From the Desk of Zoe Washington

The next morning, Zoe tells her grandmother that she wants to walk a letter to Maya to the corner mailbox. Grandma points out that she can leave it in her own mailbox for the mail carrier to pick up since it is raining, but Zoe fibs that carrier is not reliable. As she puts on her rain jacket to leave, her new letter to Marcus falls out, and Grandma picks it up. Zoe worries that Grandma saw the address, but she does not ask and runs out to mail the letter.

After the weekend, Trevor must go along on Zoe’s internship because neither his mother nor brother Simon is available to supervise him. Zoe, upset, tells Trevor not to ruin anything at Ari’s Cakes for her. She mentions the possibility of the competition show, and Trevor thinks this is great.

Ariana sets the two of them up with Vincent as he makes 500 mini-cupcakes for a fundraiser, but Vincent does not offer any tutorial nor let Zoe help. Trevor begins to ask if Zoe can help for her, but Zoe tells him she can do it. She is trying to convince Vincent that she can scoop batter when Ariana comes over. Trevor fibs that Vincent told Zoe she could help, and Ariana says this a great idea just as Vincent begins to protest. Zoe is happy to try hands-on work but frustrated that Trevor takes the credit for “[making] it better for [her]” (73). Zoe resolves to disregard him the rest of the day.

Grandma picks Zoe and Trevor up at the bakery, runs Trevor back to his house, then takes Zoe to Cambridge Tea Room for lunch. Grandma reveals that she knows Zoe sent a letter to Marcus. She asks if the letters from Marcus are upsetting to Zoe, and Zoe says no. Zoe asks if Grandma thinks Marcus is a bad person, and Grandma pauses before saying, “I think Marcus is a good person at heart” (79). Zoe wants Grandma to keep her secret about writing to Marcus. At first Grandma does not want to hide anything from Mom, but she admits that she thinks Mom may be acting on her own feelings and in a way that is unfair to Zoe. Grandma makes the deal with Zoe that Zoe can give Marcus Grandma’s address and carry on the correspondence, but Zoe must tell Mom about their letters by the end of the summer. Zoe writes that evening to give Marcus Grandma’s address, and she asks if he is sorry about his crime. She also asks him to suggest another song for her new collection, “Little Tomato’s Playlist” (82).

Zoe wants to make raspberry crumb bars, one of Ruby Willow’s recipes, on Saturday morning. Mom drinks her coffee while Zoe accumulates ingredients on the counter and starts the raspberry preserves in a pot on the stove. Zoe is eager to show that she can manage the baking process independently, but Mom sounds disappointed when Zoe turns down Mom’s offers to help. Mom brings up Trevor. She thinks that Zoe should forgive him because it will help Zoe let go of the pain she feels. Mom adds, “That doesn’t mean you have to forget what he did. There’s a difference” (86). Zoe asks her mom to stay out of it. Frustrated, Mom leaves. Zoe realizes she burned the raspberries and gives up on the crumb cake in exasperation.

Marcus’s letter that week, sneaked to Zoe by her grandmother, includes something unexpected. Marcus says kind things about Grandma, then brings up Zoe’s question about his crime. He leads by saying he will not lie to Zoe, then writes that he did not commit the murder. He claims his alibi was not enough to prove his innocence: “I’m in here because my lawyer couldn’t prove that I didn’t do it” (87). He goes on to discuss his high school days playing basketball and helping his mother with recipes; he enjoys his job in the prison kitchen, especially chopping vegetables; he mentions a brother with a wife and two daughters and his parents all in Atlanta, but indicates they are no longer close to him. He suggests Zoe listen to “Water Runs Dry” by Boyz II Men.

Zoe thinks Marcus might be lying about being innocent; after all, he was found guilty, and Mom considers him to be a criminal. Zoe wonders what other topics he could be lying about. She wants to throw the letter out but tosses it into her backpack instead so that her parents will not find it. On Monday, Zoe helps the staff at Ari’s Cakes taste-test a new recipe for fig cupcakes. This inspires her to create a new recipe of her own. She begins to daydream about ingredients like kumquats and kiwi while she picks bad strawberries out of a shipment.

Zoe and Grandma go to the library. Zoe looks through the cookbooks, but the recipes in them do not inspire her to create new ones: “Maybe I needed to walk around the supermarket instead” (98). She asks at the desk for help finding nonfiction books on crimes. The library aide tries to direct her to the children’s desk, but Zoe insists on adult nonfiction book. In a book titled Wrongfully Convicted, Zoe reads about the Innocence Project. The organization’s goal is to help overturn incorrect convictions and free innocent people. Zoe notices that the photos on the front, which look like mug shots, are “all men, and most of them were Black” (100).

Zoe reads one case study in which a man’s 20-year sentence was overturned after DNA evidence proved him innocent. Graphs in the book point out hundreds of cases of wrongfully convicted people, mostly Black men. Zoe connects this information to the Black Lives Matter movement and police violence against Black people: “If those police officers weren’t going to jail, then it made sense the whole prison system was messed up” (102). She notes the name of the book so she can find it again. Suddenly Trevor sits down across the table. 

Trevor asks about the book, and Zoe cannot help it—she finds herself suddenly revealing the whole story, despite how angry she still is at Trevor. She asks Trevor to promise not to tell anyone about her correspondence with Marcus. He agrees. Zoe tells Trevor about the case study in the book and that Marcus said his alibi was not good enough. She tells Trevor she wants to look online for details about Marcus’s arrest and case. He insists on coming too. Zoe does not want him to at first, but the old feeling of unity between them sways her.

After quick searching online, Zoe finds Marcus’s mug shot and an article, “Arrest Made in UMass Student’s Murder” (109). At first, Zoe thinks Marcus looks cold and murderous in the photo, but then she thinks she sees fear in his eyes. The article reveals that an 18-year-old University of Massachusetts student, Lucy Hernandez, died from blunt force trauma to the head. Because classmates thought Lucy and Marcus were dating, and because a witness placed Marcus leaving the building at the right time, authorities arrested him.

Another article shows Marcus in court in a jumpsuit. Zoe reads that he pled not guilty and that his lawyer was a man named Anthony Miller. A photo of Lucy Hernandez upsets Zoe. She stops searching when it is time to meet her grandmother. Trevor offers continued help. Zoe wonders what the truth is as she leaves the library.