Page 15 of Justice for JoElla

“She was with her husband, but her brother was there somewhere also. I bet that was him.”

“Oh.” Brandon thought back to when Liella was attacked on spring break and how indifferent everyone in the family had been to her pain and grief?everyone except Landon. He’d been right there beside her. As he thought about it, Brandon was mortified at the way he’d behaved. Breckin had every right to not trust him. He had a lot of making up to do to his little sister. Landon and Jerrica had supported her emotionally as she’d trained for her vocation, and he and Maria hadn’t lifted a finger except to allow themselves to be guilted into giving her some of the money she needed. Looking back, he should’ve offered it freely. Hell, he should’ve offered all of it. Landon and Jerrica had been newlyweds, and they’d instantly promised her all the financial help they could afford, but he’d had plenty of money at the time. He could’ve helped her more, but he didn’t.

“Hey, you okay?” A voice brought him back, and he realized it was JoElla.

“Yeah. Sorry. Just thinking about somebody.”

“Then you should call her and tell her you’re okay. She’s probably wondering if you made it through the night,” she said before she took another sip of coffee.

“Oh, no. Nothing like that. I was thinking about my sister.”

Frankie’s spine straightened. “Did you see Red at all last night?”

He hadn’t even thought about Breckin. “No! I didn’t. I should check on him too, I guess.”

“I saw him,” Wyatt offered, and Brandon could see Frankie relax as he did too. “He’s fine. He was helping Hose get everything packed back onto the truck when we left.”

Brandon whipped out his phone and sent out a quick text:I was at the scene all night. In case you haven’t heard from him yet, Breckin’s fine.

He got one back almost instantly.Yeah, he just called, but thanks for thinking of him. Of us.

Brandon shot back a thumbs-up and smiley emoji. Liella liked emojis?maybe a little too much! “She just heard from him.”

Wyatt pushed his chair back and slapped his hands on the tops of his thighs. “Well, this is amazing company. Hate to leave y’all, but I’m exhausted and going home. Good to see you, JoElla,” he added.

“You too, and thanks for your hard work.”

“And yours as well.” He rose, and Frankie stood right behind him. “You comin’?”

“Yeah. Headed out too. You guys take care. Catch up with you later.”

“Sure thing,” Brandon answered and watched as they paid at the register.

He’d almost forgotten she was sitting beside him until he heard her say, “God, what a night.”

“Yeah. I’ll say. Rough one. I suppose I should get going too.”

JoElla gave him a smile, but it was one that didn’t reach her eyes. “Thanks for asking me to sit.”

“You’re welcome.”I didn’t, he wanted to say, but that would be rude. Surprisingly, he often had to think about how rude some of the things he would’ve usually said actually were. As a physician, he could say whatever he wanted, as rude as he wanted, and no one said a thing. But he wasn’t a doctor anymore?at least not yet. “See you around.”

“Yeah. See ya.”

As he walked away, he thought about her. She was a good-looking woman, taller than most and well-proportioned. Her tits weren’t as big as Maria’s. Of course, Maria’s weren’t real, so he supposed that didn’t count. Nice ass though. And that dark, shiny hair hanging almost to her waist. It was a little surprising the department didn’t make her wear it up somehow, but he’d never seen it pulled back or up. He reasoned it was probably because she was a detective, not a patrolman. Patrol person. Whatever. He couldn’t keep up with all that politically correct stuff anyway.

By the time he got to the house, Jerrica was packing up Sim and ready to head out, so he said his goodbyes and climbed into the shower. The hot water felt good, and he was pretty sure he’d have no trouble falling asleep when he made it to the bed.

He’d only been lying there about ten minutes when he heard the door. “Landon? That you?”

“Yeah.” The sound of shoes on the hardwood came from the hall, and then the bedroom door opened a crack. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I should ask you the same thing.”

Landon leaned against the jamb and sighed. “Yeah. But a lot of those people weren’t.”

“I heard.”

“From?”

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