Page 32 of Cain
He looks ashamed. “Three hundred dollars. But…Da Silva said?—”
“Three hundred dollars,” Lo repeats. “And how did I find that out?”
My heart has lost all rhythm. I can’t think straight. I don’t know how to process what’s happening in front of me. My sister? My own sister?
Kyle looks sheepish. “Sheriff Z talked to Seattle PD and they talked to Da Silva.”
“And do you really blame her forstealing, Kyle?”
He shook his head.
“Why is that?”
“He took her money, whatever she earned at the nightclub.”
Lo’s staring so hard at Kyle that I’m surprised she hasn’t bored a hole through him. “Guess what else I found out, Cain?”
“What?” I asked hoarsely.
“He sent her to the ER regularly.”
My entire body stiffens.
“The last time was ten months ago. She healed and then got the hell out of dodge, ended up here,” Lo tells me.
This was supposed to be her safe haven. I’d taken that away from Faith.
“How could you?” I whisper. “You’re my sister.”
Paula raises her head and look at me with defiance in her eyes. “She was using you. You were falling for her. Melody’s been here since the beginning. She belongs with you. Not some little grifter with a sob story.”
Melody has the good sense to not say anything or even look at me.
“Who took the money?” I ask.
Paula swallows and shrugs.
“She and Melody Brand both took the money,” Lo replies instead.
“You framed her.” I’m holding on to the conference table to not jump and hit something.
“She played you first,” Paula says. “We just made sure you saw it.”
I left Faith out in the cold. I let her be taken away. I am the one who called Bob to let him know she’d been arrested for theft and that someone would come to look through her things. I knew he kicked her out of her place. I cheered then.
“She was half frozen outside the library, Cain. No one deserves that.” Georgia was in pieces when she told me how she found Faith. That’s when she revealed how she helped Faith, got her a job with Ricky.
“How could you take her there?” I ask.
“No one else would give her a job, and the cops said she couldn’t leave town. Beyond all that, she wouldn’t take a cent from me,” Georgia flung back.
“By stealing from your brother and blaming someone else for it? Dragging my deputy into this?” Lo’s voice is razor sharp now. “Thanks to you, Kyle’s facing an internal disciplinary review.”
Paula puts a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Kyle.” He shrugs it away.
“How could you, Paula? You almost cost me my job. I trusted you. I believed you.”
“I just…I was doing my friend a solid,” Paula explains, going teary-eyed. “And protecting my brother.”
