"That was a bad idea.”
"Why?”
“Because.”
“Mason would still be alive if it wasn't for him,” she said. “What the fuck were you two thinking?”
"I'm not going to talk about it. I told you to leave it alone.”
"My brother dies doing stupid shit, and I'm supposed to just leave it alone?”
"Unless you want to end up like him, you need to drop this nonsense. Leave Chad alone and get out of town. Now!”
"Why? What’s that skinny little runt going to do?”
"I care about you, Nova.”
She scoffed. “No, you don't.”
"If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't be making this phone call.”
Nova was silent for a long moment. Her eyes filled with torment, trying to reconcile what he was saying with his conversation with Chad.
She looked at me and said to Shane, "And what if I don't leave town? What if I go to the police?”
"And tell them what? That your brother was working for a guy who works for the cartels? How do you think that's going to benefit you?"
"I don't know.”
"It's not. It's just going to piss these people off even more." Shane paused. "I'm begging you. Pack up your things and leave right now. Don't come back.”
"I'm not leaving town. I'm not leaving my mother. Not now. Not after all she's been through.”
"Where are you right now?”
"None of your business.”
"Meet me at Echo Beach.”
"Why?”
"Because I want to try to talk some sense into you.” He paused and said in a soft tone, “I'd like to see you one more time before you go.”
"I just told you, I'm not going anywhere.”
"Nova, these people are not fucking around.”
I nodded to her.
"Echo Beach, huh?”
"Pack a bag, tell your mom goodbye, and I'll have some money for you so you can get out of town and start over.”
"Who's going to take care of my mother?”
"I'll look after her. I promise. Look, we go way back. I loved Mason like a brother. It eats me up what happened. But that's life.”
Nova paused. “No. That’s not life. Most people don’t get killed while trying to kill a cop. Most people have more sense than that.”
