"You drugged her."
"She was foolish enough to believe me when I said I came to apologize for my past mistakes."
Ava continued.
"I put her in my car and took her home. I left her in the basement. I had clothes ready. Her phone. Her bag. Everything."
"How long were you planning this?" Brooks asked.
"Years."
The room went still.
"I studied her online. Photos, posts, and people she worked with. I knew enough."
"You didn't know where we kept the coffee mugs," I said.
Her eyes flashed.
"I would have learned."
"You didn't know our life."
"I knew the important parts."
"No. You knew only what we shared with the world."
She lunged toward me.
The officers pulled her back.
"I could have made you happier than she did!"
That was the moment I stopped seeing her as a confused woman.
She knew exactly what she had done.
