Page 16 of Three

“Cal was your half-brother, and he went to study theology at the seminary a year after you came,” I counter.

“We talked on the phone.” She weakly argues. “And Jasper? He was Cal’s brother; they grew up together. Shouldn’t it be his fault, as well? We both didn’t fucking see it. Thought he was a fucking saint.”

My hand goes to my wrist, and I trace the bracelet around it with my fingertips, the familiar bumps and edges of the cold stone beads remind me of my sin.

“Haven’t you done enough acts of penitence?” she keeps going.

“I lived almost next door to them. Went to his church. Listened to his damn sermons every other Sunday.”

“Jasper did too!”

I growl and clench my teeth. On some level, I know she might be right, but I watched Cal fall and crack his neck. Heard Loretta’s scream. Witnessed her tears of horror. Loomed over Cal’s dead body with fury burning in my gut.

Once again, I force the images back into a mental vault. “Have you seen him?”

“Jasper?” she asks, mercifully letting me change the topic. I nod, opening my eyes again. “Yes, briefly yesterday. Atthe police dinner. He’s always too busy fundraising for his political campaign, but likes to take pictures with me. The public loves that the guy running for senator has a sister on the force.” She frowns.

“Not his P.I. cousin? Shocker.” I try to make a joke, but it’s swallowed by silence.

“He probably promised favors to a few people to hide what happened to Cal…and you.”

I bet he did. I don’t blame him though.

“Can you check this partial plate as well?” I pass her a piece of paper with the numbers written on it.

She sighs. “Why?”

“Can you just do it?” I give her my best please-leave-it-alone look, but of course, she ignores it.

“I’m putting my neck out for you again while gathering all this information.”

“And I appreciate it.”

“I have a date in thirty minutes, no time to waste. If you want to know about the plate, tell me why. Now.”

“Somebody shot at me and then took off in that car,” I confess grudgingly.

“What!” Her high-pitched cry almost makes me deaf. “When? Where?”

“Around thirty minutes ago. At the cemetery.”

“Fuck! You think it’s related to Loretta or Cal?”

I ponder if I should tell her about the anonymous letter I received but decide to leave her out of it. “After all these years? No. Probably an ex-client.” Just like Marcus Baker. Maybe it was him. Not him-him,since he can’t walk with his knees both broken. But maybe he paid someone. Need to go see the fucker again. Should have killed him. Or ask Ramiel to take both brothers.

Ramiel. I like his name. Unique just like him.

“He came,” Opal suddenly whispers, but her dark tone sends an ominous sense of doom down my spine. I turn my eyes toward the shiny gray Mercedes stopping in front of Opal’s Corolla.

Now I know the reason we met in this empty parking lot. Jasper. God forbid someone sees me anywhere near him.

He exits his expensive car while we do the same. He’s wearing a posh gray suit that covers his long thin body, and shiny black shoes. I haven’t seen him face to face in eight long years. His hair has turned gray at the temples and he has wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. I have to rapidly blink a couple of times because seeing him is quite a shock. He looks so much like Cal, if it weren’t for his glasses and thinner lips, I’d think he came back from the dead to torture me.

We get out of the car and stop a few feet from him. He’s wearing his usual political half smile, but he looks tense. He closes the distance and gives Opal a quick hug.

Then he turns to me and offers his hand.Such affection.I grab it, trying to cover my puzzlement at his…presence. Just when I’m about to let go, he tightens his grip. “You look…fine.”

Fine?“Do I?” I ask him with a hint of derision while pulling my hand free. The sting in my calf caused by someone shooting at me reminds me hownotfine I am.