1460 hours

Neesha De Silva looks nervously around in the visitor room. She is inside a high security prison—somewhere in Lucasville Ohio. The walls are painted in pale yellow and a thick glass separated the room from the other room where the guards will bring the prisoner in. A black colored phone is lying next to her and Neesha looks at it dubiously.

She has never been in a prison. She has watched few episodes of Prison Break to know what prison is really like. Dark cold places with beefy looking orange colored uniformed prisoners lurking around the cells with weary looking guards around. But today, she is here, to meet someone. Someone she hasn’t talked to for nearly a decade. Someone that she really do not want to meet yet at the last minute, decided to meet this person.

That someone is her half –sister, Tabitha.

Fifteen years ago, when Neesha is still going to elementary school back in Sri Lanka, Tabitha has been charged with murdering her two-year old daughter, Sophie. At the same time, her boyfriend or fiancé, Nathan LeBlanc is that infamous notorious serial killer who had been killing girls around Cincinnati area for nearly a year and Tabitha was known to have helped her husband kill them. To this day, despite overwhelming evidences that Tabitha did kill her daughter—her daughter’s blood all around the nursery, the police has never found little Sophie’s body. Tabitha refused to tell the police or cooperate with them as to where she had actually buried the body. And finally, both she and her husband were sentenced to death.

And now, in a matter of few months, the judge has given the date of their execution and Tabitha has approximately thousand four hundred and sixty hours to live.

Neesha wondered whether after all these years, if Tabitha will tell her what she actually did to little Sophie.

A door opening sound made Neesha almost jump. She glances towards the room and she sees Tabitha, accompanied by two female guards. Looking at Tabitha, Neesha wondered if she was actually meeting her sister, or someone else. Once upon a time, Tabitha was a very beautiful person. She had dark hair cascading down her shoulders with hazel colored eyes, with olive colored complexion with long eye lashes. She looked lively and vivacious at that time. But now, Neesha realize that the life in prison has taken a toll on Tabitha. She has lost most of her looks. Her used to be long hair is cropped short and there is a blank expression on her face. Tabitha looks like the most defeated person on earth and Neesha couldn’t help but feel sorry for her sister.

In fact, Tabitha looks shocked—and surprised to find that her little half-sister is sitting across from her. Without another word, Tabitha sits across from Neesha, staring at her.

Neesha blinks and she takes the receiver, with shaking hands. Tabitha unlike Neesha takes the receiver calmly.

“Little Neesha…I can’t believe you are here…let alone, you are in…the US,” Tabitha replied back, calmly.

Neesha wondered if it was a compliment or sarcasm. She and her sister never got along—particularly because of Neesha’s mother.

“I…I am studying here…at UC,” Neesha explained calmly.

“Oh…UC…” Tabitha breathed softly. “I can’t believe that fifteen years ago…I was…a sophomore.”

“I am a…junior…I am majoring in chemical engineering…you know they have co-op program there and I just returned from co-op from Indiana,” Neesha replied smiling.

Tabitha remained silent. Maybe she was jealous that Neesha in a year will be graduating from college.

Neesha clears her throat.

“You were here for three years and you only come to visit me now?” Tabitha asked bitterly.

Neesha bites her lips.

“Actually…I came here to see how you are doing,” Neesha said, somewhat truthfully.

Tabitha snorted.

“Oh please. Papa must have sent you here since…since I am going to die in two months.” Tabitha sighed.

Neesha shivered a little.

“That’s…that’s not really true.” Neesha muttered. She takes a huge sigh. “Tabitha…don’t…don’t you think that you should at least tell…what you did with Sophie’s body?”

Tabitha’s smirk is gone replace by a longing look.

“You know, a couple of FBI agents are here, questioning me and Nathan. Did one of those agents set you up?”

Neesha stares at her sister.

“No,” she answered sighing. “She is my niece and I have—“

“Please, Papa never bothered about Sophie. He practically disowned me after I told him I was pregnant. He never even bothered to check me or contact me. Thanks to your mother.”

Neesha bit back the snorting remark she was going to fire at Tabitha. It is true that her father did cut off all connections with Tabitha even before the event. But her mother actually tried hard to convince her father to help Tabitha out. And yet, as usual, Tabitha blames that entirely on Neesha’s mother.

“Tabitha…if you think like that way…well, my mother has got nothing to do with this,” Neesha reasoned out calmly. “Look, at least, tell me what you did to Sophie’s body.”

Tabitha gets up, signaling that the conversation is over.

“I already told you…she is in Heaven with God.” Tabitha whispered to the receiver before slamming down the receiver. The two female guards came back and Neesha watched helplessly as Tabitha was escorted by the guards, leaving the room.

Neesha locked herself up in the room and starts laying all the old newspaper clippings on the bed. There were pictures of mug shots of Tabitha and Nathan. Media has dubbed Tabitha as the “Devil Woman” and still there are people out there, chanting that Tabitha should go to hell. Pictures of Sophie were plastered all over the news with a memorial held especially for Sophie with the slogan “RIP Sophie LeBlanc,”

Sophie has inherited her mother’s exotic looks except the eyes—she has got her father’s blue colored eyes. Nathan LeBlanc is ruggedly handsome with tufts of brown hair and a dimple, smiling at the camera. One could never imagine that he is actually a cold blooded murderer.

Neesha yawns and she rests her head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling. She closes her eyes and thinks for a moment.

Then suddenly, she remembered someone. Quickly, she gets up and boots her laptop. She taps her keyboard, thinking. She wondered if this person has a Facebook account…still. She vaguely remembers him—a fellow Sri Lankan who came to Cincinnati to study for his masters and who…happened to be Tabitha’s childhood friend.

Last time she met him was three years ago when she saw him at a wedding. At that time, she remembered her father telling her mother that he was now an Assistant Professor at University of Texas, Austin.

Slowly, she types his name on the Facebook. And sure enough, his profile picture pops up. They are not friends on Facebook but maybe…maybe they can be friends.

She knows that he left Cincinnati after Tabitha was sent to prison for her daughter’s murder. Probably he does not want to associate with her. But then again, maybe…he would talk to her…Neesha wondered.

Slowly, Neesha sent him a message.

Hi Rajiv…I am Neesha…Professor Silva’s daughter and…Tabitha’s sister. I am actually in the US now…maybe…can I add you?

She press the send button. She wondered if Rajiv Dissanayake would know what really happened to Sophie LeBlanc.