Page 201 of Five Mountain Daddies

But I know he can’t, and hewon’t.

27

Wyatt

My phone rings around seven in the morning. It pulls me from sleep, and for a second, I reach over to touch Cora. I grunt when I realize that she’s not there before I roll over and grab thephone.

“Yeah?” I say, answeringit.

“Wyatt, it’sMitch.”

That perks me up. “Hey, man,” I say. “You caught mesleeping.”

“Sorry, I know it’s early. I just thought you’d want toknow.”

I suddenly feel nervous. This is the call I’ve been expecting. “What’sup?”

“We got a judge and both Kristi and Jaxson were indicted for Atticus’s murder. Obviously it’s early days, but we’re already talking pleadeals.”

I get out of bed, taking in this information. I put the phone on speaker and push the curtains open, letting light wash across my face. “What kind ofdeal?”

“In exchange for info on his gang, we’ll probably give him twenty-five to life,” Mitchsays.

“Doesn’t sound like a gooddeal.”

“Better than death penalty. We’ll leave in the chance for parole after twenty-fiveyears.”

I sigh and turn away from the window. I wish Cora were here, so we could talk about this. “Okay,” I say, letting out a breath. “What about thegirl?”

“Kristi?” He chuckles. “She’s been…tough.”

“Howso?”

“Less cooperative. They had to restrain her yesterday,apparently.”

“Really? I gotta admit, I’m surprised. I thought Jaxson would be thefighter.”

“Nope,” Mitch says, chuckling. “He gave up pretty fast. Kristi though, she’s nottalking.”

“What’s her sentence looklike?”

“Up in the air right now. Depends on how much she tries to pin it on Jaxson, but so far she hasn’t saidmuch.”

“Maybe she’s not as stupid as she seems,” Isay.

“She did ask for a lawyer so, youknow.”

I laugh a little. “Well, hopefully she gets a badone.”

“Truth is, Wyatt, I doubt she’ll go to jail forever. But she sure is looking at a long, long time behindbars.”

“Good. Bitch killed my friend.” I’m surprised at how angry Isound.

“Yeah,” he says softly. “She did. Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll keep you posted if anything changes but… well, thanks, Wyatt. I think this is going to be good forMason.”

“Just doing my job,” I grunt, although I have to admit, I’m a littleproud.

“When are you going back?” heasks.

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