Page 130 of Driftwood Daffodil 3

“Your sister was held at gunpoint and you’re calling for her to come and rescue you? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

I wanted to drag her ass out of the truck and throw her at her sister’s feet, but a couple of cops had started to look our way. So, I unfurled my fists and lowered my tone before I drew too much attention.

“Veda,” I took a deep breath and told myself this was for Nova. “Get out of the truck. No one will hurt you.”

“Someone else said that to me once, and he looked a lot like you.”

My eyes locked onto hers. My first instinct was to defend my brother, but I swallowed back my words before they were spat out. If I wasn’t questioning Atlas’s innocence before, then the way she was staring at me would’ve raised some doubt.

Everything I thought I knew was tainted now. Carissa, Aldo and even Atlas. None of them were who I thought they were. I was the reminder of Veda’s monster and she was the reminder of my lost naivety. I hated her just as much as she feared me.

Jarring my shoulder forward I spat out a, “boo,” and shook my head when Veda jolted back. Fucking pathetic.

“Go home, Veda.” I said before any more damage could be done. “Nova doesn’t need you.”

She had me and I would do the job her sister couldn’t. I would be her protector.

The truly sad part came when Veda slipped behind the steering wheel, started the truck, and drove away. She couldn’t look past her own fear long enough to help her sister. I didn’t care what Atlas may or may not have done to her, that was unforgivable. Veda Ford could fuck right off. I wouldn’t let her or her brother hurt Nova anymore.

NOVALEE

Ididn’t like being surrounded by cops. The last time I saw this many men in uniform was the night they arrested Kato. Two of them dragged him out of the hospital while another two held me back. I screamed and tried to reach out for him, but I couldn’t reach him. Then they handed me over to child services. Maw Maw had to fight to get me out of foster care.

The judge said she was too old and that the crackhead foster home I was in was a better place. I think the only reason they let her take custody was because I smacked a cast iron frying panoff that guy’s head and threatened to beat my social worker. That was a fun week.

No one asked what I wanted, because I didn’t matter. I was just the sister of a murderer. The system sucked. I didn’t trust child services, I didn’t trust judges, and I sure as hell didn’t trust cops. If I had it my way, they never would’ve been called. Unfortunately, someone not only heard the shot but saw Simon holding a gun to my head. So, now I was stuck in the diner answering questions.

“Are you sure you didn’t know him?”

The uniformed man taking my statement was the very definition of irony. Sargent Calder was the same cop who arrested my brother.

“Nope,” I shook my head. “Never seen him before in my life.”

He looked up from his notepad. “And no one else was there?”

“No, it was just the two of us.”

I wasn’t lying to protect Romeo or Simon, I was just refusing to cooperate. Why should I help them? No one listened to me two years ago and now Kato was in prison. If they had done their job right, then Atlas would’ve been charged for Veda’s rape and it would’ve been admissible. But they weren’t concerned with that. They just wanted the publicity closing the case would bring them.

“Miss,” he sighed. “The witness saw three people.”

“Well, your witness is wrong. Did he come from the bar by chance, cause half those guys can barely make it home, let alone know what they saw.”

The bar behind the diner wasn’t what one would call a fine establishment. It was the kind of place people went to to spend their paycheck and forget about their shitty lives. No one walked out of there sober.

“What about Romeo Mancini?”

“What about him?”

“He was here when we arrived.”

That was a little harder to argue, but not impossible. “He was here for lunch.”

“He was here for lunch?” Sargent Calder arched his brow. “Romeo Mancini?”

I gave him a nonchalant shrug, “he likes the gumbo.”

“And your cook will corroborate this?”

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