Not all apologies are the same. Some are true and heartfelt. Others, not so much.
One could apologise because one feels bad. One could apologise because one is under the influence of social or peer pressure. One could apologise with the expectation of a benefit - getting into her pants, for example.
One could also apologise to make oneself feel better. Sometimes, the right way to make amends is to keep calm and forget the incident. In such cases, going ahead and digging up the dead, just to lighten one’s heart - is not good. It’s borderline horrible.
One could, of course, also apologise as a bully does. I’m sorry I stole your lunch money and you could do nothing about it. I’m sorry it made you feel helpless. Forgive me, or…
Not all apologies are the same. I’d love to explore these further. Keeping the characters and the incident same, develop the story depending on what kind of an apology a certain character chooses to offer.
It’s funny that sometimes silence would be the best apology.