The Price of Justice by Marti Green

gave me a hug, then asked me to go outside with her. We left the gym, and she led me down a path behind the school, into the woods. We could still hear the music, but it was like they were playing just for us. I asked her about the guy she was with, and she said he was nobody, just a local kid with a crush on her. When we got to a clearing, she turned to me and told me she still loved me.”
    “What happened then?”
    “She kissed me.”
    “Did you kiss her back?”
    Winston nodded, then quickly said, “But that’s all. I told her I cared about her, but it was over between us. She needed to move on. She became furious. Began screaming curses at me, then pulled my hair. I suppose that’s how the police found a strand of it near her. I just walked away and left her there.” He dropped his head to his chest, his shoulders slumped, and squeezed his hands tightly. After a few moments, he said, “I never should have left. If only I’d walked her back to the school, it wouldn’t have happened. She’d still be alive.”
    Dani wanted to believe him. He was much more personable than she’d expected, and she responded to that. But did that mean he was innocent? His story seemed credible, but he could be an accomplished actor. She’d always gone by her gut feelings, but now, buried in the back of her mind, was Whiting’s suggestion that Sanders’s confession had been bought. And so she left the prison with lingering doubts about her client’s innocence.

C HAPTER
    11
    O n the drive back to the airport, Dani told Tommy and Melanie of her reservations.
    “I’m surprised,” Tommy said. “You’re usually a marshmallow when it comes to these guys.”
    Dani wanted to argue with Tommy, but he was right. She was a glass-half-full kind of person. When she got letters from inmates desperate to have someone believe in their innocence, she wanted to be that person—at least, when she decided to take a case. When she sat before them and looked into their pleading eyes, she wanted to assure them she would secure their freedom. Most times she did. After all, HIPP was very selective about the cases it agreed to handle. So many inmates had been convicted before DNA evidence was available. In many cases, HIPP found that evidence kits stored away still contained traces of semen, hair, or some other item found at the crime scene that identified the perpetrator. And when tested against HIPP’s clients, invariably, it exonerated them.
    They tried to take only cases that turned on DNA evidence. A simple test, a quick motion, and freedom for their client. Now and then, though, a letter came across one of their desks that, despite the lack of DNA evidence, they couldn’t turn down. And Dani was usually the one who took on those cases. When that happened, sometimes she succeeded in overturning a conviction. Sometimes she didn’t. And when she didn’t, when she failed to free someone she believed to be innocent, she felt as devastated as the inmate’s loved ones.
    They arrived at the airport in plenty of time for their flight, so they ducked into an airport restaurant for a bite to eat. Dani had given up on her perpetual diet and resigned herself to the realization that she couldn’t get back her shape as a twenty-year-old. Still, when she saw a young woman pass by with a flat stomach and tiny waist, a twinge of regret would fall over her. She didn’t know why. Life had been good to her. Doug was a wonderful husband, and Jonah, despite his disability, or maybe because of it, was an affectionate and loving son. Most thirteen-year-olds, with their hormones raging, were mortified by their parents. Not Jonah, who, because of his mild retardation, was still childlike in many ways. Still, there were times when she missed the carefree days of her youth, when everything was possible and nothing was unjust. And when she had a twenty-two-inch waist.
    They took their seats in the restaurant, and when the waitress came over, Dani ordered a