Page 61 of Forgotten

“Excuse me?”

Eugene stared for a long moment at me and then seemed to decide to move past it.

“Look,” he said, “let’s look at reality here, shall we? For a moment, let’s just look at this as it is.”

“Please, enlighten me,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could possibly muster.

“It is highly, highly unlikely that anything will happen to Oland,” he said. “I know, before you even start, I know. You are positive he did it. But the thing is, no one has any actual proof, do they? There’s no evidence at the crime scene. There’s no blood in the parking lot that he claimed there was a fight. There’s no indication anywhere that Oland was directly involved in any of it.”

“You lying son of a bitch,” Tamara began.

“Keep your mouth shut, young lady,” Eugene said.

“Don’t you threaten her,” I shouted.

“Don’t raise your voice to my brother, Charlotte,” Trish said, and I turned on her again.

“I swear to all that is holy, Trish. If you don’t keep your stupid mouth shut…”

“Enough,” my step-dad said, interrupting all of us with his deep, booming voice. “Eugene, I only know what I’ve been told about this case, but from what I understand, it’s a bit stronger than just he-said, she-said.”

“There is… a little bit of physical evidence. It doesn’t directly tie my brother to it, but it does implicate him. Which is why I am here. I can’t go talk directly to the Galloways. They won’t see me, and I don’t necessarily blame them. What happened to Jesse was beyond the line. But…”

“But?” I scoffed. “But? There is no but, Eugene. Jesse almost got killed. Oland needs to pay for what he did.”

“Oland is willing to testify that it wasn’t him,” he shot back. “That it was Lacey Banks instead.”

The room fell quiet for a moment.

“You mean to tell me that Oland is willing to flip on his girlfriend and testify thatshewas somehow able to beat Jesse half to death on her own?”

“Something like that,” Eugene said. “In exchange for dropping Oland from the accusation, he will testify that he witnessed Lacey attempt to murder him, then tried to convince her to turn herself in. He will take a modicum of responsibility for Jesse not receiving immediate care, though hedidreport that something was amiss at that spot in the woods to the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office. We sent a dispatch out there, but by the time we got there, Jesse had already escaped.”

“You mean was rescued,” Tamara said. “Not escaped. No one was holding him there. Saying escaped means you didn’t expect to find a live body. Did you?”

Eugene paused, his teeth gritted as he stared holes into my sister. He didn’t just hate that he’d gotten caught; he hated being interrupted at all.

“I misspoke,” he said. “Anyway. Oland can testify that he accompanied Lacey away, trying to convince her to turn herself in and that the call he made to the office, which is documented as happening, was a rescue and recovery call. It will absolve him of most guilt and allow him to return home with expedience.”

“Sounds like you have it all worked out,” I said.

“I do,” Eugene growled.

“Unfortunately, I think you are an absolutely disgusting piece of trash for even trying that,” I continued. “Oland will rot in jail. We will see to it. Just like Arn should be. And maybe just like you should be too. Because if it turns out you had any idea this was going to happen, oryou,Trish, same thing… If either one of you knew what was about to happen, then I promise you, you will never see the sunlight again.”

“Sounds a lot like a threat, brother,” Trish said.

“Shut up, Trish,” Eugene said. “Don’t make things any fucking worse.”

“Get out of my house, please,” Dad said. “And don’t come back. Ever.”

“Just think about it,” Eugene said. “No more going after Jesse. It will be a settled issue. Just… just tell them to think about it.”

“I’ve already thought about it. The answer is, and I believe I speak for the Galloways here, get fucked.”

“You rude bitch,” Trish said, stomping past her brother and getting in my face. “How dare you talk to us like that? Don’t you know how close you are to being arrested yourself?”

“Areyouan officer?” I asked.

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