Chapter 23 #2
Detective Wanderly stood from his hunched position and crossed his arms over his chest, and I had to admit, if I hadn’t been so damn scared out of my mind, I would have taken the time to appreciate just how handsome both men were.
But as that hardness in his expression came back, any natural womanly desire I might have felt shrank back as my chest tightened.
“You know, for someone who keeps sayin’ you two aren’t close, you’re sure quick to jump to his defense. ”
My eyes narrowed and I cocked my head as that fear I’d been feeling started to give way to anger. “Excuse me?”
“I’m just sayin’, usually if a guy’s as big an asshole as you’re claiming your brother is, a woman wouldn’t defend him.”
“If a woman’s any woman at all, she would if the asshole in question was being wrongly accused of murder.
If a woman’s any woman at all, she does what’s right whether she likes the person or not.
I don’t like my brother, at all. To tell you the truth, he’s a terrible person and, in my opinion, a drain on humanity, but you asked me if I could tell you anything about him, so I am, and he’s not a killer, Detective.
He’s a criminal, no doubt about that, but not a killer. ”
Wanderly slid the folder closer to him and started flipping pages.
“Shepley Brenner’s currently on the run from some real nasty guys from Philadelphia who want nothing more than to see his head on a spit.
These are the kind of men who wouldn’t hesitate to pull a trigger to take out their target, even if it meant women and children got caught in the crosshairs.
Your brother stole a hundred and fifty grand from these men, and now they’re out for blood.
So you’re tellin’ me that, in an act of desperation, a man who’d work with and then steal from assholes like this wouldn’t hesitate to save his own life by taking someone else’s? ”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” I answered in a raised voice.
“Where’s your brother, Miss Brenner? You cooperate now and tell us, maybe we can work out some kind of deal for you.”
Panic was squeezing at my lungs, making it harder and harder to breathe. “I don’t know.”
“Look, I get that you want to be loyal to your family,” Wanderly continued, “but you need to help yourself right now. Where’s your brother?”
“I said I don’t know!”
“Where is he!” he barked, and I lost it.
Shooting up to my feet so fast my chair went scraping along the floor and into the wall behind me, I slammed my hands on the metal table and shouted, “I don’t know!
I haven’t got a clue where the hell he is!
I’m not defending him, Detective, and I’m not helping him!
I’d never do something like that. I have absolutely no loyalty to my family, and if I truly believed he was capable of taking a person’s life, I’d be the first to tell you everything I could. ”
“Blood’s thicker than water,” he continued prodding.
“Not with my family,” I hissed, bracing my palms on the table and leaning in.
“My family’s blood is so goddamn diluted with booze it’s thinner than water.
You wanna know who my brother is? I’ll tell you.
My brother’s the kind of guy who’d take pictures of his teenage sister in the shower and sell them to the players on the high school football team for a quick fifty bucks so he could get high, not giving a single damn that those same pictures were spread around the entire school by the very boys he sold them to.
He’s the kind of guy who’d steal every single penny I’d worked my ass off to save in the hopes of paying for college and maybe, just maybe giving myself a better life than the one my family led all because he was out of beer.
He’s the kind of guy who’d tell me stories of the Boogeyman who ate little children, then lock me out of the house late at night because he and his asshole buddies got a huge laugh out of listening to me screaming and crying and begging them to let me in before the monster got me.
“That’s the kind of guy my brother is, Detective Wanderly, so if you think for a single second that I’d ever lift a finger to help him in any way, you’d be very wrong.
I owe him nothing. I’d risk absolutely nothing to protect him if he’s done something wrong, but I’m telling you, he’s not a murderer.
He’s cruel, and vicious, and narcissistic, but he’s not a murderer.
I’m not harboring him, and I never would.
And for the last time, I do not know. Where. He. Is!”
I was panting and completely out of breath once I finished my rant. I hadn’t even realized I’d started crying until Wanderly tucked his hand into the pocket of his jeans and passed me the handkerchief he’d just pulled out.
Several seconds ticked by in agonizing silence as I fought to breathe and control my tears, and the whole time, the two men looked on with sympathy furrowing their brows.
“You okay?” Detective Walker finally asked a couple minutes later.
“I’m fine,” I muttered, staring down at the monogram on the handkerchief in my hands. “But I’ve told you everything I know.”
“We believe you,” Wanderly declared, shocking me so much that my head jerked up and my wide, scratchy eyes landed on him. “We just need a few minutes, and then we’ll get you on your way, okay?”
I cast my gaze back down, unable to look at either of them any longer. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. “Yeah.”
They left me alone in that room again, and all I could do was hope it didn’t take another twenty minutes.