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Terry grinned from ear to ear with joy, until he was sure that he had pulled every muscle in his face from smiling so hard.

"The others and I," continued Detective Freemont, "had decided to put in a little overtime on this case. When we took a closer look at the evidence, some things just didn't add up. I think it's safe to say, that even without this confession, Jake would have been released very soon."

"What do you mean?" asked John.

Abby felt as though she could finally breathe easy. She no longer cared about the so-called evidence that the police had collected from the two houses, for Jake was coming home! Abby already knew that her friend was innocent, and had needed no other evidence than that of his character to prove it. She was just grateful that the police finally had enough good sense to come to the same obvious conclusion!

"We were looking at the pictures Jake took the day of the murder," the detective explained to John and his family. "Each one is time and date stamped. From the beginning of the day, up until he zipped himself into his sleeping bag that night, Jake was taking pictures almost every other hour. There's pictures of a yacht in the far distance, some joggers out further down the beach on public land, and many shots of the sunset and clouds that gathered later that night. All of those place the camera on your beach the night of the murder. However, the thing that convinced us that Jake had been the one to take the pictures, and not someone else, was the fact that his shadow was in several of the key photos taken before nightfall. After the sun went down, we can still confirm the identity of the photographer by the fact that pictures had been taken inside his tent; you could plainly see the bottom half of Jake's pants and bare feet. Those pictures were especially important, because they were time-stamped about the same time Eric Murphy was murdered. It was an impossibility for Jake to be in two places at the same time."

"Also," concluded another detective who had been silent up until now, "the coloring of the bruise on Mrs. Murphy's hand is consistent with her statement that he had held her hand from the time of the rain shower that night until morning."

"We were able to corroborate the time needed to leave such a bruise, by contacting a meteorological station in Three Mile Bay that was able to give us a precise time the rain started," explained Detective Freemont, taking a sip of coffee. "You and Mr. Davis [Terry] were able to establish the time you went out to their tent the next morning, so we know with a fair amount of certainty that Jake was with your daughter for the amount of time that he said he was, by the coloring of the bruise on her hand."

"Well," sighed John in gratitude, "I appreciate everyone's hard work. I can't tell you how relieved we are that it's over."

"There's no need to thank us, Mr. Johannes," declined Detective Freemont with a tired sigh. "We're just doing our job."

The family was about to leave, when Abby paused to ask the detectives one more important question.

"Do you happen to know if Jake was placed in a cell by himself?" she inquired.

"I believe Sheriff Peterson saw to that," replied Detective Freemont.

"Yes, he's in a single," joined in another detective, knowingly. "I saw him at the detention center today, and he was in a cell by himself."

"Thank you," she smiled in relief. Abby could go home and sleep tonight, knowing that Jake was at least safe.

A cold wind stung Abby's face as they stepped outside and walked back to the jeep. She was shocked at how fast the whole thing had been resolved, for just hours ago, their trouble had seemed nearly insurmountable. Like a bad dream that had been interrupted upon waking up, Abby drove back to Three Mile Bay. The dread that had been hanging over her was now lifted, and it felt as though things could once again return to normal.

When they returned home, John and Terry related to Izumi what had happened, sometimes speaking at the same time in their eagerness to tell her the good news.

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