Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
EDEN
By the time I finished my hot, relaxing bath, the wine had kicked in and I was feeling nice and floaty.
I’d used a salt scrub to get all the grime and dirt off my body and did a deep conditioning mask on my hair. I’d also applied a deep cleansing mask to my face before climbing in the tub.
The water drained as I climbed out and toweled off before moving to the tiny bench I set up at my bathroom counter so I could lotion and moisturize like I hadn’t in the past few days.
I finally felt normal again as I wrapped myself in my robe and started for the kitchen to wash out my wineglass.
“You dating a cop, little sis?”
I let out a shriek, dropping the glass in the sink and causing it to break into a million pieces as I spun around so fast my damp hair smacked me in my face.
My heart beat frantically against my ribs at the sight of my brother sitting at my kitchen table. “Holy shit,” I gasped, placing a hand to my chest. “What the hell are you doing here, Shep?”
He slowly rose to his feet and lifted his hands. “Eden, just relax—”
“Relax?” I slammed my hands on my hips. “Are you fucking joking? Shep, you’re wanted by the cops!”
“What?”
“They know you’re in town. They have security footage of you.
There’s been a string of break-ins all around town that the cops are looking at you for.
And I know this because I was pulled in for questioning!
That was a whole lot of fun,” I clipped sarcastically.
“Being escorted out to the back of a police cruiser in front of all my neighbors so they could take me down to the station, lock me in a room, and grill me for the better part of an hour about whether or not you’re involved and if I’m helping you. ”
“Goddamn it!” he hissed, dragging a hand through his greasy hair.
I narrowed my eyes as I took him in for the first time.
He was about thirty steps past disheveled and well into dirty.
He was in the same clothes he’d been wearing the first time he broke in, only now they were covered in stains I hadn’t seen before, and full of rips and holes.
Rings of dirt covered his neck, the same black embedded beneath his fingernails, and a patchy, matted beard lined his jaw.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You broke into those houses.”
“I didn’t have a choice!” he snarled. “You wouldn’t help me, and I’ve got some really fuckin’ bad guys on my ass.”
“You started robbing those houses before you showed up here!” I snapped. “You aren’t blaming me for this. It was your decision to work with criminals, and your decision to steal money from them, not mine.”
“Look, Eden, I’m beggin’ you. I just need a little cash to make it out of town. Please.”
“What about all the stuff you stole from those houses?”
“I can’t pawn that shit around here!” He was growing more and more panicked, and a panicked Shepley Brenner was a very dangerous thing. “I just need you to spot me some cash so I can get outta town. Then I can pawn all that shit, and I’ll be in the wind. I swear, you’ll never see me again.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared at my brother with all the disdain I was feeling. “I’m not giving you a dime. Use the money you took from those assholes back in Philly.”
“I can’t!” he cried, his eyes wild. “I didn’t realize when I took it, but they’re trackin’ me using that cash. I can’t fuckin’ touch it ’til it’s clean and can’t be traced back to me.”
“So not only are you a criminal, but you’re a stupid one. That’s just great, Shep.”
The air in the room was electric with his desperation. “Please, Eden. Please. They’re gonna kill me.”
“Did you kill that man?” I asked quietly.
My brother’s sunken eyes went wide, looking like they were about to fall from their sockets thanks to the dark shadows smeared beneath them. “What?” he asked in a whisper of disbelief. “What man?”
“Don’t do that,” I gritted. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re wanted for murder, Shep. The owner of the last house you broke into was stabbed to death.”
“Eden, I didn’t… I couldn’t… that wasn’t me. I fuckin’ swear! I didn’t kill anybody. Only person who was home when I broke in nearly filled my ass with buckshot! I swear, I didn’t kill anyone.”
As much as I didn’t want to, I believed him. I knew my brother. He was a terrible person, but he wasn’t capable of something like that. He just didn’t have it in him. But that didn’t mean I was willing to be pulled down into the muck with him any more than I’d already been.
“You need to leave. Right now, Shep.”
He looked at me in complete bewilderment. “You’re really not gonna help me?”
“I’m really not,” I replied, determination dripping from my voice.
“Maybe if you’d shown me even an ounce of brotherly affection growing up, I’d have it in my heart to help you.
But you didn’t, and I don’t.” My voice came out as a croak as I said, “I tried to get you to love me. That was all I ever wanted from you, a brother who cared about me and would protect me. I tried to be a good sister to you, but you broke my heart over and over again. You treated me like I was nothing more than shit stuck to the bottom of your shoe. You, Mom, and Dad not only made my life a living nightmare, but you actually got off on hurting me. So no, I will not lift a finger to help you.” Reaching across the counter, I grabbed my cell phone and held it aloft.
“You’ve already ruined my life enough. That stops now.
You have five seconds to get the hell out of my house, and my life, before I call the cops. ”
Shep stared into my eyes for several seconds, an emotion I’d never seen on him and couldn’t place stark in his eyes. He didn’t say a word as he turned and started for the back door.
“Oh, and Shep,” I called, making him pause and look back at me over his shoulder. “Don’t ever come back. I’m done letting you break my heart.”
For a second, I thought I saw guilt in his eyes before he turned and disappeared into the woods behind my house, but that couldn’t have been right.
It was probably just a trick of light, but it didn’t stop my heart from aching as I brought my phone to life and hit the speed dial for the number I’d programmed days before.
“Detective Wanderly,” he answered in a deep, authoritative voice.
“Uh, hi. This is Eden Brenner.”
“Eden? Is everything okay?”
“Well.” I bit down on my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood as I fought back the lump in my throat. “Not really. My brother just left.”
There was a pause, then “We’ll be right there.”
And as humiliating as it was to admit, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d just betrayed my own flesh and blood.
Detectives Walker and Wanderly took up my entire couch with their massive frames as Lincoln stood with his shoulders propped against the living room wall.
I sat nervously in the chair, twisting my fingers together in a death grip as the waves of silent anger rolled off him and slammed right into me.
“Do you have any idea how he got in?” Detective Walker asked, looking up from the tiny notepad he’d been scribbling in as I told them all about my latest encounter with my brother.
“I’m assuming he picked the lock on the back door.”
That anger morphed into rage, hitting me so hard it nearly knocked the air from my lungs.
Trick’s forehead creased in confusion. “Then how did he bypass the alarm system?”
It was like a lightbulb went off in my head, and I suddenly realized exactly why Lincoln was so pissed. “I, uh… didn’t have it set.”
That time it was Lincoln who spoke. “And you didn’t have it set because…?”
The way he spoke like he was a disappointed father set my blood to a simmer. “Because I forgot,” I replied impudently.
“Your brother had already broken into your house once. There have been more than just a handful of robberies all over town, as well as a murder, and you forgot?”
We entered into a glaring contest, not giving a damn if our hostility made the other men in the room uncomfortable. “Yes, Lincoln,” I snarked. “I forgot. No need to be an asshole about it.”
He pushed off the wall and pulled his hands from his pockets in order to cross his arms over his chest as he moved closer to me.
“See, that’s where you’d be wrong, baby.
My woman forgetting to set a goddamn alarm system, inadvertently allowing her criminal brother on the run from the police and a gang of other criminals worse than him to break into her house for a second fucking time most certainly warrants me being”—he leaned in close to me and bellowed the last two words—“an asshole!”
I shot from my chair, closing even more of the distance between us until we were practically nose-to-nose. “Let’s get one thing straight right goddamn now. I am not your woman, Lincoln, so what I do or don’t do isn’t any business of yours. I don’t even know why you’re here right now!”
“I’m here because you’ve proven yourself incapable of looking after your own safety. Since that’s the case, I’m gonna make it easy for you and do it my damn self.”
“I… you… that’s… Gah!” I finished on a shout, throwing my hands wide. “You’re such a jerk!”
“I can live with you thinkin’ that if it means you don’t get caught in the crosshairs of the shit your brother’s stuck in.”
“It’s not your place!” I cried. “I’m not your concern, Lincoln, and my safety isn’t your fucking responsibility.”
His face turned to stone as he replied, “You’re delusional, you really think that, darlin’.”
Grabbing hold of the hair at the crown of my head, I spun to the detectives. “Can one of you talk some sense into him, ’cause I’m at risk of a concussion if I keep running into this particular brick wall.”
Detective Walker lowered his head in an attempt to hide his smile, whereas Trick had the nerve to laugh outright.
“Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m with Linc on this one,” Trick said. “What you did wasn’t smart. It was my wife, I’d be just as pissed as he is.”
“I’m not his wife!” I exclaimed loudly. “I’m just a neighbor!” I whipped back around to the infuriating man. “You wouldn’t be treating Nona like this if she were in my shoes.”
“No, probably not,” he answered casually. “Then again, it wasn’t Nona beneath me a couple nights ago, and it wasn’t Nona coming around my fingers.”
My whole body jerked back in shock. “I cannot believe you just said that,” I whispered, my brain screaming in affront while my body had a different reaction entirely.