26: Devon

I knew she wouldn’t be happy that we had put flowers on Leah’s grave, but I had hoped she might be able to look past her anger and see that we sent the flowers as a way to honor her friend, not to taunt her with memories of the past. Perhaps it was presumptuous of us to assume we could be a part of her grief when her anger was too raw, too poignant. I could see her from a distance. I was sitting in a car on one of the winding roads through the cemetery and I watched her visit Leah. I knew she would come here, I didn’t know when but I knew she would make an appearance at Leah’s gravestone. I needed to be near her today. Of all days that she needed me, today was the most important of all. She needed me, David, and even Alessio, as new as he was, and I needed to be close so I could help her, even if it was from the shadows.

As soon as I felt her tense on the bench next to me in the courtroom when she realize