He was not a sentimental man. Sentiment was dangerous in his line of work. But something in the child’s face carried more weight than fear. It carried memory.
“Step outside,” Mitchell ordered.
The guards hesitated for only a moment before leaving the room. The door closed with a heavy click.
Mitchell remained standing near the table. Denise stayed beside Chloe.
“All right,” the warden said. “Tell me what you remember.”
Chloe twisted her fingers together. “I remember the rain.”
Gavin’s eyes flickered.
“It was raining that night,” he said. “The reports said so.”
Chloe nodded. “Mommy was sick, so Daddy took me to Mrs. Avery’s house.”
Mitchell knew the name. Mrs. Avery had been the neighbor who testified against Gavin Cole—the woman who claimed she saw him leaving the victim’s home shortly after the murder.
“She gave me warm milk,” Chloe continued. “Then she told me to go upstairs and sleep in the little room with the blue curtains. But I didn’t sleep.”
Denise’s expression shifted. “Why not?”
“Because people were arguing downstairs.”
Gavin’s face tightened.
“Who?” Mitchell asked.
Chloe looked at him. “Mrs. Avery and a man.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know his name.”
Mitchell’s disappointment appeared and vanished in an instant.
Then Chloe added, “But he had a bird on his hand.”
No one spoke.
“A bird?” Denise repeated.
Chloe nodded. “A black bird. Here.”
She tapped the inside of her wrist.
Gavin went pale.
Mitchell noticed it immediately. “You know something.”
Gavin stared at the tabletop. “During the trial, the prosecution said I’d been seen near Martin Keller’s house around nine-thirty. Mrs. Avery was the one who said it. She told the jury she saw me through her kitchen window.”
“And?”
Gavin lifted his eyes. “Martin owed money to a man with a raven tattoo.”
Mitchell’s mouth tightened. “Why was that never brought up?”
“My first lawyer said there was no proof. Said it made me look desperate.” Gavin’s voice hardened, not with anger, but with five years of swallowed frustration. “I told him Martin had been scared of someone. I told him Martin came to me two days before he died and asked to borrow money. He said he had to ‘pay the bird man.’ Nobody listened.”
Chloe leaned closer to him.
“And Mrs. Avery told the man that Daddy would take the blame,” she said.
Mitchell’s eyes sharpened. “Those exact words?”
Chloe nodded. “She said, ‘He touched the knife, and he already argued with Martin. They’ll believe it.’”
