Page 6 of Shameless

“No,” I admit. “Knowing them, Howard would never get his own hands dirty, he’d hire a hit man if he wanted someone killed. And Tiffany would never use a shotgun. All that blood could ruin her designer clothes. She’d be more likely to use poison or push someone off a cliff.”

“Fuck,” Jules chuckles. “I’ve always loved your dark sense of humor, but you really put some thought into this.”

It’s sad, but true. “I honestly think Tiffany is capable of anything, no matter how horrible as long as it serves her agenda. The disgusting thing is that she thinks I’m like her. Did you hear her earlier? She basically said that if drugs are involved in any way, then I must have done it.”

What kind of mother would say that?

“The joke’s on her. You were with me all night, so if she says that again, I’ll set the record straight.”

I smile at him, fighting the urge to kiss him. If the room wasn’t full of people, I would. “I hope it doesn’t come to that. How are we going to explain what happened to Dad? He was clear that he expected me to stay away from you and Stefan.”

Jules strokes the spot between my thumb and my index finger in a soothing way. “Let me deal with it. They’re going to ask us where we were, so we should tell the truth. We’ll just say that you weren’t feeling well and left the party on a boat and I came to your rescue when I saw you getting in trouble because of the storm. We don’t need to lie about where we spent the night. We’ll just offer the CliffsNote version of it.”

I relax a little. “Good. That’ll shut Tiffany up. She’s always ready to believe the worst about me, but I didn’t hear her imply that Evan could have anything to do with the stable massacre.”

The thought hits me the second the words leave my mouth. What if Evan did it?

“Luls? Where did you go just now?”

I lower my voice. “I was just wondering if Evan could have something to do with it. He was dating Maura. What if she saw him follow me last night and confronted him about it?”

Jules looks skeptical. “I followed you, and Maura was nowhere near the docks. When I came after you, she was doing more shots and dancing by the bonfire. Besides, why would Evan want to kill Eddie and Trevor? As far as we know, he didn’t even know them.”

Jules is right, but wouldn’t it be perfect if Evan was the killer and he got a life sentence? That would keep him away from me for good. I don’t say any of that, but Jules is one of the people who knows me best and he guesses my train of thought.

“Lula, don’t worry about Evan. Hopefully he’s going back East as soon as the police has interviewed us all. But until we’re all around, I’ll make sure you’re never alone.”

Crew, who’s been listening to our conversation intervenes. “Me too, baby.”

To my surprise, rather than arguing with him, Jules nods. “See? He might be an annoying dumb ass, but James here can throw a few punches if needed.” He looks at Crew over my head. “You can also help me keep Stefan from committing murder. He hadn’t made the connection last night about who Evan was, but now that the cat is out of the bag, I’m worried he’s going to do something stupid.”

We look at Stefan, who’s deep in conversation with his mom and Tilly.

Jules is right.

If Stefan got his hands on Evan, the police would have another murder to deal with.

The living room door opens in that moment and silence descends into the room as a uniformed officer looks at all of us.“The sheriff would like to speak to Miss Talulah-Lynn Turner next and Mr. Crew James. If you wouldn’t mind following me?”

Jules squeezes my hand as I exhale a deep breath. “You’ve got this. We have nothing to hide, just tell the truth and we’ll be fine.”

Crew’s presence as we file behind the officer is comforting. We aren’t touching but he’s walking closely behind me and I can feel the heat radiating from his body.

Jules is right.

I have nothing to worry about. This time I don’t need to take the fall for anyone.

Lula

When the police is involved, things are never as straightforward as anticipated.

The first sign that this isn’t going to be as easy as Jules made it sound, is when Sheriff Douglas asks me to take a seat.

I was secretly hoping that Sheriff Pullin would be the one who interviewed me. He has known me my whole life and seeing a friendly face would have been good for my frayed nerves.

I look at the room as I lower myself in the chair opposite the mahogany desk the sheriff is sitting at.

Dark wood panels cover the walls that aren’t lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves.

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