put for now, but soon, she'd be transferred, and visiting her would be even harder.

The drive wasn't long, but parking and getting through security at the jail took forever, and when Kieran finally sat in the chair, waiting to be called back, she checked the time on the schoolhouse-style clock on the beige wall. It was already four in the afternoon. By the time she got home to get back to work, it would be well past six. She'd be late at turning in her bug fix. She messaged her boss to let him know about the delay, hating having to hit send, and looked back up when her name was called. The door buzzed and clicked, but she didn't have her badge yet, so she looked over to see someone walking out.

"Fancy seeing you here," Carina said.

"We've got to start meeting other places that don't involve the criminal justice system," Kieran replied, taking her badge and pinning it to her chest.

"Agreed." Carina laughed a bit. "Visiting?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Making a deal with a defendant," Carina replied. "Need me to wait and give you a ride?"

"Oh, no. I drove. I only needed a ride that day because I'd driven in with Diego."

Carina nodded and said, "You got on the visitor's list?"

"Yeah."

"That's good."

"We'll see. This is the first visit since we met and she nicknamed me Picket Fence."

"She did not." Carina laughed a little.

"She did."

"Creative."

"Yeah, I'll give her that," Kieran agreed. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Carina shifted her bag from one shoulder to the other.

"Um… Kenna Crawford called me. She wants an interview with me."

Carina laughed and said, " That didn't take her long."

"You know her, too, right? You're all friends or something."

"I know Dylan and Ada better, but yes, I know Kenna and Ripley. I babysat their two kids a few months ago."

"Is she what she says she is?"

"A reporter? Yeah," Carina replied. "But I'm guessing that's not what you meant."

"No. Is she a good person? Does she actually care?"

"Oh, yes," Carina said quickly. "You can ask Hollis and Raleigh. She took care of them. Even Ada, who didn't want to be involved in another story, still worked with Kenna for an update episode on her brother's case a couple of years ago, I think."

"So, I shouldn't worry about Marin doing an interview?"

"Marin? I thought you said she wanted an interview with you ."

"She does. But she also wants one with Marin."

"Makes sense." Carina shrugged.

"So, Marin should trust her?"

"Oh, God, no," Carina replied with a laugh. "I mean, trust Kenna as a person? Yes. But should Marin do a pre-trial interview with anyone other than her attorney? No way." Carina shook her head. "And I'm saying that as the prosecutor who would very much love to see that interview footage and use it in court."

"Then, why are you saying it?" Kieran asked.

"Because you asked me, and you don't deserve to be lied to or manipulated to help me win a case that I can win on my own without having to do that."

"Confident, huh?" Kieran said with a smile.

"Not confidence, Kieran. Evidence. I have it all. Diego doesn't. You need to understand that it's either going to be a deal for Marin, or she goes to trial and gets life without parole."

"So, I need to convince her not to do this interview, then?"

"Yes, but that's really Diego's job. How is he allowing this, by the way? Is he going for some ineffective assistance of counsel for an appeal since he won't win at trial?"

"He doesn't know yet. Kenna got Marin to agree this morning. I don't even know how she got through to her, honestly, but she's a reporter, so… She probably has her ways. I called and left Diego a message, but I came here to try to talk her out of it myself."

"Oh. Well, do that. Or, at least, he should. Anything she says in that interview could be used against her, so he'll need to put a stop to it."

"Maybe I should just let him handle that."

"You want my opinion?"

Kieran laughed because she really did.

"Tell her not to do this. Tell her that you won't give an interview, either. A lot of people just want to get their story out there. They want someone who's willing to listen, and they make mistakes. Even if she's got one appeal left, she shouldn't be giving interviews. Or, if she does, it should be with her attorney approving everything and right there to listen in and control it should it go sideways."

Kieran looked down at her shoes and said, "Thank you. I know you don't have to be on my side here, so thank you."

" You didn't do anything wrong, Kieran."

"What if Marin didn't either, though?"

"That's for us to find out, isn't it?" Carina replied.