Page 127 of In the Air Tonight

“What’s on your mind, Arlo?”

“Jen wants me to stay away from you. She’s freaking out about me being unemployed and associated with….”

“A rapist?”

“Yeah.”

My heart sinks. My brother is furious with me and now my closest friend is telling me I’m radioactive. “I get it.”

“If it was only me, I’d never turn my back on you, man. Tell me you know that.”

“I do.”

He has a family to protect. I don’t blame him for doing what’s best for them.

The most important men in my life could end up in big trouble because of me. Of course they’ll keep their distance.

Arlo pulls into the parking lot, which is empty except for the silver BMW SUV I can no longer afford. “I’ll be pulling for you to find a way out of this, man.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry it was my sister who caused this.”

I look over at him. “She’s not the one who caused it.” That’s as close as I’ve ever come to admitting the truth to him. “I’m sorry about the job. It was fun to work together, even if just for a little while.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Will you tell Dallas about the campaign?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

I reach for the door handle. “Your friendship for all these years has meant everything to me, Arlo.”

“Same, brother.”

Before one or both of us breaks down into tears, I get out of the car and wave him off, wondering if I’ll ever see him again. I’ve got fifteen minutes to get to Bennett’s office. As I drive there, I think about what the lawyer said about missing everything with the kids if I plead guilty and also about how it only takes one juror to acquit.

I’m so torn over what to do. Before I left the house, I grabbed a check to pay the attorney. I hope there’s more than twelve thousand dollars in the account, or I might get charged with passing a bad check, too.

When I get to his office in Newport, I’m shown into a conference room.

Bennett comes in a minute later. “They’ve got a second witness.”

That news leaves me feeling like I’ve been electrocuted. “Who is it?”

“Does it matter? They’ve got someone willing to testify that she saw you leave the party with the woman who later accused you of rape. With that added to the person who claims to have seen the actual attack, their case becomes somewhat of a slam dunk.”

“You said I shouldn’t plead guilty, but it’s looking more and more like maybe I should.”

“I’ll be honest with you. I’m a bit out of my league in this situation.”

“My brother is working on getting me someone more experienced in cases like this.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“What kind of sentence could I be looking at?”

“Possibly twenty years or more.”

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