-105-

I've lost count of how many times I've stood in this exact same spot, and yet none of them felt like this does right now.

Like my world is exploding right before my eyes.

"Is there anything I can get for you, Isabella? Coffee? Water?" Angela asks, placing the folder of evidence in front of her.

"All I want is to know why I'm here," Bella sighs, one foot bouncing from her nerves.

"That's perfectly understandable. First of all, I'd like to start off by saying that as of right now, we are not charging you with anything. This is all about us gathering more information so we can bring justice to the proper parties. Sound good?"

"Um, yeah...I guess."

"Okay, so, can you tell us who a Dougless Tanner is to you?"

"I've never heard of him." Bella's tone is void of all emotion, detached. Something that twists the knife currently lodged in my chest. I'm not used to seeing her like this, so dead to the world.

My girl is full of life. Big emotions, loud laughter, fiery anger.

But now she's almost...defeated.

"Did you ever live or visit Albuquerque, New Mexico?" Angela continues.

"No."

"Look, Isabella, I get the feeling that you'd appreciate it if I kept this pretty straightforward, yes?"

"That's all I've asked."

"In that case, can you explain these to me?"

Angela spreads the journal entries out in front of Bella, along with her notebook. The entries she had written in it had since been typed up, presumably so I wouldn't find them again like I did when I snuck around her house in the middle of the night.

Bella's eyes widen for a moment, but then she relaxes, breathing a sigh of relief.

"This is all this is about? I'm writing a book," she laughs humorlessly.

"Then why are none of your characters given names?" Angela pushes.

"Because I haven't gotten that far yet? This is just something I do for fun when I feel like it, it's nothing serious, and names haven't come to me yet," Bella waves her hand in a motion that's so familiar it burns in my mind from how often I've seen her make the same movement when talking to me.

Angela regards her for a second and then pulls out the big guns. The profile of an unsolved case from five years ago.

"Douglass Tanner. Married to Brianne Tanner, father of two children with one on the way. His body was found in the middle of the desert, ligature marks on his wrists from being bound, and a bullet in his head. His wife had just found out he had cheated on her. Sound familiar?"

Bella leans forward, her head in her hands. "No way. No fucking way. This is unbelievable. I swear I was only writing; I had nothing to do with this guy."

Suddenly, she sits up as if she just remembered something.

"Five years ago, you said?"

"Yes," Angela responds succinctly.

"Five years ago, I wasn't even in the country. I was studying abroad; I was in Spain!"

I want to let out a sigh of relief, but I can't breathe. Not even a little bit.

"Do you mind if I confirm that timeline?" Angela inquires.

"Not at all, be my guest," Bella excitedly replies.

Angela nods and leaves the room, but my eyes are too focused on the woman before me.

Could it be true? Could she really be innocent?