Inside the hospital room, Elsa lay on the bed, her eyes lighting up as a figure walked through the door. "Catie! You're finally here! I knew it, I knew you'd come for me!"

"You've already arranged for my new identity abroad, right? When are we leaving? I can't stand another second in this place!"

In Elsa's mind, the fact that Caitlin had come to see her meant that everything was already taken care of.

Abroad? A new identity?

Caitlin looked at her. "You think I'm here to get you out?"

"Aren't you?" Elsa pressed. "Catie, we're best friends. Everything I did in the past was wrong, I admit it! This is no time for jokes, please!"

"I'm here to persuade you to tell them where you hid the bodies," Caitlin said, her voice cool and distant. "Elsa, there's no turning back for you now."

Elsa's face went white, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "If you never planned on getting me out, on giving me a new identity, then why did you save me?"

Caitlin met her gaze, speaking each word with chilling clarity. "I saved you because I didn't want you to escape justice by dying so easily."

Boom.

Elsa felt her world shatter. Her last, single thread of hope had just been severed. Why? Why was everyone treating her this way?

She had thought Caitlin saved her because she valued their friendship. But in the end, it was only because Caitlin wanted her to suffer, not to have a quick end.

How ridiculous. Utterly, painfully ridiculous.

Caitlin continued, "Elsa, stop this pointless struggle. Cooperate with the police investigation. It will be less painful for you that way."

There were many ways to make an inmate talk in prison. Caitlin's words were both advice and a warning.

"I can cooperate. I'll tell them where the bodies are," Elsa said, closing her eyes. "But... can you promise me one thing?"

"What is it?"

"After I'm gone, please have

someone claim my body. Bury them in any cemetery, it doesn't matter where Just don't let me end up forgotten, with one to lay me rest."

Elsa knew her parents all too well. Having a murderer for a daughter, they would never claim her ashes after her execution. They would only feel shame.

"Alright." Caitlin gave a slight nod, then turned and opened the door. "Officer Ford, you can come in."

Officer Ford entered the room again. This time, Elsa was fully cooperative, recounting the entire crime and revealing the location where she had hidden the bodies.

Thirty minutes later, Caitlin and Officer Ford emerged from the room together.

Elsa's parents had been waiting, fully expecting Caitlin to approach them and say something like, "Even though Elsa is gone, you can think of me as your daughter now 'IPtake care of you."

But she didn't.

They waited and waited, but Caitlin never came over. Growing anxious, they hurried

to ask Grover what had happened.

"Mr. Grover, can you tell me what my daughter said to Miss Gonzales?"

Grover glanced at Elsa's mother. "She asked Miss Gonzales to arrange for her burial after her death."

"That's it?" the mother asked in disbelief.

"Yes, that's it," Grover confirmed.

Elsa's father's face immediately soured. No wonder Caitlin hadn't said a word to them.

Elsa's mother began to wail. "That cursed, good-for-nothing girl! We worked so hard to raise her all these years, and at a time like this, she can't even spare a thought for her poor old parents tristead she's thinking about herself! Dead is dead! What's the point of a burial? Is she planning on coming back to life?"