Page 75 of One Last Chance

David laughed and fixed Daisy with a snarl. “If I told you once I told you a thousand times, I brought you into this world and I can take you out! It’s my right! It was my money paid for that stupid tattoo, my money paid for that stupid safe, my money and he kept it from me!” The idiot. Relieved as I was, I was also a little shocked that he fucking got away with it for as long as he did. That he didn’t open his yap sooner when the beer got too much.

“All right. Let’s all calm down,” the sheriff said. “We’re all gonna go downtown and cool our heels until everybody sobers up. Dante, read these two their rights.”

Dante launched into his spiel, trying to talk over David, who was still going.

“You’da done the same goddamn thing, Jefferey, don’t think you wouldn’t! If your kid was makin’ a million and you were bustin’ your ass to keep the lights on, you woulda taken your cut, no buts about it! Look at you in your damn uniform, lookin’ all superior and shit. You think I forgot about high school, Jeffery? How you bullied that kid so bad he damn near killed himself? Oh yeah, I got stories. All the stories, worse stories than that, and everybody’s gonna know ‘em!”

The sheriff just stood, staring at David until the deputy finished reading him his rights, then said, “I suggest you listen to Dante, David. You’re diggin’ yourself a hole here. Blackmailing law enforcement is a federal offense.”

“You ain’t federal! You ain’t shit. Can’t keep teenagers from sellin’ crack all over town, can’t solve a damn murder, can’t keep your own brats in line, don’t you dare tell me how to raise mine!”

The sheriff raised his brows and looked at me. “You heard that?”

“I heard it,” I said.

He nodded. “What you mean, I can’t solve a damn murder?”

David stopped talking, confused. “I—well—you let him out, didn’t you? Kash is the killer! Kash bashed him over the head with that wrench, Kash cut that goddamn expensive dolphin out of his shoulder, then Kash stood there and got drunk talking to the corpse! He’s crazy, I tell you, crazy! Now he’s after my daughter, look at her eye!”

Daisy frowned at him. “You did that, Daddy.”

“It was my right as a father to take what was mine!” He screeched. “That little cumstain owed me money!”

“Get him in the car, Dante,” the sheriff said. “I’ve heard enough.”

Daisy blinked a few times, then paled. She sank to her knees as the truth hit home, and all I wanted to do was put my arms around her. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of how her heart must have broken when they told her it was me who killed her brother.

The sheriff ran a hand over his face and sighed. He looked around at all of us; shell-shocked Daisy, the surprisingly calm Sandy, and me. I met his gaze respectfully, waiting for him to read me my rights and put me in his car. Even if I had managed to clear my name, I’d still broken the law. Breaker would have a field day with this.

The sheriff nodded slowly and stepped back over to me. I heard the click of steel on steel behind me then my hands were free. I rubbed my sore wrists, asking him a question with my eyes.

“Now, look son, I usually don’t abide redneck justice around here. Circumstances being what they are, though, I think I’m gonna overlook this little transgression. Between you and me—” he glanced over at Dante’s car. “—the old man had it comin’. Besides, I figure you’ve done your time already.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said quietly.

“Yeah…” He blew out a heavy breath and swept his hat off his head, scratching his scalp. “I’m gonna need statements from all of you. Y’all heard what he said. More witnesses we have, the better. Dante had his camera on. Either way—best seal this case up tight. Don’t want no more surprises. Makes my office look bad.”

“You’re sure he did it?” Daisy asked weakly.

“Yes ma’am,” he said. “There were things we didn’t publish. Like the murder weapon. Kept it vague, blunt object, but he knew what it was. And that bit about the tattoo—we didn’t tell anybody that, not even Kash here.”

She sobbed once, then quieted. I helped her to her feet and she wrote her statement with a steady hand, her eyes looking glassy and faraway. Sandy was just as quiet as she wrote out her own statement.

As the cop cars pulled away, the three of us hovered close together. Silence reined until long after the taillights had faded, and nobody seemed to know what to do next. So we stood and gazed off into the darkness, waiting for the next step to reveal itself.

---