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Chapter Seventeen

The metal doors buzzed, and Melissa Weatherby strolled into the room. The guards at Melissa’s side sat her down in a folding chair pushed against the table. Gathered in preparation for this meeting, Phoebe sat across from Melissa as Jordan stood at her side with his hands inside his pockets.

“How are you?” Phoebe asked.

“You mean besides the numerous times I’m thrown into the hole for protecting myself against these bitches in here?” Melissa said. “Dandy.”

Phoebe slipped a glance up at Jordan then back to Melissa.

“What are they doing to you?”

“Calling me an extremist and every other name in the book, pushing me around trying to get a rise out of me. I guess they want to show me how bad they are and I’m not.”

“We can have you moved from general population.”

“You mean like in witness protection? No thanks.”

Phoebe frowned. “Why would you rather be in general population where they can toss you into the hole for fighting?”

“I don’t believe for a second that witness protection—”

“It’s not called witness protection.”

“Well, whatever it’s called, won’t save me if you guys can’t get me out of here. By your presence, I’m assuming you’ve come here to help me with that.”

Phoebe cleared her throat. “We have some information, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“Then why are you here? I told you I’m not putting my girl in this, so I know you didn’t come all the way back here to offer up the same deal.”

“Not quite,” Phoebe said.

At the bewildered look on Melissa’s face, Phoebe explained. “It’s come to our attention that your brother DeAngelo was the one helping your father build the bombs. We have evidence, and it’s our smoking gun. We can have your charges dropped and you released tomorrow. We just need to know if you have a picture of him we can use side by side with the evidence to prove it’s him.”

Melissa glanced from Phoebe to Jordan who stood quietly by her side. She didn’t know whether to be shocked or not at her brother’s involvement.

“How do you know this?” Melissa asked.

“We received a recording of your father staking claims on being the creator of the explosive device. Your brother’s image is caught in a mirror as it’s being recorded.”

“Can I see it?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have it with us.”

“Why not?”

“We’re keeping it in a safe place. As I said before, it’s a damning piece of evidence, but we came here to get confirmation from you and give you a heads-up so you won’t be blindsided when this case takes a different turn.”

Melissa rubbed her face as silence crowded the room.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” Melissa said.

Jordan peered at her, finally showing some form of emotion. To Melissa, Jordan was an interesting attorney. He never spoke much when they came to see her although Melissa had seen Jordan on TV talking to reporters about a case he’d represented at the time. Though Melissa was gay, she couldn’t reject Jordan’s gorgeousness. Rich brown skin, muscled shoulders, arms, and divine lips. She’d be up for having a threesome with him and her lady, if Jordan was into that kind of thing.

“This is not up for debate, Melissa, it has to happen,” Phoebe said.

“No, it doesn’t. Just because you’ve got evidence don’t mean you need to turn it in, and you can’t if you don’t have my confirmation. I don’t see how this would benefit me. My brother and I would switch places. How does that help the family?”

“You seem to be confused,” Jordan spoke up.

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