“Why do I feel like we’re about to walk into something bigger than a broken taillight?”
Marcus looks at me and shakes his head. “You already know the answer to that. This town can be your greatest ally or turn on a dime if it thinks you’ve wronged them somehow. Sorrow Wells killed one of the town’s golden boys. They’re not about to forgive and forget any more than you are.”
He climbs out and slams the door behind him while I silently fume. Forgive and forget? That’s easy for him to say when it’s not his brother buried in the local cemetery.
I climb out and follow him in. I hear people arguing, but I ignore them in favor of following Marcus. When we reach Wade, the man is furious. “You got it?”
“Yeah.” I hold out the thumb drive for him. “I’ve already emailed you a copy, as well as the footage from the coffee shop.”
“Thanks.” He sits down and plugs the thumb drive into his laptop, then opens his email. He clicks on the link and waits for the video to load before he begins playing it. People gather around to watch. I look around with a frown, knowing this isn’t the norm.
“What’s going on?”
“Give me a second,” Wade answers as he watches the video. Several of them curse when they see the rookie smash out Sorrow’s taillight, even more so with the way Sorrow is being manhandled.
“This is bullshit, Wade,” Marcus tells him quietly.
“You have no idea.” Wade looks at him and me before indicating that we should follow him.
“Wade—”
Wade turns at the sound of his name. Carl stands there with his hands on his hips, looking like he wants to walk out and not come back. “This shit is going to blow up, and once again, that kid is gonna find herself at the center of a storm.”
“I don’t give a fuck. This is bullshit, Carl. We’re better than that.” He points toward the back, where the interrogation rooms are.
“I know. I’m just warning you. You had just started last time shit went down. You have no idea how bad it’s going to get.”
“She didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That didn’t stop them before.”
“What did you just say?” I step forward. Carl looks at me with his hands up and backs off.
“You want answers, Wade? Start at the beginning before this all goes up in flames.”
We watch him leave before Wade points to where he wants us. Marcus goes first, and I follow him into a small room. It isn’tuntil Wade locks the door and flips the switch that I realize we’re in a viewing room that looks into one of the interrogation rooms. Sorrow has her back to us, which is unusual, as suspects usually sit on the opposite side. Instead, I see Chief Stephenson, and he looks like he’s one step away from ripping Sorrow’s head off.
Wade must do something else because the next thing you know, sound is pouring into the room. “You think if you keep your mouth shut, you can’t be found guilty of anything? How well did that work out for you last time?”
When Sorrow doesn’t answer, he slams his fist down on the table, making Sorrow jump.
“Where the fuck is her lawyer?” Marcus growls.
“Chief denied her right to have one because she didn’t verbally ask for one.”
“That’s illegal?—”
“I know what it is, Marcus, trust me. He said he’s known her since she was little and knows she can talk. Said something about refusing to play games.”
“He does understand that all this will get thrown out of court, right?”
“It will never go to court because this is bullshit.” Wade looks back at us but goes quiet for a minute as we continue to listen to the chief berate a silent Sorrow.
“The fact you came back after killing a boy? Have you no shame? Do you even care what you did to that family?”
She does something with her hands that I can’t see, but it has the chief leaning forward and smirking.
“You have no power here. You never did. Your mother was smart for once in her life and stayed out of things. And that attorney?” He chuckles. “I bet he’s still sunning himself down in Florida, sipping on pina coladas.”
