Chapter Three

After saying goodbye to her distraught mother, Minka finished preparing her bath. As she dabbed her tears, she realized she’d left her robe hanging in the laundry room and stepped out to retrieve it. She stopped in her tracks when she caught Wes standing on the other side of the bathroom door. She consulted the clock, surprised he’d returned home already.

“Did I talk on the phone for that long?”

“No, I knocked off early; Miller’s covering for me on study hall duty.” He kissed her forehead. “Cael called and told me the news. We both figured you could either use a listening ear or at least someone to take care of Caela while you let out a few primal screams.”

A chuckle escaped her lips as she fell into his embrace. “I appreciate that, but neither one would do me much good. All I really need is a new brother.”

“I’d offer you mine, but, well, you’ve met him.” Wes made her laugh once more. “I’m sorry, babe.”

“So am I.”

“Were you talking to your mom?”

“Yeah, she called a little while after we came home. She can’t guess where he is, either. I filled her in on the watch, and it broke her heart.” Minka drew away from him despite needing his comfort more than ever. “I’d like to soak in the tub for a while before Caela wakes up from her nap.”

“Go ahead. I can tend to her if she gets up before you’re finished.”

“Thanks, honey.” She kissed him. As she closed the door, she stopped and pointed her finger at her mischievous husband. “And please, don’t wake her before she’s ready. Camille already did that once this morning.”

He gave her an impish grin. “Go. Enjoy your bath.”

She shook her head and resumed her trek to the laundry room for her robe before undressing and sinking into the hot water. Her showers far outweighed her time in the tub nowadays, so every time she could lay her head back and bask in the warmth, she reveled in the novelty of it. For the first few moments, she was able to thrust her cares aside and focus on nothing at all. After much too short of a time, however, the image of her grandfather’s pocket watch drifted back into her mind. Of all things, she’d hate for such a precious keepsake to be what sent her brother to prison.

The watch was an heirloom passed on through the generations, but to Minka, it symbolized something more special. Her grandpa hadn’t presented it to Robin due to mere tradition but as a remembrance of the memories they shared. When her brother was two, he’d found his papa’s accessory lying on an end table, and like many tots would do, he picked it up and hid it behind a set of dressers. Their frantic grandfather spent over a week trying to find it, and once he did, he figured out the identity of the little thief.

From then on, the two made it into a game, and nobody could anticipate where the watch would end up next. Sometimes, Papa would hide it before they even visited him, and he’d laugh the entire time Robin scoured the house for it. It touched them all when Robin opened the box to find it as his gift for graduating. Papa explained he couldn’t outsmart such a “sharp cookie” anymore. The sister in her tended to disagree with his reasoning, but the gesture warmed her heart. It became ever more precious when he passed away just four months later.

Now, it lay in a cold bag, waiting once again for Robin to find it. To her sadness, Minka doubted he was searching for it, especially if he determined where he’d lost it. She despised how carelessly he’d treated it in the past, as he’d even talked about selling it once when he needed money. Apart from the first couple of weeks after Papa gave it to him, it lost its value in his eyes, and he clumped it together with the rest of his belongings that he tossed about in the same cluttered fashion he still employed in his apartment. She never imagined he’d even take it with him anywhere in the outside world, other than to a pawn shop.

Reflecting on it all reminded Minka that her brother needed a wake-up call. He’d never appreciated much of anything in life, and maybe this ordeal would make him aware of that. Of course, he may remain the same no matter what, which appeared to be more likely with every passing day he continued to hide from the law. Still, she wished he’d change his ways, and before his time ran out.

****

Minka found herself in need of another stress-relieving bath shortly after she finished soaking, when Cael texted her to announce they’d obtained a search warrant for Robin’s apartment. In the minutes that followed, she visualized him and Declan taking the same steps she had earlier in the week. She imagined their reaction to the mess, which evoked a brief smile. Once the humor of it passed, agony struck her, as she pictured them finding the disturbing photo of Hamilton she’d left lying in the trash can.

Her secret expedition continued to taunt her, now more than ever. She doubted anyone could tell she’d gone unless the landlady revealed it, so the notion of being caught didn’t concern her. Instead, her decision to leave the evidence behind troubled her most. If she’d taken and destroyed it, she’d risk being accused of aiding and abetting Robin’s alleged crime, which would’ve made a trespassing charge seem like an illegal parking ticket. Besides, it would’ve robbed her of her peace of mind, even if her meddling was forever concealed. At the same time, she ached at the prospect of facing her mom and dad if the proof she could’ve hidden led to Robin’s conviction.

Cael remained silent on the matter, and Minka didn’t blame him. As the case evolved into a more dire state, giving a play-by-play of its developments to the lead suspect’s now-civilian sister could cost him dearly. Plus, he’d always protected her from physical and emotional harm, and those mechanisms would no doubt kick in once he studied the disturbing picture. He’d realize how much it would alarm her to learn of it.

In the end, she gathered all she needed to from the evening news, which tagged her brother as a wanted man. After the anchor announced it, she sat still on the couch, consumed by the bleak prospects in store for Robin. Hamilton’s statement about crossing paths with him at the bowling alley along with the watch gave them enough to arrest him if he ever showed up, which was only a matter of time. With the police intensifying their search for him, it didn’t give him much room for error.

With that in mind, she couldn’t stop wavering between two different perspectives—that of a crime fighter and that of a sister. She despised anyone who defied justice and would’ve worked with vigor to get it had she been on the case. On the other hand, it hurt her to accept her little brother had limited his options to running from the law or being held captive by it. As he’d proven, he was the type to rebel until faced with his last resort, when he’d ultimately place the blame on somebody else.

Minka resigned herself to the fact that her life couldn’t return to what it’d been before the case. While she couldn’t relinquish her duties as a wife and mother, she couldn’t expect this to blow over if she just disregarded it in her mind. Consequences would be dished out for better or worse, so she’d better prepare herself to face them.

She also reasoned she owed it to her mom to show her support, too, so she called her the next day, if only to lend a listening ear. She tried again to prove her devotion to her family, including Robin, but she also expressed her disappointment in his lack of taking responsibility and her desire for him to change. Her mother kept many of her thoughts to herself, but Minka surmised that she agreed.

Saturday provided her with plenty of distractions to keep her mind off the case, with she and Wes having the shingles replaced on the roof of their forty-year-old Cape Cod. Gus’s father-in-law, Sal, a professional roofer, arrived early in the morning with his wife, Tracy, and Wes assisted him with the prep work while they waited for Cael and Gus. The volunteers had helped the couple’s finances a great deal, but Minka had a hunch the project’s efficiency would take a hit, with all four of them manifesting childlike behavior when they did anything together.

Gus’s wife, Lola, accompanied her husband along with their son, Ryan, who was nine months older than Caela. Wanting to please Cael, Minka invited Autumn, too. When she joined them, Minka noticed her quieter, more subdued manner and wondered if Cael had counseled her on her behavior. The ladies endeavored to make her comfortable, including her in their chats, and after the initial unease wore off, the company enjoyed lighthearted banter.

Much needed after such a rough week, Minka relished it, with her frequent laughter making up for all the groaning she’d done. Without trying, Tracy and Sal created the day’s most humorous moment, when she—having just complained that Sal never listened to her—asked for the guys’ lunch requests.

“What do you want on your sandwich, honey?”

Giving no acknowledgement of his wife’s question, Sal continued shingling.

“Honey?”

Nothing.

“Sal?”

At last, she gave up and marched back indoors in haste, where Minka and Lola had been eavesdropping on the hysterical scene. The two tried to conceal their amusement, well aware of her wrath.

“Just put blue cheese and mustard on Sal’s. He’ll hate it. That’ll teach him.”

“Maybe he needs hearing aids,” Minka suggested.

“He is going on sixty, Mom,” Lola added.

“Rest assured, girls, Minka’s the only deaf one among us. He hears everything with perfect clarity, except for the sound of my voice.”

Lola and Minka exchanged grins and finished preparing lunch, as the sweaty and noisy men filed inside. The group enjoyed a lively but brief meal before the guys resumed their work, leaving quite a mess in their wake. Tracy, Lola, and Autumn took charge of the cleaning, so Minka set out to put Caela and Ryan down for a nap. Right before she started up the stairs, she remarked that both little ones needed a dry diaper, not realizing what the simple statement would evoke from Autumn.

“You guys have them in diapers?” she questioned in a semi-perturbed manner.

“Their bosses don’t mind,” Minka joked it off.

“Of course not.” Autumn let out an uncomfortable giggle. “Most of the moms in my classes are doing elimination communication, where you observe your baby’s expressions to discern when they have to go. Then, you put them over the potty when they signal. It’s really ingenious, and the kids who do it grow up to be so intelligent.”

None of the three mothers gave much of a reply to the unusual suggestion, but the younger ones leveled amused glances at each other. The innuendo that her daughter would have inferior intellect because she wore diapers annoyed Minka, but she released a cleansing breath and let it go in order to give the tots a calm sleeping environment. The hammering and cackles bouncing off the roof disturbed the peace enough.

Despite the noise, it didn’t take the babies long to drift off to sleep. Once they’d fallen deep enough into dreamland, she exited the nursery and retreated downstairs, where she met Cael on his way outside after having taken a bathroom break. Neither of them had mentioned the investigation the whole time, but with nobody else around, she couldn’t resist.

“Any leads?”

“Well, we requested more information from Stags on Robin’s dispute with Hamilton, and they sent us a file on it. Take a peek.”

She took his phone from him after he accessed the document. Dated three weeks prior, it highlighted both Robin’s reason for filing the suit along with Hamilton’s defense for not granting him the promotion, which far outweighed her brother’s case. It underscored Robin’s poor work ethic through a list of his many failures to perform his duties. Meanwhile, Robin maintained that he deserved the position based on the fact that the company hired him a few months before the coworker who landed the promotion.

“Goofing off while on the job, arriving late four of five days, and oh, nice, stealing from vending machines. Yep, sounds like my brother.”

“Just because he’s a slacker doesn’t mean he did this to Hamilton, but I can imagine his anger at his boss when he read this. Hamilton’s secretary claims the office emailed it to him the day before the attack and assumed it started their argument at work.”

She didn’t say it, but she could picture his fury, too, having witnessed her brother’s fits when he received criticism. “Have you confirmed that they were both at the bowling alley?”

“No, we can’t get ahold of the owner for surveillance. Declan’s called the alley several times, and we’ve gone over, but we can’t track him down. He didn’t offer much help the night of the attack, either. We’ll just have to keep trying.”

The assurance gave Minka a dash of hope, but she tried not to show it. She thanked him for his persistence before allowing him to get back to work. Lola, Tracy, and Autumn emerged from the kitchen, so she did her best to let the ordeal rest and join them in their easygoing spirit like she had all morning. She succeeded for the most part, but she deemed herself a hypocrite, painting a smile on just for show.

Living up to her expectations, the guys’ kidding around made what should’ve been a five-hour job turn into eight. They wrapped up just before sunset, so she and Wes didn’t have time to clean up afterward. With everything in disarray the next morning, Wes suggested they go out for breakfast. They hadn’t indulged in such a luxury since Caela was born, and Minka appreciated his unspoken desire to get her away from home and her anxieties. As much as she delighted in being with her husband and daughter, however, pancakes and bacon couldn’t ease her pain.

“I want another baby.”

Wes’s declaration came as a shock. “What did you say?”

He flashed her a grin. “I figure that’d jolt you out of your coma.”

“I’m sorry. While we’re on the subject, though—”

He stopped her in her tracks. “Not until she’s out of diapers. We’re buying them in bulk as it is.”

“Huh? No, not that.” She was reminded of Autumn’s endorsement of elimination communication. “I was just wondering, if we had other children, what kind of relationship would you want them to have with one another?”

“I’d want them to be close, of course. Cael’s always been my best friend, and I hope our kids would develop the same bond.”

Minka ran her fingers through her hair and stared out the window. “So do I.”

“Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out that way, unfortunately.” He offered her his hand from across the table. “I’m sure you tried.”

She didn’t disagree aloud, but she did in her heart.

Reflecting on the report Cael had shown her, she couldn’t figure out how Robin had turned out so differently than she had. Her parents were both industrious workers, and despite their coddling, they’d raised him to be that way. Her mom gave them both chores, and her dad took them on an occasional job with his construction crew. Why hadn’t their efforts impacted him like they had her?

She doubted even he could answer that, so she gave up in trying to analyze it. Going home to a messy yard and living room, she had better tasks with which to concern herself. Until Caela’s nap, she couldn’t help Wes pick up the old shingles scattered about their lawn, so she focused instead on straightening up the interior. She mopped up the dirt the men had tracked in on their boots, put away the dishes, and emptied the trash.

Their trash pickup wasn’t until Wednesday, so she took the bag into the garage with the others. As she wandered back inside, a faint rustling stirred from behind her SUV. Her instinct as a cop made her grab the hammer Wes had hung on the wall. She took a cautious step toward the spot. “Who’s there?”

The intruder stood, arms raised.

She jerked in disbelief. “Robin?”

****

Wide eyes fixed on the hammer in his sister’s hand, Robin said, “Please, don’t hurt me.”

Minka lowered her improvised weapon and took in the sight before her. Unshaven and clearly unbathed, her brother stood taller than she remembered and appeared to have shed some weight—due in part to his time on the run, no doubt. He no longer sported a crew cut but had grown out his brown hair just long enough to show off his natural curls, their mother’s favorite feature on both her children. The fear etched in his eyes, though, touched Minka most of all, as she’d observed it countless times on him in the months after his abduction.

It didn’t take long for nostalgia to wane and yield to mounting anger. “What are you doing here?”

“I had nowhere else to go. After I left Mom and Dad’s, I wanted to start over with a new life and all, but the phony documents I bought online weren’t realistic enough. I realized the cops would catch me sooner or later, unless I hid where no one would suspect me.”

He nailed that one, she could admit, but not out loud. “How long have you been here?”

“Since Tuesday. Wes almost caught me yesterday morning when he was getting out his ladder, but I hid under that tarp just in time.”

“I’m so relieved.” Minka didn’t hold back her sarcasm. “Why couldn’t you just go to the police from the beginning and spare yourself all this hassle?”

Robin lowered his head before restating what he’d told her on the phone, “I didn’t do it.”

“Then, you didn’t need to run from them.”

“But Minka, you know—”

From her playpen in the living room, Caela began to cry, driving Minka to go inside and comfort her. Her brain clouded by a thick haze of indignation, the young mother failed to close the door or even tell her brother if she’d return, which he took to be an invitation inside. As she held Caela in her arms, swaying back and forth, the baby girl uttered one of the few words in her ever-growing vocabulary. “Look.”

Minka spun and caught sight of Robin eating a banana. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What? Did you plan to just leave and forget I’m in your garage until I die of starvation?”

“I’m still trying to decide, but I’d rather let the police deal with you.”

“Then, at least have the decency to let me wait for them on a couch with some food in me.”

She recalled Wes’s complaint about their vanishing potato chips and figured out the cause. “You call it ‘decency’ to take refuge in my garage and raid my snack drawer while I’m not here?”

Infuriated that much more, she shifted Caela to her hip and sauntered across the room to retrieve her phone to call Cael. Along the way, her daughter halted her plans, stretching her little arms out to her uncle. Minka wouldn’t concede to her prodding and restrained her, but after the little girl continued to protest, she relented. She reasoned the two deserved a few bonding moments, and it would free up her hands and some of her attention to talk.

With her phone waiting to be dialed, Minka grabbed it and found Cael’s number with ease. Just before she placed the call, she gave Robin a momentary glance and couldn’t help but do a double take at the scene. She’d never noticed how much her baby resembled him, especially around her forehead. His smile at Caela while he bounced her on one knee also warmed her heart. In that instant, she was introduced to a side of her brother she wished would shine through always, but she feared he wasn’t even aware he possessed it.

All too soon, he proved her right, taking an obnoxiously large last bite of the banana, in an effort to keep it away from Caela’s grasp. Rolling her eyes, Minka pressed “Send” without any more hesitation.

As she waited for Cael to answer, and fuming over her brother’s immaturity, she couldn’t resist commenting, “If only you’d protected Papa’s watch so well.”

He furrowed his brow in confusion, but the deceleration of his chewing revealed he wasn’t so clueless.

Minka didn’t hold back her accusatory tone, as her call was forwarded to Cael’s voicemail. “Someone found it where your boss was assaulted.”

“Are you serious?” Robin’s befuddlement seemed genuine this time.

Overwhelmed, Minka hung up instead of leaving a message. “Yes, a guy dropped it by the station. Did you even realize you’d lost it?”

“I didn’t lose it.”

“Then, how could it be at the precinct and not in your pocket?”

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, just like he did when fibbing throughout his childhood.

“Are you ever going to learn ‘I don’t know’ doesn’t cut it?”

Rising from the couch, he handed Caela back to her mother and stomped over to the front door. His feet lost their determination when he hit the threshold, and he froze.

“I sold it. When news broke about Hamilton, I figured people would point the finger at me, but I couldn’t afford to go on the run. So, I sold Papa’s watch to a guy who collects them. He appraised it for me one time and has begged me for it ever since.”

She couldn’t even begin to process all the ways his account upset her. “Who is he?”

“I don’t know. I only work with him,” he answered in all seriousness.

“Exactly,” she countered. “If you work with the man, how can you not know his name?”

“He works in the upper crust and doesn’t stoop down to any of us in the tech department. He didn’t talk to me about anything but the watch.”

As much as it exasperated her, she admitted her brother didn’t socialize a lot. That in mind, she let it go and tried to find another break. “How’d he pay you?”

“Cash.”

“Of course. In other words, you have no proof that you sold it to him?”

“I guess not.” He gave a casual shrug.

Mystified by his ignorance, Minka used great restraint to spell out his own actions for him. “Correct me if I get any of this wrong: You were afraid of looking guilty, so you sold the watch to get enough money to run away. A week later, it lands in police custody because somebody claims to have found it at the scene of a crime in which you’re the prime suspect.”

“He could be lying.”

Minka put Caela in her nearby highchair to avoid the baby becoming a victim of collateral damage. “So could you!”

“Why would I lie about this? I knew how angry you’d be with me for selling it.”

“Because maybe you did lose it behind that alley.”

“No, I didn’t. I’m not that stupid.”

“It’s no less stupid to run from a crime you didn’t commit.”

He gave no immediate reply but took a moment to reflect. “I’m telling you I sold it after Hamilton was assaulted. Doesn’t that prove I didn’t lose it on that night?”

She recalled Hamilton’s account and formed a question of her own. “First, answer me this: Did you go bowling that night?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you notice Hamilton there?”

He paused before nodding. “He arrived as I was leaving.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“Not a word.”

“Can anybody verify that?”

He dropped his head in disappointment. “No, my buddies took off a few minutes before me.”

****

Putting a new trash bag in the can she’d emptied seemingly eons ago, Minka contemplated the past twenty minutes of her life. Her brother had coerced her into letting him take a shower, which, she could testify, he needed. Even so, she reprimanded herself for granting him such a privilege, with him a fugitive. When she should’ve been giving him a lift to the police station, she was instructing him how to control the temperature of the water.

Why she hadn’t turned him in yet, she didn’t have a clue. She couldn’t attribute it to a lack of anger, although his face had softened her a touch. Her willpower overpowered her sentimentalism, however, as did her sense of duty. Something else weighed on her, but she couldn’t yet identify it.

As she peeled potatoes for dinner, Minka pondered her conversation with Robin. She still couldn’t decide whether or not to believe his explanation about the watch, nor could she figure how it would help his case, even if proven true. Selling it to flee from a police investigation did little to attest to his innocence, and many would deem it karma at work that it found its way back into the law’s hands. Whatever the case, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that more than coincidence had caused it to resurface.

Her thoughts drifted back to his claim that he was leaving when Hamilton arrived. If he were telling the truth, it may take this off his back once and for all. Hamilton himself said he was attacked after his evening of bowling, so it’d rule Robin out if he had left an hour or two earlier—unless, of course, he’d waited around for his boss. Surveillance could tell the story, complete with a time stamp, if Cael could ever obtain it.

More confused and overwhelmed than ever, Minka’s head pounded. Adding to her stress, her oblivious husband strolled in from outside.

“Hey, sweetie. Great job in here.”

Too weary and ashamed to face him, Minka didn’t stop peeling the potatoes. “Thanks. Sorry I haven’t been able to pitch in out there yet.”

“It’s fine.” The uncertainty in his voice indicated that he shared her distracted mental state. “Do I hear the shower running?”

Minka panicked. “Yeah, Caela’s in there.”

Wes hesitated for a moment. “So, our fourteen-month-old daughter can now shower herself, using my after-shave and all?”

She hadn’t noticed the scent coming from the bathroom until he mentioned it. “You give him an inch; he takes a mile!”

“Who?”

“Robin,” she fessed up out of exasperation. “My idiot of a brother, who’s been living in our garage for almost a week.”

“Tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish.” She kept peeling more potatoes than she needed just to release her frustrations.

“How did he—”

“I didn’t ask.” She anticipated his curiosities would concern Robin’s lack of amenities. “Let’s just say I had good reason to let him stay in there for twenty minutes. He managed to sneak in and snatch our chips, but he never attended to his hygiene.”

He chuckled at her disgust, which prompted a glare from her. “Have you told Cael?”

She debated her answer but stuck with the plain truth. “Don’t ask me why or what my plan is, but no, I haven’t. I called him, but when he didn’t answer his phone, I lost the nerve.”

Wes wrapped his arms around her from behind and planted a soft kiss on her neck. “We’ll get through this.”

“I’m not so sure he will.” She swallowed hard and faced him. “He claims he sold Papa’s watch to fund his escape, but he also insists that he’s innocent.”

“Did you ask if he met Hamilton at the bowling alley?”

“Yes, and he claims they crossed paths on his way out but never exchanged words.”

“Do you believe him?”

“I don’t know.” She rubbed her tired eyes. “I’m at a complete loss. If he’s telling the truth, this could clear his name. On the other hand, it could all go up in flames if he’s fibbing in the slightest. I mean, he could’ve been leaving when he asked Hamilton to step outside, and one thing led to another.”

“Wouldn’t Hamilton have said as much?”

“Not if he didn’t remember it. All I can say is I’m scared to have to make the call that sends him to jail…but at the same time, I’m afraid not to.”

Wes slid his arms around her. “I’ll stand beside you, no matter what you decide.”

When the shower faucet squeaked and the water slowed to a drip, they moseyed into the living room. Minka’s inner deliberation continued, the phone in her hand now seeming like an undetonated grenade. She kept waiting for Cael to return her call, and she couldn’t formulate the words she needed to tell him.

Before long, Robin emerged from the bathroom in the shirt and jeans she’d lent him from Wes’s closet.

He slapped Wes on the back. “Hey, bro. Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes and cologne. I like your tastes.”

She hoped her husband would point out that he couldn’t borrow cologne, but he didn’t. On the contrary, he gave him a hug and expressed that it was good to see him. The chumminess didn’t end there, as Robin proceeded to relate the story of how Wes stepped within feet of him the day prior. The two laughed about it, until she leveled a disapproving scowl at Wes, making him stop.

Caela’s whimper made Minka realize an hour had elapsed since her regular nap time. She welcomed the excuse to break away from the bizarre visit. As she padded to the nursery, they broke out into another round of chuckles. She rolled her eyes, struck by the realization that she’d married a somewhat more sensible version of her brother.

While she cradled her daughter, she vacillated over how she should handle the situation and what would give her the most peace with her actions either way. She yearned to establish his guilt or innocence in her own mind, but he hadn’t presented her with conclusive reason for either. Remembering Cael’s statement about Robin’s reaction to the report on him, she chose to test him on it and observe his behavior.

When she rejoined him and Wes, she sat quiet at first, not wanting Robin to catch on to her strategy. After Wes ventured outside, she initiated her approach.

“Tell me more about your suit against Perry Hamilton.”

“Oh, he’s just a jerk. The instant everyone learned the guy who headed my department was resigning, they started to suck up to him. I didn’t reckon I needed to, because I had the most experience. But the rich idiot awarded the position to one of the butt-kissers, and I couldn’t sit back and applaud the blatant injustice.”

“Did he offer a reason for not promoting you?”

“Not until I took it to the union. Then, he slapped me with a four-page report of complaints against me.”

“What’d you do about it?”

“Nothing. Nobody would believe me, anyhow.”

She called him to task. “Everything in it is a lie?”

“I mean, I’ve been late on occasion, but I always meet my deadlines.”

“And what about the vending machines?” She unmasked her intent, unable to stomach any more of his innocent act.

His mouth dropped open. “You read it?”

“Sure did, and so have the police.”

“Man, Minka, way to show your faith in me.”

“Where’s your faith in me? You sat for five days in my garage, instead of sitting down and explaining to me what really happened.”

“I called you to do exactly that, but all you did was antagonize me like you’re doing now!”

“I’ve heard enough of this.” Minka stomped up the stairs to her bedroom.

****

Just as Minka stormed off, Wes returned inside. Caela’s cry bellowed over the baby monitor, so he hurried to respond to her, leaving Robin by himself. He sat, eyeing the door, and plotted his next move. Between his sister’s attitude and the evidence against him, he didn’t foresee a positive outcome in his immediate future. Truth be told, he couldn’t rationalize any reason to stick around to face the inevitable and feared this may be his last chance to make a break for it. Something deep inside him, however, held him back.

“How is she?” he asked when Wes rounded the corner.

“She’s back to sleep already.” He sighed. “I just had to tell her Mommy and Daddy were okay, and she was fine.”

“What about her uncle?”

Wes offered a modest grin. “The jury’s still deliberating on that one.”

“Yeah, and I hope Minka isn’t on that jury.”

“She cares more than you think. This whole thing is tearing her apart.”

“She could’ve fooled me.”

“She puts up a tough front, but she’s pretty fragile inside. True, she’s witnessed you put yourself in some hairy situations, but she’s still your sister and hates for you to suffer.”

“Why doesn’t she believe in me, then?”

“Because you haven’t given her much reason to. You ran from the law, when you claim you’re not guilty,” Wes reminded him, to which he couldn’t make a reply. “That said, she still doesn’t want to drag you in to the police.”

“Really?”

“Would she let you shower and lend you my clothes if she did?”

After letting out a chuckle, Robin began to fear another possibility. “Are you going to out me?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Why?” He regretted asking it the second the word leaped off his tongue, scared to give Wes the chance to question himself.

“Because I love my wife, and it’d make her happier if you decided to do what’s right on your own.”