Chapter 28
“Get up,” a voice startled Garrett awake from where he’d been dozing on his brother’s couch. His eyes flickered open to see Dylan standing above him.
“What time is it?” Garrett groaned, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.
“Almost ten-thirty. You gotta get out of here.”
“What?” Garrett’s groggy voice drawled as confusion rattled his chest. “What are you talking about?”
“We just got a warrant for your arrest, G.” Dylan’s voice was calm and collected, though his expression was twisted up with distress. “You gotta leave. Get out of town. Go somewhere. Anywhere but here. They’re sending in FBI tomorrow.”
“What did I do?” Garrett forced himself upward on the couch, still trying to wake up fully. “I haven’t been anywhere but here and work. I don’t understand…”
“The gun, Garrett.” Dylan ripped the blanket off the couch. “The gun came back as a match.”
His heart sank. “What? How? That gun hasn’t left my house, I don’t think? I didn’t… I couldn’t… There’s no way. ”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to find out that Sarah was actually pregnant either. Autopsy confirmed it. Figured it was just a scare for her or something.”
“It’s not mine,” Garrett said quickly, jumping to his feet and reaching for his jeans. “I swear. I didn’t sleep with Sarah.”
“No, but you shot her,” Dylan snapped. “And I’m willing to give you a head start, but that’s where my loyalty ends, G. If they tell me to hunt you down when they get here, I’m going to do what I’m told, so be smart and go far.”
“But I didn’t…”
“You don’t know that you didn’t!” Dylan roared, picking up Garrett’s duffle bag and jamming his things into it. “You don’t remember what happened, and that’s the whole problem with this. Why don’t you remember?”
“I was really drunk?” Garrett ran his hands through his hair as Dylan picked up his cowboy hat and shoved it in his hands. “I didn’t even have my gun on me that night. It would’ve been in my truck, and my truck was in the parking lot of the bar… It’s not me.”
“Yeah, good luck convincing a judge of that,” Dylan snorted, and then held out the duffle. “Listen, Dad is coming for you. I’m not kidding at all. I told him you were at the bar or with Beth, and not at my dang house. If he hunts you down, he’ll put you behind bars, and never blink twice about it.”
“Even if I didn’t do it?” Garrett took the duffle from Dylan. “I don’t see the point of running if I didn’t do it.”
“You did do it, though,” Dylan exasperated, shoving Garrett toward the door. “That’s the whole problem with this. You did do it, and I feel for you, I do. I hate that you turned into a catastrophic disappointment, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I tried to save you from this, G. I really tried.” His voice broke as he went for the door.
But before he could reach it, there was a heavy knock.
They both froze.
“Dylan,” a voice cried on the other side, and Garrett’s shoulders dropped at the familiarity. “Please open the door. I know Garrett is in there.”
“Go away, Brittany,” Dylan rumbled. “He’s not here.”
“ Yes, he is,” she shouted at the door. “I know he is, and I know there’s a warrant for his arrest. Your dad told me so, and told me to find him. I know he’s here. Let me talk to him. He just needs to turn himself in and do the right thing. Please. Don’t cover for him, it’ll just get you in trouble, too.”
Dylan glanced back at Garrett, and then motioned for the back door. “ Go, ” he mouthed. “ Now. ”
He headed for the back sliding glass door, slipping out onto the back porch. He heard the door open, and Dylan greet Brittany.
“He’s going to talk her , isn’t he?” she demanded, just as Garrett jumped off the porch. He froze, his protective instinct kicking in. No, he needed to move, and get as much distance as he could between him and this place. But as he jogged toward the barn, he racked his brain about the gun…
And that’s when it hit him.
Everything all at once.