He scratched the side of his forehead. “And also…call me if Myers or Harlow tries to reach out to you.”
“Reach out to me? You mean like threats or blackmail?”
“Something like that.”
A sarcastic, bitter laugh slipped past my lips. “But that’s not all, is it?”
Our eyes locked.
“I mean, you wouldn’t just follow me out here like this if there wasn’t still icing left to put on this shit cake.”
A thin smile tugged at his mouth. Not amusement. Something closer to admiration.
“You really are a lot like your grandma,” he said.
I crossed my arms with an annoyed sigh.
“All right,” Nolan said. “Let’s just say it’s important that I handle Myers’ arrest myself.”
I furrowed my brow.
“So that… he can be interrogated properly. Statements recorded by me and by men I trust. Men I know who won’t screw this up.”
His eyes drifted forward. Almost ashamed. Then they came back to me.
“As crazy as it sounds,” he said, “Harlow still has friends in the system. Even after all these years. And some of his crazy theories are starting to gain traction at the station.”
My head lifted, and my mouth actually fell open too. Shock hit first. Then disbelief.
“What the actual fuck,” I said, loud and clear. “You have to be kidding me.”
Nolan's fingers tugged at the edge of his suit jacket like he didn’t know what to do with his hands.
“Are you telling me,” I said, my voice rising, “that after everything my mother and my family have already been through…” The words backed up in my throat. Then they came out angrier. “After the incompetence of your department. After the personal mission of that asshole AG to destroy us. After all the little idiots who followed his illegal orders without once stopping to think for themselves…”
I shook my head in a sharp, disbelieving motion.
“After all that, you’re now telling me that years after my mom died, the State is opening the gates to a new Alderwyn shitshow? And drag my family through hell again?”
I pointed at him. “How could you let all of this happen in the first place? Why the fuck didn’t you arrest Myers when people first started telling you he murdered Zach? Why did all of you think it made more sense to throw a cancer-sick, traumatized mother in jail instead of going after a known violent man with a criminal record? Who was covered in blood that night, caught on an actual fucking video! And, and, and…” The words tripped over one another as I searched for more. “And now, all these years later, you’re sitting here telling me you still can’t find him. Still can’t arrest him. That the State might make the same dumbass mistakes all over again. That some crazy man’s conspiracy theories, fueled by his hate for my grandma, are gaining traction again.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Anger sat hot in my chest, mixing with something darker.
Hate. Outrage. Disbelief.
“Oh, we will sue you fuckers to the moon and back,” I announced. “And this time, no mercy, Nolan. No mercy. Not even for you.”
My head shook as I turned toward the window. “Fucking John Myers is back, teaming up with Harlow’s homeless drunk ass to destroy my family all over again.”
A few more curses spilled out. Ugly ones. Then the car went quiet.
“You know,” Nolan said after giving me some time to calm down, “if I were you, I’d do the same thing. Sue the State, I mean. And I hope you get whatever it is that’ll make you feel better.”
I waited for more. Abut. A condition. Something.
Nothing came.
Nolan stared out the window. He shifted in his seat. His gaze was fixed on something in the distance. “I don’t know if she ever told you,” he finally said, “and you probably already know this, but your grandma was my teacher when I was a kid.” A sad smile tugged at his lips.
