The little girl did not turn around.
Gavin opened his eyes first. His gaze lifted to Mitchell’s, steady and clear.
“Warden,” Gavin said, his voice quiet. “I need to speak to my lawyer.”
Mitchell’s brow tightened. “Your attorney has already filed every appeal available.”
“Not every one.”
The social worker, Denise Harper, placed a protective hand near Chloe’s back. “Gavin, this visit is only supposed to be—”
“I know what it’s supposed to be.” Gavin looked down at his daughter. “But she just told me something no one ever asked her about.”
At that, the two guards exchanged looks again.
Mitchell glanced at Chloe. “What did she tell you?”
Gavin lowered his head, then swallowed hard. “That night… she saw someone.”
The air changed.
Not dramatically. Not loudly.
But every adult in the room felt it.
Mitchell took one slow step closer. “What do you mean, she saw someone?”
Chloe finally turned. Her face remained calm, almost too calm, as though she had spent years learning how to keep every feeling folded neatly inside her chest.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell,” she said.
Her voice was small, but it did not tremble.
Denise knelt beside her. “Honey, who told you that?”
Chloe’s blue eyes moved from the social worker to the warden, then back to her father.
Gavin whispered, “It’s okay, peanut. You can say it now.”
Chloe looked at the officers standing by the door.
“Can they leave?”
One of the guards stiffened. “Warden—”
Mitchell raised a hand.
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.
