Page 124 of Winning Bid

Feels like I’ll never get jail off of me, no matter how hard I scrub. I didn’t sleep much there. Couldn’t. The others in holding acted like animals at night, hooting and picking fights and shouting at each other. The only peace I had was when someone asked me what I was in for. Turns out, they don’t like to fuck around with murderers.

The shower must have lasted longer than I thought, because the food is already here when I get out. June’s in her loungewear, portioning out rice. “I thought chicken and broccoli was about as far from sandwiches as we could get.”

“Smells wonderful, thank you.”

“Should we talk about everything?”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“How was it in jail?”

“Worse than you think, but not as bad as your imagination can get. I wasn’t assaulted or anything like that, but being trapped with people who clearly have mental disorders and like to be noisy all night long is a lot. It’s repugnant that people who need psychiatric care are locked in jail instead of a treatment facility. Not good for them or for anyone else.”

She sighs. “Well, that’s better than I expected. The prosecutor is confident about the case enough that he’s using it to campaign. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t think it was a slam dunk. They don’t have video, or we’d know about that by now, right?”

“Right. Which leaves physical evidence or witnesses.”

She blows out a breath, trying to steady herself. “I cannot imagine they have much in the way of physical evidence, considering his body was in the harbor for months.”

I grit my jaw, now wanting to say the words. “And that leaves witnesses.”

“I know Moss has been unfailingly loyal to you, but … do you think it’s him?”

“No way. He knows the stakes. Even if it were him, he knows Dad would have him taken out for squealing. He’s not that naïve.”

“Then maybe one of my neighbors saw something and came forward.”

That’s the thing I’ve feared the most. “I think that’s most likely. Depending on what part they caught the fight at, they’ll either think he was a monster or I was. Assuming they are the prosecution’s witness, it’s the latter.”

She takes a bite, staring at the screen. It’s almost like she’s purposefully not looking at me. “Except, if that’s the case, Moss would be up on charges, too.”

“How’s that?”

“If a neighbor saw the end of the fight, they saw Moss helping us clean up, which means he’d be implicated. And to my knowledge, Moss hasn’t been arrested.”

A cold feeling settles over me. I hadn’t considered that. “Fuck.”

She sets her chopsticks down and takes a deep breath. “There’s another witness in all of this, and I don’t even want to bring it up, but we have to cover all of our bases?—"

“Just say it.”

“Your father.”

I blink at her. “Huh?”

“Your father knows everything. Do you think there’s a chance that he?—"

“No.”

Her brow bunches as she huffs. “Your father is?—"

“No.”

“Anderson!” She faces me, frustrated. “We have to consider every possibility, and I feel like I’ve been facing all of them alone. I am tired of feeling alone in this.”

I don’t want to do this. Things between me and Dad have been … well, not good exactly, but improving. The idea that he could be the witness … it’s too cruel, even for him. “Even if he were spineless enough to do that, why would he throw us that reception?”

“To keep us from suspecting him until it was too late. He knows you have Moss in your pocket, and he would be smart to worry about you ordering Moss to kill him for ratting on you. If he kept us from suspecting him until it was too late, then he could jet off to someplace afterward and stay safe from Moss.”

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