"Are you not aware of what this means?" Brock yells at him.
"What?" Braden shrugs. "So she was here. Big deal."
"A girl shows up dead after being at our house?" Brock yells. "Goddammit, Braden, you can't be that ignorant to not see what this means!"
Braden stands up. "She was here for like a minute and then she left. For Jackson's house. The guy who killed her." He turns and points at me. "Why aren't you yelling at HER? She was fucking dating him!"
Brock storms up to Braden. "You're the one they're looking at. For Andrea. And now another girl shows up dead. A girl who was with you just hours before her death. You don't see a problem with that? Because I guarantee the police are putting together a theory right now that involves you getting back with Kristen right before her death."
"There's no fucking theory," he yells back, "because I wasn't with her last night! She came here Thursday. I went to practice and when I got home she was gone. There's no fucking way they can connect me with this!"
"Of course they can connect you!" Brock says, tossing Braden's phone across the room. "We live on the same street where she died!"
"What the fuck!" Braden yells, going to get his phone.
Brock grabs Braden's shirt and yanks him in front of him. "Forget the damn phone and listen to me!"
Braden stands there, glaring at his dad. "I DIDN'T do it."
"I know that and you know that, but the police don't. And they won't bother checking the facts. It would be far easier for them to accuse you of both girls' deaths than to deal with another investigation involving someone new."
Braden shoves away from his dad. "They don't have to. They already have their killer! They have Jackson! It was his fucking house! They can charge HIM with the murders, close both cases, and be done."
"They're not going to do that," Brock says, lowering his voice. "You know that, Braden."
Braden looks at his dad, then at me. "Get out!"
"No. I want to hear this." I get up from the couch and turn to Brock. "What do you mean? Are you saying they're going to let Jackson go?"
Trystan walks in. "What's going on? Did they arrest Jackson?"
"Yeah," Braden says. "He's a fucking killer, just like we thought."
"He's not a killer," I say.
"Did they take him away?" Trystan asks.
"Yes," Brock says with a sigh. "Trystan you don't need to be involved in this. Go to your room."
"I'm not leaving. And I'm already involved. The lawyer just called and said the cops want to ask me about Andrea."
Brock's eyes shoot to Trystan. "Did they say why?"
"They want to know if I found anything on the beach that morning. Anything that might've been Andrea's."
"Like what?" Braden says.
He shrugs. "Jewelry. Keys. Shit that might've fallen off her when she went over the railing."
"They already searched the beach," Braden says. "There was nothing there."
"Trystan, I'll talk with the lawyers. You're not required to tell the police anything more about that night." Brock rubs his jaw. "Braden, when did you see her last?"
"Who?" Braden asks.
"Kristen!"
"I just told you. Thursday night. Before practice. And that was it. I swear. I told her to wait in my room but she left."
