Dallas heard the knock on his door but he didn’t move. He’d been awake for nearly thirty hours and was now finally lying in his bed; nothing would get him up.

“Dallas, it’s Gabby. Open the door.” She banged again. “I know you’re in there. Your truck is outside.”

“Gabby?” he croaked, sliding back into his jeans and a T-shirt. It had been six months since he’d seen his ex-girlfriend, and their ending had such finality to it, he hadn’t expected to hear from her again. Pulling the heavy door open, he set his eyes on someone who looked just about as broken as he was. “What’s the matter?” he asked, stretching the ache out of his back and blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

“You look like shit,” she said, pushing her way into the apartment.

“No offense, but you kind of do too. It’s been a while. I wasn’t expecting to see you again. What’s wrong?” He probably would have offered her a seat, but she was already flopping down on the couch.

“We need to talk—” she started. He was too tired to talk and thought a preemptive strike would be best. Their relationship had been filled with hundreds of conversations that started that way.

“If Tim sent you to check on me you’d better not tell him a damn thing about me. He can’t have it both ways. He’s acting ridiculous, considering what’s at stake.”

“Tim didn’t send me,” she corrected. “As a matter of fact, if he knew I was here, he’d never forgive me.”

“What are you talking about?” Dallas asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Gabby was never one to cause trouble just for the fun of it. She was a passionate debater, always down for a good argument but only when it had a purpose. This seemed different, somehow more critical. They weren’t about to launch into their opinions on nuclear bombs or vaccines.

“Tell me if he’s out of options,” she begged, blinking away tears. “I heard about the car being burned. Was that his last chance? I know there are possibilities of other appeals and stuff, but can he really get out of there with just what they have today?”

Gabby and Tim had always gotten along well. Usually they spent their time together poking fun at all of Dallas’s quirks. She’d been as motivated as Dallas to get Tim free, but like everyone else, as their relationship dissolved, so did her involvement.

“I’m not giving up,” he stated, but she looked unfazed by his words. “I can get him out of there.”

“You can’t,” Gabby murmured. “But I can.”

“How can you free him?” Dallas mocked, positive he must have heard her wrong. Nothing about this was simple, and Gabby certainly didn’t have any kind of magic bullet to fix it.

“I’m his alibi for that night,” she said, dropping her head down and shaking her legs like a nervous tick.

“It doesn’t work that way, Gabby. I appreciate the fact that you’d be willing to do that for him, but the cops will be able to prove you weren’t there. There’re telephone records, cameras at whatever stores you walked into during that time, credit card statements. They won’t just take your word for it.”

Gabby waved a hand to quiet him, gathering what looked like all her strength to continue speaking. “I was with him that night, Dallas. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. My cell phone would ping the tower by his house. Because I was there. The pictures we took would have a time stamp and date. There would be enough to prove I’m telling the truth.”

“How could you pull all that off?” Dallas asked, still trying to understand. “Is this something you’ve been planning?”

“You’re not listening to me. This isn’t an elaborate plan. It’s the truth. Tim begged me not to say anything. He was so damn worried about betraying you that he would rather sit in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. I should have told you before, but I kept hoping justice would be served, and they’d realize Tim didn’t do it. But now, now I’m worried he’ll be in there forever if I don’t tell the truth.”

“I don’t understand,” Dallas stammered. “You were together that night? Like together?”

“Yes,” she admitted sheepishly, looking half relieved that he was finally starting to understand. “A few weeks earlier, you and I had a stupid fight about something, and I ran into Tim. We started talking, and he offered me a ride home. Everything just kind of snowballed from there. It’s something we both regret now, obviously. I understand if you hate me and hate him, but he can’t keep doing this. I had to tell someone.”

“He’s had an alibi this entire time? Something with hard proof where he was that night? There’s no way. No one would put themselves through that just to keep from hurting someone else. That doesn’t make sense.”

“I wouldn’t,” she said, half laughing. “You wouldn’t either. But Tim would. He’s loyal on a completely different level. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to protect the people he cares about. That includes my reputation and your feelings.”

“That’s why he was freaking out about me being happy, having a life. He thinks he robbed me of happiness?” Dallas looked at Gabby and chuckled in an awkward and humorless way. “I’m not trying to be a dick, but you and I were not in love. We were not going to ride off into the sunset.”

“I know that,” she sighed, nodding her agreement. “But Tim betrayed you. The photographs that would have been shown in court to prove where he was would embarrass me and hurt you. He can’t move past that. Prison is the cross he thinks he has to bear right now. He believes at some point the real facts about the murder will come out, and he can be freed without having to hurt you.”

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Dallas announced, pacing around his small studio apartment, his fingers pinched to the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to kill him.”

“I was trying to respect what he wanted. I figured if he was willing to do this, who am I to take that from him? But that was only when I thought it would be a short time before he was out. Then you kept ruining your own life along the way, and it was driving him mad. He was trying to protect you from everything, and the one thing he couldn’t protect you from was yourself.”

“I’m going to get him exonerated, and then I’m going to kill him,” Dallas said, raking his hands over his head, trying to get the information to sink in.

“I’m sorry, Dallas,” she whispered as she headed for the door. “I’ll go on record, make a formal statement. Whatever has to happen. I’ve got the phone records and the pictures. I’ve been sick over this for a long time.”

“We’re going to see Melissa right now,” Dallas asserted, searching his kitchen counter for his cell phone. “Clear your schedule.”

Gabby nodded obediently. “He told me about Harlan.” She was self-consciously twirling a bit of her hair the way he always remembered. “If you can fix that, I hope you do. We weren’t good for each other, you and I. Tim and I weren’t either. But someone out there is worth fighting for. If that’s her, don’t let her go.”