Chapter 29

Jenny followed the desk clerk down to the holding cells.

Having been reprimanded by her boss, the clerk was reluctant to give Jenny her usual attitude. Instead, the walk was in silence. Jenny didn't mind. It gave her time to get her thoughts in order. She had, after all, only a half hour in which to tell Joey everything that had happened over the past couple of days.

She waited impatiently as the desk clerk unlocked the door and pulled it open. The clerk waved her inside and closed the door firmly behind her.

Joey stood up from his bunk when she entered. He looked surprised to see her there again but smiled. It was a welcome change from the distrust she had seen on his face at their last visit.

“You're back.”

He stepped up to the bars.

“I'm being moved in two days, Jenny. Chief Cartright wants to transfer me out to the medium security prison in the next town.”

He looked worried, and Jenny's heart went out to him. If she could have dragged him from this mess right this instant, she would have, but it would all be over soon, and he would once again be a free man.

“I don't think that's going to happen,” she told him. “I'm calling the police commissioner.”

“What?” Joey was wide-eyed as he looked through the bars at her. “Jenny, you don't understand. He's going to want solid evidence. He won't leave his office for less.”

“But we do have solid evidence, Joey.”

She reached through the space between the bars and squeezed his shoulder.

“You're going to be out of there soon, little brother. Just hold on a little while longer.”

Joey still didn't look entirely convinced by her claims.

“What evidence? What do you have?” he asked.

“Roy went back to your house.”

“I thought you said it had been damaged in the fire.”

“Only the ground floor. Fire Chief Miller gave him the key so he could go in and do a little investigating of his own.”

“Isn't that illegal?” he cut in suddenly. “They could get in big trouble for doing an unauthorized search like that.”

She waved off his question.

“I'll get back to that.”

She continued on with her story.

“Roy searched your bedroom to see if there was anything the police may have missed. He was looking for something that would pin the murder on someone else.”

“I doubt there was anything there.”

He studied her smile critically, as if he weren't sure he could entirely trust it.

“He found something under the bed. It was a police badge. Roy said that the number printed on the front isn’t yours.”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” Joey told her. “My uniform is here. It was confiscated when I was placed in here, because it had Chloe's blood on it. Chief Cartright has it locked away somewhere as evidence.”

“Roy wrapped it up in a handkerchief and has kept it with him ever since. He thinks Chief Cartright came back for it the night he was going through your room.”

“Chief Cartright?” Joey looked stunned to hear the news.

Jenny realized with horror that she had never actually told her brother that she and Roy had come to that conclusion. She felt a sinking feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach. This wasn't the way he should have found out.

She watched as he sunk down onto his cot with his head in his hands.

“Joey, I'm so sorry.”

Joey looked suddenly up at her. His face was drawn in pain, and she immediately wanted to step past the bars and go to him.

“He was the one having an affair with Chloe?” Joey asked.

He stared at her until she nodded her head slowly.

“Damn it,” he cursed under his breath.

“I'm so sorry I told you like that.”

Jenny felt tears welling up in her eyes. She had wasted so many long years not caring what her brother was doing with his life or how he was doing. Now, it was one of her highest concerns.

“Chief Cartright was sleeping with my wife.”

She knew Joey was barely listening to her. His head was so wrapped up in the news he had just heard.

“That bastard was with Chloe.”

“Joey.”

Her voice wavered as she looked in on his broken face. She didn't know what else to say.

“Damn it, Jenny. Why did it have to be him, of all people? I get that Chloe wasn't happy with me. We married young and had Isabelle. But why did she have to go out of her way to hurt me like that?”

He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “Was I that horrible?”

“No,” she told him gently. “Chloe should never have started an affair. She should have known better.”

There had been many conversations with Chloe where she told her best friend that Joey was the one who should have known better or Joey should be the one making sure Chloe knew he cared. It seemed strange to have the conversation in reverse now. She wished that her best friend had just been straight with her. She had never agreed with the concept of having an affair, but she thought Chloe could have told the truth.

“Did she ever tell you about it?”

Jenny had been expecting the question. She would have asked the same thing.

“No. Chloe never said a word to me about it. I think she knew what I would have told her.”

“To leave me, take Isabelle and head for the city?” Joey muttered.

“No, I never would have told her to leave you.”

“You hated me,” Joey reminded her. “So why didn't you?”

“Because.”

“Because what?” he demanded.

“Because that's not how you sort things out!” she yelled back at him. “You don't run and hide. You face things and make sure they get sorted out, or you just end up sad and alone with nothing to live for.”

She dropped back, her throat sore from raising her voice. Tears pricked at her eyes. She knew she was talking about herself when she made that statement. Running away had been exactly what she had done all those years ago. She could have stayed and made amends with her brother. Heck, she could have left and still made an effort to reconnect with him.

Instead, she had put more distance between herself and her brother. In light of the events of the past few days, she was becoming more unsure of why she had left Ombrea so many years ago. It was clear that if she had stayed and worked at building their relationship back up, she would have benefited greatly.

“Oh, Jenny, we’ve got the world's worst sibling relationship, don't we?”

“I think we got most people beat,” she said with a playful smirk.

He looked up at her cautiously.

“Think we could ever fix it?”

“Busting you out of this place is a start.”

He held up his hands like a man looking for salvation.

“Hallelujah! If you can get me out of this hell-hole, I’ll be the best little brother in the world.”

“I'd settle for my brother back.”