March

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked. The pearls draped around my neck felt foreign, probably because I'd never worn a necklace like this in my entire life. Thankfully Rose was a trust fund baby like James and had things like this just lying around. Too bad she didn't have the personality to go along with it.

"Yes." She nodded and stepped up to the front porch. "It will work."

"Don't you feel a little bad manipulating her mother like this?"

"Don't you feel a little bad Edward is going to die for something you don't believe he did?" She snapped. I shut my mouth.

She looked up and blinked a few times, forcing a fake tear down her cheek, before she knocked. A few moments later, a woman answered the door.

"Yes?" She asked, glancing between the two of us.

"Mrs. Denali?" Rose cried.

"Yes?"

Rose dramatically threw herself at Mrs. Denali and sobbed on her shoulder. "Tanya always spoke so highly of you."

"Were you..friends with my daughter?" Mrs. Denali asked.

"We went to camp together," Rose said. I had no idea which camp she was talking about, but I guess most people in Tanya's position go to some type of camp, right?

"That must be why you don't look familiar," Mrs. Denali said. She pulled back and smiled sadly. "Won't you come in…?"

"Gretchen," Rose said, lying about her name. Mrs. Denali turned to me.

"Tracy." I nodded.

She opened the door for us and led us inside. "Would you like something to drink?" She asked.

"No, thank you," I said.

"Please, have a seat." She gestured to the couch and sat down in a chair beside us.

"We're so sorry we couldn't make it to the funeral. We were vacationing with our family in the Alps and didn't even get the news until we returned," Rose said. "We're so sorry for your loss."

And I was. I felt terrible about what we were doing, but if it saved Edward then it was worth it. I looked around the room as Rose drabbled on about whatever nonsense she was making up about our fake lives. There were several pictures of Tanya around the room. She was a beautiful girl; petite frame, pretty eyes with strawberry blonde hair. She looked like the perfect Barbie Doll. Most people would look at her and see a happy young woman. I saw someone completely lifeless behind her eyes.

"I kept everything just like she left it," Mrs. Denali said, pulling me back into the conversation. Rose must have gotten her to let us see her room.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked.

"Of course." Mrs. Denali stood and led us upstairs and to the first room on the right. She opened the door and took a deep breath as we walked past her.

Tanya's room looked like almost every other teenage girl's would have. Posters of her favorite bands taped to the wall, ballet awards sitting on a shelf over her bed. There was a desk in the corner and a journal sitting on top.

"Is this?" I asked, reaching for it.

"It's her diary. I couldn't bring myself to read it, but the police obviously wanted to for their…investigation." She nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I'll give you two a moment to say your goodbye."

I felt so sad, about all of it. I was sad for Edward, sad for Tanya, sad for her mother. It was a twisted tragedy that changed everyone's life. And now it might end his.

She turned to leave.

"Mrs. Denali?" I called. She turned back. "I'm really sorry for your loss."

She smiled sadly. "Thank you, dear." She closed the door softly behind her as she left the room.
"Okay let's Nancy Drew this bitch," Rose said. She started rifling through the room, looking for any evidence of Tanya and Edward's relationship. I doubted we would find anything, but then again knowing the justice system around these parts, I wouldn't be that surprised if they did a shitty job at searching the place. It was part of the reason my dad got out. There was too much influence, too much affecting actual justice. He was one of the few good ones left. "Check her diary," Rose said.

I nodded sadly and reached for her journal. I felt terrible about reading it. If there was no possibility that it could save Edward, I wouldn't have laid a finger on it. A girl's diary is private and I would never break that if it wasn't important.

I skimmed through, occasionally stopping to read a page or two. It was all about James or her family. Nothing about Edward. Although the stuff in there about James wasn't that glamorous. He seemed like a possessive asshole to me.

"Anything?" Rose asked from Tanya's closet.

"Nope." I flipped the diary back and forth, looking down at its spine. I stopped and looked down. Something was off. The spaces between the pages varied, almost like something was pushing them apart.

I opened it again and held the pages close to my face. "What the hell…" I whispered.

"What?" Rose asked.

I leaned in closer and ran my finger along the inside spine. It was rough and ragged. Someone had ripped the pages out. Someone had ripped the pages out really well.

"There are pages missing," I mumbled.

"Really?" She suddenly appeared next to me. "Good find, Swan. You are your father's daughter."

"How could they miss that?" I shook my head. "Someone has obviously tampered with this."

"Maybe they didn't miss it," she said. "Maybe they purposely looked past it."

"Why?"

"Because they wanted to believe that Edward did it?"

I stood up and ran my fingers through my hair. "There has to be more." I was suddenly more determined than ever to help him. Before I felt in my gut that he was telling the truth, but now that we had some type of evidence that something was fishy, I was intent on finding the real truth.

Rose quickly turned her closet upside down as I searched Tanya's drawers in the chests beside her bed. There was nothing. I racked my brain, trying to think of where she would hide things that she didn't want found.

"Somewhere that doesn't exist," I said, looking back at the small nightstand. It was a long shot, but I knew that some of these things had secret compartments. Especially if they were as old as this one looked.

I knelt down beside it and felt around below. I almost missed it, the line was so thin. But it was there; a small break in the wood. I bit down on my lip and pushed up, hoping it would give way or move somewhere. It clicked and lifted up before falling back down into my hands.

"Oh God," I whispered. I pulled out the small compartment from under the table and gasped. Pictures.

I grabbed them and started rifling through them. Her and Edward. Smiling. Hugging. Kissing. She looked…happy. Completely different from her picture downstairs. And definitely not the face of someone who was being stalked by an obsessive creep.

He was innocent.


A/N: Gah! He's innocent! Can she convince everyone else in time? Thank you for continuing to indulge my drabbles I hope you're enjoying it!

The Lemonade Stand has spoiled me once again and Dead Man Walking will be on the poll for Fic of the Week next week. The poll should be up early next week and if you'd like to, I'd love for you to head over there and vote for your favorite 4 fics on the poll. This story will be finished by then so I'll probably upload a small reminder when the poll is up and also announce it on my Twitter and FB. The link for TLS is on my profile : ) Thanks again guys!