Page 6 of Saving Wyatt

"I doubt it."

"Well, I'm sure he does. Even if he doesn't know it. So come on. Go get dressed and we'll go to the station. You need to be there for him."

"I guess," he mumbled.

I let go of him and smacked his head. "That's what family does for one another, silly man. Go. Get. I'll drive us. Clearly you're still half-asleep or you wouldn't be talking such shit."

Warren huffed, but he did follow my instructions, and before long, we were on the road on our way to his brother.

"What do I even say to him?" he asked when I pulled up outside the station.

"Are you serious, Goodman? Just be there. Ask him how he's feeling. It's not rocket science."

Warren grumbled something about rocket science being simpler in this case, and he got out and into the station, leaving me in my lonesome just as the sun rose a little higher.

It colored the morning, winter sky a wild violet that looked almost artificial but soothing nonetheless. Some days it still shocked me that the world could still look so beautiful when there was so much darkness amongst its people. When there was so much uncertainty, so much greed. So much death.

A melancholy wrapped around me like a fuzzy, familiar blanket, and I took slow, deep breaths, the demons in my head finally rising from their own slumber in this quiet solitude. All I could do was look out the windshield and breathe.

My phone beeped. I had no idea how long I’d zoned out for, but as soon as I turned my attention to my device, I smiled.

Evan

Good morning, baby. I just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you and that I love you. x

I squeezed my phone in my hands and took a couple of moments to soak up his words before I replied.

Ari

I love you too.

In an instant came Evan's reply. A single heart emoji that made my own, very real heart feel hollow.

Ari

I miss you.

I hit send and closed my eyes, leaning against the headrest, thinking of his touch against my cheek or his lips on mine.

Usually his messages were the only way I could ground myself. The only way I could get through my day. To think of my husband's love and everything he meant to me.

But today, it felt different. I didn’t know what it was. If the silence that surrounded me had caused it or if it was just one of those days when nothing I did could help.

Whatever it was I had to pull my shit together either way, because Warren was going to need me today. A whole lot of people were going to need me today, and I couldn't let any of them down.

THREE

WYATT

"Seriously, Hank. You don't believe me? You've known me, what, fifty years? You think I killed your dirty cop in cold blood?"

Hank Mitchell stood still, as if frozen in time, and looked at me with a deep frown. "You and I both know what you're capable of, Wyatt," he said, and even his own son, Dakota, looked at him in shock.

I simply let out a frustrated chuckle and shook my head, leaning closer to my old friend. "And you think I wouldn't cover my tracks if I did?" I said, and immediately, my lawyer slammed her hand on the table.

"I think that's enough talk for today. You...clearly don't have enough to charge him other than for circumstantial evidence, so I think it's time you let my client go."

Camille seemed rattled by my admission, and I couldn't blame her. Yet, I couldn't help it if it was true. Had I wanted to kill Bennet—and why wouldn't I after everything he put us through this past year working for Salieri—he would still be missing. His body would be fish food, and no one would be the wiser.