I Was Never One of Them novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Sorry
"No," I said.
Whitney's face did not change.
She had known the answer before she asked.
Behind her the cameras waited, and nobody in the lobby made a sound.
"I'm not saying it for them," Whitney said. "I'm saying it because you're the only one who has the right to say no."
"Then you have your answer."
"I know." She took a breath. "I'm going to tell them anyway."
She turned to the microphones.
Her hands shook, so she folded them in front of her, and I watched her do what Gavin had done in his doorway.
Then she unfolded them.
"My name is Whitney Crane," she said. "Eight years ago I sat in the passenger seat of a car that killed a man on the lake road. Gavin Lockridge was driving. He was drunk, and I had let him drive. I filmed what happened after, because I thought it would keep us safe."
A reporter dropped her notebook.
"Constance Lockridge told me to keep the video as insurance. For eight years I did. I used it to get a seat at her table. I used it to get her to put me beside her son."
She swallowed.
"Yesterday I gave the district attorney the original file and eight years of messages from Constance Lockridge. Every one of them tells me what to keep quiet."
Someone in the crowd said a word under their breath that I will not repeat.
"I will testify against her under oath, in any court that asks," Whitney said.
She looked at me then.
"I should have done this eight years ago. That's not an excuse. It's only the truth."
She reached up to the gold chain at her throat.
She unclasped it and let the diamond slide down into her palm.
"This is hers. It was always meant to be hers. Constance gave it to me to wear because she wanted Hazel to wear a fake."
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