“We found a message from Melanie to Josephine from three weeks ago,” Sarah said.

“Melanie wrote, ‘Her wrists are bleeding from the twine. We need to stop this.'”

I closed my eyes.

The memory of the rough rope burning my skin came back in a sudden flash.

I could still feel the cold cellar floor against my bare feet.

“And what did Josephine reply?” Leo asked from the window.

“She replied, ‘Keep her tied. If she gets out, we get nothing,'” Sarah said.

The room was completely quiet except for the hum of the heart monitor.

“Melanie is going to break,” Sarah said.

“She is already pointing the finger at her mother to save herself,” she said.

“But we need to prepare for the preliminary hearing next week.”

“Josephine will plead not guilty,” Leo said.

“She will,” Sarah agreed. “She has already hired a high-priced defense attorney from Chicago.”

“She thinks she can paint Grace as an unstable mother who hallucinated the entire ordeal,” Sarah said.

“We have the medical reports,” Leo said, his voice rising. “We have the scars on her wrists.”