Shallow Creek

Kim didn’t answer immediately, but then said, “It’ll take time, but I think it’ll be okay.  Eventually.”

“Are things going to be okay between us?”

“Michelle told me the details of your—”  She searched for the right word, shooting a sideways glance to the guard.  “Encounter.”

“Not my proudest moment,” Brendan said as Kim broke their embrace.

“It’s totally gross and weird that Michelle did that to you, but she said Grant forced her into it to blackmail you, or something like that?”

“Something like that.”

“It’s not like I expect you to be a virgin or anything.” Kim ran a hand through her hair.  “I mean, we’re not in high school anymore.”

“No, we’re not,” Brendan mumbled, arguing internally over the merits in sharing the exact details as he knew them.  No smart couple ever shared every little secret, right?  Was it worth trying to explain that Grant had wanted Michelle to totally fake it, in order to guilt Brendan into leaving Shallow Creek?  With Grant dead, he was a good enough scapegoat, at least for now.

Another thought popped into his head.  He asked Kim to stay out in the hall for a second while he went in to see her sister really quick.  Once by her side, he gently roused her from a shallow sleep.

“Hey, when you ran out of the diner crying and those assholes jumped us, did you and Grant set that whole thing up, too?”

She immediately burst into tears again.  “I’m so sorry.” She grabbed onto the bottom of his shirt.  “Grant promised you’d leave if you got beat up.  He told me he wouldn’t have to kill you then.”

“Nothing like brotherly love, huh?” a voice said from behind.

Brendan turned to find Special Agent in Charge Norman lurking in the entryway to Michelle’s room.  Michelle’s grip on the front of Brendan’s shirt slackened, and then she finally withdrew completely.

Norman scowled, as usual.  “We need to talk.  Now.”

Chapter 53

Brendan and Norman stood in the doorway to Michelle’s room.  Kim slid past both of them and took a seat on the far side of her sister’s bed.  Brendan kept an eye on the pair as they chatted quietly.

“What are you doing here?” he asked the agent.

“I was visiting Tyson again,” Norman said.  “Docs are still trying to work out how to fix his face after the beating your brother gave him.”

The tone riding through Norman’s words reeked of blame towards Brendan, but he ignored it.  His brother had battered one agent and killed another, and Brendan made an easy target.  He tried to divert the conversation.

“I’m sorry about Spee.”

“Nothing you could’ve done.”  Norman’s tone indicated otherwise.

So much for diverting the conversation.  Brendan took a different tack.  “How did you find us out on the road anyway?”

“Because we bugged their phone,” Norman said plainly.  “If you’d given a better description of the location, we could’ve arrived earlier.”

And saved Agent Spee.  Those words didn’t need to be said for Brendan to hear them.  At least he now had a clearer idea of why Norman blamed him so much for what had happened.

The agent cleared his throat.  “Also, I’m willing to forget that you assaulted a sheriff’s deputy and escaped from police custody, because you did us all a favor by killing Jasper.”

Brendan’s ears perked up.  “What did you just say?”

“That I’m glad you had the balls to take down your own brother,” Norman explained, spelling it out slowly.  “Not a lot of folks could handle that.”

“You called him Jasper.”

“Right.  That was the codename his crew used for him.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Norman said, exasperated now.  “It was their name for the leader.  That’s all we know.”

Michelle was now observing them intently, ignoring Kim’s idle chatter.  With everything else going on, Brendan’s brain had a tough time slotting all the puzzle pieces together.  His brother wasn’t Jasper; that much was clear.  Before her death, Spee had whispered Michelle’s name.  Brendan had thought she’d been worried because Michelle had been shot, but now that he thought about it, Spee couldn’t have known about that.

Michelle’s stare riveted right through Brendan, probing and cold.

Maybe Spee had worked out what everyone else had missed.

Kim leaned in close to say something.  Michelle’s expression turned to stone.  Her head turned robotically, her eyes locking on to her target.  In a blur, she trapped Kim in a headlock and brought a bright object up to her neck.  Brendan moved in, followed by Norman.  The agent drew his gun.

“Freeze!” Michelle said, the agony of her wounds penetrating her voice as Kim struggled.  The IV stand flew to the ground when Kim’s leg swept under it.  “I swear to God, I will kill her.”

The two men held their ground as the deputy guarding the door finally woke up and peeked inside to check out all the commotion.  Michelle gave her sister’s head a violent twist and finally Kim ceased thrashing around.  The knife was just barely in view from where Michelle held it under the forearm securing Kim’s head.

Brendan shook his head in disgust.  “How did I not realize this before?”