"You're going to prison for a very long time."
The weight of those words cut through the fog billowing inside Jordan's brain and left him suddenly hyperaware of his surroundings. The cold steel chair beneath him, the chilly stare of the detective sitting across the table.
"I need a lawyer," Jordan said finally, the words catching in his throat. "But I didn't do this."
==
"I know you didn't do it, son. Because you're not a killer," Jordan's mother said. "We just have to prove it to them."
The desperation evident in Raquel's voice, Jordan placed his hands delicately on his mother's shoulders. "Thank you for believing in me, mom. I don't know what I would do without you. And I don't want you to worry--but I'm terrified."
Raquel pulled her son's arms down and took his hands in hers, squeezing them as she often did when trying to comfort her youngest child. All his life, Jordan had been sensitive, a disposition he clearly got from her. The two had always been close, as Raquel had long seen so much of herself, and her vulnerabilities, in him. She briefly fixed her eyes on the coffee table, and the 4x6 photo of a childhood Jordan atop it, before looking up at the fear-riddled face of her now-25-year-old son.
"You don't have anything to be terrified about, Jor."
"You're right. But you weren't in that room with those detectives, and I've seen enough true crime to know that 'I was at home watching TV' is a god-awful alibi," Jordan said, his palms beginning to sweat.
"I don't care what kind of alibi it is. You don't have to be scared because you're not going to prison. I won't let you."
==
As Jordan sat on the motel bed next to his mother, a strange thought flashed through his head: he was sitting too close to her. Her being mere inches away wouldn't have been awkward in practically any other setting, but here they were, alone and on the run at a seedy motel. The intimacy of the situation, he thought, was...noteworthy.
"I can't believe we're doing this," he said, turning to his mom.