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Brent looked at his nails. “Theft… some medicine, I think.”
“And she called you to get your help?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you know her?”
“Of course I don’t know her. I already told you she was just a stupid mistake from my past, and I don’t want Janice or the kids to find out about it.”
“Why not?”
“Listen, I appreciate your concern, but the kid had it coming,” he said. “I mean she literally admitted to being guilty.”
I used to look up to Brent. He’s ten years older than me, and when my mom married his dad he was already seventeen and practically a grown man in my eyes. Right now, I wanted to strangle him for being such an ass.
“You have to help her, Brent. She’s your daughter; you can’t just turn your back on her.”
He laughed. “That ship sailed a long time ago. The minute Tina told me she was pregnant I let her know that I didn’t want a kid.”
“That’s not the girl’s fault. How can you be so cold to your own child?”
Brent stopped laughing. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t want anything to do with her and that’s that!”
He tried to push past me, but I’m a head taller and have forty pounds more muscle than him. If I don’t want to move, I ain’t moving.
“Move, G,” he said with a scowl.
“Not until you tell me that you’re helping her.”
He rolled his eyes. “If you want so badly to help the kid, then why don’t you go down to the police station and get her out? You’re the hero in the family, aren’t you?”
When I spoke it came out through gritted teeth. “What’s her name?”
“Darcia Nilsson.”
“You have to tell the others about her,” I said.
“No.” His answer was quick and firm. “And don’t you dare reveal my secret, either! I’ve kept her away for all these years and protected our family from the shame. I can’t stop you from going there to help her, but I refuse to let you bring her back here.”
I moved enough for him to open the door and leave the small room – mostly because I was afraid I might actually hurt my brother if he said one more selfish thing.
He left me no choice.
If he wasn’t going to do the right thing, I would have to do it for him.
?∞?
When I walked into the police station I was still wearing my black uniform with my Silver Star.
I don’t know if I thought I would be able to just sneak away from the party for a short while and return without anyone noticing, but I had left the minute Brent and I were done talking, and on the twenty-minute drive to downtown Seattle I had gone over the few details he had told me and arrived at one clear conclusion: I had a niece, or at least a stepniece, and she was in trouble. If I could, I would help her, like any uncle would.
“I’m here for Darcia Nilsson,” I told the officer at the counter.
He informed me that until she had been in front of the judge and the bond had been settled, she couldn’t leave.
“She’s already been taken to the holding cell behind the courtroom, but you can speak to her lawyer.”
“She has a lawyer?” I asked and he gave a sharp nod.
