“You’ve done well,” he said.
I looked at him.
“She did.”
He smiled faintly.
“She did.”
I looked toward the place where Lily’s casket had once rested.
“I still wish she were here.”
“So do I.”
I touched the small necklace around my neck.
It had belonged to Lily.
“I keep thinking about that video.”
“What about it?”
“She knew.”
Mr.
Hayes nodded.
“She suspected.”
“She was terrified.”
“Yes.”
“But she still planned everything.”
He smiled.
“That was Lily.”
I laughed softly through my tears.
“Yes.”
“She was always stronger than people realized.”
I looked down.
“Jason thought she was weak.”
“He made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
Mr.
Hayes looked at me.
“He confused kindness with weakness.”
Those words stayed with me.
Because Lily had been kind.
She had forgiven people too easily.
She had believed people too deeply.
But she had never been weak.
She had quietly gathered evidence while everyone around her believed Jason’s story.
