Chapter 21

I sat at home and tried to fight off the black gloom that fell over me. I was losing the fight.

Christmas was supposed to be a time of cheer and goodwill, but I felt anything but. It was a good thing that I had already done my shopping for my mom and dad because it was almost more than I could handle to just get out of bed.

Now that I could talk again, I didn't want to; not unless it was Marilyn that I was talking to. The only faint light in the darkness was that the prosecutor had decided that the case was too confused to get a conviction and ordered Marilyn and Rickard released. Marilyn's family had whisked nem off to a chalet in the Laurentians for Christmas. I only knew that because Marilyn had managed a quick call to me while nir father was loading luggage in their car.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who blamed me for all the trouble at the dance. It was a weird kind of comfort to know that I wasn't alone in my self-loathing.