“I’ll see what I can find,” Marcus said as he closed his briefcase and stepped away.

Emily’s moist green eyes peered up at her husband, but it wasn’t sadness that he saw: it was full-out rage. Though they’d discussed Anthony’s pending charges ad nauseam, they’d never come to a conclusion like the one they just witnessed. “It will be all right. At least he isn’t free. Four years is a long time.”

“Not long enough, not after what he’s done to my family. I don’t understand. How could this happen?”

“I found a room,” Marcus announced.

“Brent and Courtney?” John asked. When they both looked his way, he said, “For Nichol’s sake, would you join us? It won’t change the outcome, but it may help us better understand.”

Courtney looked to her husband and nodded. Brent replied, “Yes.”

Courtney was the one who added, “Thank you for asking. Please know, we’d do anything for Nichol and for Claire.”

Courtney squeezed Patricia’s hand as she and the others filed from the room. Before leaving, Tim came up to John. “I know this isn’t a good time, but I’d like to discuss something with you, when you can.”

John looked questionably at Tim. “If it’s about the things we’ve said about Anthony—”

Tim shook his head and interrupted, “Not directly, but I’d like to talk to you. I guess I could say it’s indirectly about Claire.”

At the mention of her sister’s name, Emily looked their direction. She’d been shaking her head and twisting from side to side as she spoke quietly with Harry.

“This way,” Jane announced. “We don’t have the room for long.”

Tim handed John his card. “Please call and hear me out…” His eyes widened. “…for Claire.”

John took the card. “For Claire,” he repeated as he placed the card in his jacket pocket. Taking Emily’s hand, he gave it a squeeze and walked with her to the small conference room. As they neared, he whispered in her ear, “Please, hear them out.”

Inhaling deeply, she pressed her lips together and nodded.

The table only had six chairs as Marcus, Brent, Courtney, Jane, John, and Emily made their way to seats. John began. “Thank you for discussing this with us. I hope you can understand my wife’s outrage as well as our disbelief in what just happened. Mr. Evergreen, could you please explain to us the charges and how the plea agreement was reached.”

“Many things were taken into consideration. This is part of the closed negotiations. I’m sure you’re aware of the gag order.”

“We are,” John answered. “However, our special dispensation allows us—”

Brent interjected, “I believe everyone present is aware of the importance of confidentiality.”

“Yes,” Emily murmured. “We’d hate for the great Anthony Rawlings to have more bad press.”

John silenced her with his stare. “Thank you, Brent. We want to understand what happened and how it happened.”

Evergreen began, “Many of these crimes have been under investigation by the FBI for a long time. Although the use of actaea pachypoda is highly unusual, it’s been documented in the death and poisoning of individuals who were initially thought to be related in some way to Anthony Rawlings. With his help, it was discovered that although he was connected, he wasn’t the culprit. As you know, it was—”

“Catherine London,” John answered.

“Yes, I can’t go into specifics, but Mr. Rawlings was instrumental in helping them put the pieces of the case together. Prior to their return from the South Pacific, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings had worked out a deal with the FBI.”

Emily covered her mouth, stifling the sound of her gasp.

“There was no money trail for the FBI or the Iowa City police to follow that specifically connected Mr. Rawlings with Allyson Bradley’s death. The only information they had was his confession. The same can be said about Simon Johnson. And although they had his confession, it couldn’t be substantiated by physical evidence. Mr. Rawlings admitted to paying for a crime. He paid to have Simon Johnson’s plane sabotaged. The NTSB verified that the plane was in perfect flying condition. Mr. Rawlings’ hit man didn’t do his job.”

“Then why did Simon crash?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know. If the FBI knows, they aren’t saying.”

“Okay, so that’s why the murder charges were reduced to conspiracy. What about the sexual assault?” John asked.

Brent answered, “Again, there was lack of evidence. The court can’t use a book as evidence without physical evidence or Claire’s testimony.”

Jane replied, “There was testimony, during her 2012 defense. She told us all about it. I took it to you.” She nodded toward Marcus Evergreen.

“That testimony was not made in a court of law or under oath. It can’t hold up in court.”

“This is ridiculous,” Emily sighed.

“That isn’t all,” Brent added. “In Iowa, there’s a statute that nullifies the charge if the two individuals are living together as husband and wife. The book claims that the assault occurred while Claire was living with Tony, in his house. And they later became husb—”

Emily interjected, “In his house, where he’d kidnapped her and taken her against her will. Where he’d trapped her!”