Page 64 of Wild Justice

“He doesn’t,” Lulu confirmed. “He walked in, and silence fell on the entire room. It was like something out of a movie. Very cool, but kind of a little scary, too, because I didn’t know how he was going to react to all of this. Technically, I’d assaulted a person, and my dad was the sheriff. So…you can imagine how nervous I was when he walked in.”

“And?” Kai prompted.

Just what had Sheriff Seth Reilly done?

“He walked right up to Brian and got nose-to-nose with him. He said, ‘Are you the one that broke my little girl’s heart? That cheated on her?’ I’ll never forget Brian’s face. I think he almost peed himself. He told Brian that now everyone in town would know what kind of person he was. Brian didn’t say a word, just scared as shit of my dad.”

“Then he turned to Brian’s parents and asked what they wanted to do in this situation. Were they pressing charges? Funny, how five minutes before they wanted to send me to the electric chair, but suddenly they wanted it all behind them. They just wanted to forget the wholeunfortunate situation.That’s what his mother called it. Anyway, after graduation, Brian went to an out-of-state school and rarely comes back to town. What my dad said was true. Everyone knew what kind of person he was.”

“What about you? What did your parents do?”

“That’s more complicated,” Lulu sighed. “I was always doing crap that I wasn’t supposed to be doing. My poor parents were exhausted, of course, because they didn’t know what to do with me. Ben hadn’t been any trouble, and Chase wasn’t really either. While Mom was adamant that Brian had it coming, she also didn’t think it was a good idea to encourage me to react that way whenever I got dumped by a boy.”

“Wise. You’d get a reputation, too.”

“No guy would come near me for months. In the hallways at school, they’d pretend to get scared and cross their legs when I’d walk by. I told my parents it was punishment enough to be treated that way.”

“Did they agree?”

“Nope, I was on dish duty after dinner for three months. Oh, and Brian and I had to apologize to one another. Him for being a low-down dirty dog, and me for kicking him in the balls. Frankly, I don’t think either one of us meant it, but it made our parents feel better. And in case you’re wondering, I don’t feel the need to kick anyone in the nuts anymore if they cheat on me.”

“What do you do?”

She did carry a gun now, after all.

“They aren’t worth any more of my time. I’m just gone. Out of there. No, we don’t need to discuss it, hash it out, or get closure. It’s just over. Let’s move on.”

“Much more mature. But no closure?”

“Closure is an illusion,” she replied. “If it even exists, it’s something that you find within yourself, not something that you get from another person.”

“You have an interesting take,” Kai said.

“People think that closure will make them magically feel better about something,” Lulu explained. “But does it? Truly? If a woman cheats on you with your best friend, do you really want to sit in a coffee shop while she tells you that he was just so sexy and interesting? She couldn’t help herself. It was nothingpersonal.Maybe you and I are different, but that wouldn’t make me feel better. If anything, I’d feel worse.”

“You make an impressive argument. You’re right, I wouldn’t want to have that conversation. But let me play devil’s advocate here for a minute. What about if it was one of your best friends? You’re inseparable. You tell each other everything. Then she falls off the face of the earth. She doesn’t return your calls, she’s never home. You see on social media that she’s fine, but she no longer wants anything to do with you. You don’t have a clue what you did to make her act like that. Are you saying you wouldn’t want to know?”

“Is this the lawyer in you?” Lulu joked. “Wanting to win an argument? And I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I’m just saying what I believe. You can believe however you want.”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“Fine, counselor. Yes, I would want to know why, but it isn’t her responsibility to tell me. She doesn’t have any obligation. And let’s say she did tell me, and I don’t agree with her. I don’t think I’ve done whatever it is she thinks I did. Well, then we’re at a stalemate. No closure there.”

“I like talking with you. You make me think.”

“You make me think, too.”

He couldn’t stop himself from asking the question.

“Is it your dad or mom that gave you this idea about closure?”

Lulu laughed and shook her head.

“You just can’t let it go, can you? I don’t know if they did. They never outwardly said anything, but I think watching my father as a lawman might have contributed to it. Very often, he didn’t get any sort of closure as to why people do what they do. Why did Wade Bryson and his son kill all of those people? Bryson said it was because he had to cleanse the bloodline, but I don’t think my dad or Uncle Logan ever got a definitive answer. A lot of people died that weren’t Brysons, after all.”

“People are still searching for that answer. Books, articles, documentaries.”

“Good luck to them. Wade Bryson isn’t around to answer any questions, and the few times his son has been interviewed he just blames Uncle Logan and all of his friends. As in my dad, who never even met them, let alone did something to compel a human to murder.”

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