TOTAL ECLIPSE: The Evolution (Sin City Heat Series Book 7) (39 page)

CHAPTER 46

“Why’d you do that?”

Darrell’s voice was low and his tone clipped. They’d been driving for fifteen tension filled minutes before he finally asked the question Jerra had been waiting on since they’d stormed out of the police station.

“You know why.” There was no need to even pretend that she didn’t know what he was talking about.

“No. I don’t. If I did, I wouldn’t be asking you.” He took his eyes off the highway long enough to peer at her through the darkness. “Why did you tell ‘em that? Why did you tell them you were home when you weren’t? You didn’t get to the house until after ten o’clock from your meeting with Justin.”

“You know as well as I do where they were heading with that line of questioning.”

“Yeah, I did. I figured that out before we even got there. I didn’t need you to lie for me, Jerra, so why did you? Is it because…do you think I did this?”

“No!” Jerra half-turned in her seat to face him. “Of course not!”

“Then why did you–”

“Because…I don’t know, I wanted to protect you! Innocent people go to jail all the time. I’m not saying that’s going to happen with you, but I…I panicked. I know I’m supposed to be objective and separate my personal feelings, but I can’t do that. Not with you. I don’t plan on giving them any reason to pursue this ridiculous theory of theirs that you killed Tina.”

“So you lie?” Darrell tried not to yell, but concern for her caused his anger to soar through the roof.

“Yes!” Jerra shouted back in a trembling voice. “And if I had to do it all over again, I’d say the same thing!”

“Great. What do you think they’re going to do when they find out the truth, and they
will
find out. Them mu’fuckas ain’t playin’, Jerra.”

“I know, but–”

“But nothin’, baby. I guarantee you they’ll eventually find their way to the firm and end up talkin’ to Justin. Then what?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Jerra turned around in her seat and stubbornly stared out the window. She jumped when Darrell hit the steering wheel with his fist but didn’t look his way. 

Neither of them spoke the rest of the way home. After Darrell pulled into the garage, he killed the ignition and sat with his elbow propped against the door. Jerra remained where she was as well, but eventually made a move to get out of the car.

“Wait.” 

She slowly let her hand fall away from the door handle and gave him her full attention.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you. I shouldn’t have done that.” Darrell reached over and rubbed her stomach, smiling a little when he felt movement beneath his hand. “Even my baby is upset with me.”

“You have a lot to deal with.” Jerra placed her hand over his. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.” He laced their fingers together and stared at her. “My only excuse is that the thought of you getting tangled up in all of this scares the hell out of me.”

Jerra glanced down at their joined hands. “I didn’t mean to make things harder for you.”

Darrell blew out a soft breath. “You don’t get it, do you? It’s not about that. I don’t give a damn about things being hard for me. The only thing I’m worried about is you. I don’t want any of this to touch you, understand me?”

Jerra nodded, her eyes big and full of unshed tears. “I didn’t think. It was just instinctual to protect you.”

“I know.” Darrell smiled at her tenderly and leaned across the front seat to give her a loving kiss. “Protect me by having my back the way you did tonight…without putting yourself in jeopardy. That’s how you can protect me.”

Jerra nodded. “Okay.”

“I love you, Jerra. I trust you more than anyone else on this earth.”

“I love you too.”

Darrell stared at her intently. “Yes, but do you trust me?”

Before she could answer, his phone, which was lying in the storage console in the middle of their seats, lit up with a text from Lorenzo. Darrell picked it up and read it then skimmed through his call log. He’d missed several: Dom, Angel, Bryan, Carl. He saw his cousins had called as well.

A random thought popped into his head that it was strange seeing all of the people who’d called to check on him. He remembered a time when Marcus had been the only person who gave a damn whether or not he lived or died. Funny how different things were now.

Darrell frowned when he saw another name on his call log. His Uncle Joseph. Again, he remembered the last conversation he’d had with Tina and the cryptic message she left him with. He wished with everything in him that he’d allowed her to tell him what she’d been so desperately trying to share. Sad to say, he just hadn’t been able to trust her. Not after all the other lies she’d told him. Now it was too late…for a lot of things.

“Are you okay?”

Startled, Darrell glanced at Jerra. He’d become so lost in his thoughts that he’d forgotten where he was. Clearing his throat, he held his phone up. “Lot of missed calls, that’s all. Come on.”

He got out then came around and opened her car door, then followed her into the house. His steps slowed before they made it to the family room. “Why don’t you go on upstairs, get out of those clothes and take a nice hot bath? I’ll be up once I return a few of these phone calls.”

“I know you want to call Lorenzo, but I’m sure everyone else will understand if you wait until the morning.”

“Yeah. I need to check on Gab, then bring Lorenzo up to speed and let him know what happened with ‘Officers Happy and Friendly’,” he grimaced. “I’ll call Marcus, Dom, and Angel, then text everybody else to let them know I’ll be in contact with them tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Jerra replied softly.

His eyes suddenly clouded over. “One conversation I’m not looking forward to having is telling D.J. that Tina…his grandmother is gone.”

Jerra nodded. She’d been thinking about that as well. “He’s going to be so upset.”

His face tense, Darrell leaned down to kiss her again, then turned to go to the room he used as his personal space. Just before he turned the corner, Jerra called his name.

“Darrell?” She waited until he turned around. “I’m sorry about your mother.”

She didn’t call Tina by her name, she acknowledged her for what she was. Whatever the circumstances may have been, whatever their differences, Tina was his mother.

Unable to speak, Darrell just nodded before walking out of the room.

“Are you serious?” Lorenzo hissed into the phone. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure the door to Gabby’s bedroom was still closed, he moved towards the kitchen. “They consider you a suspect? They think you…” Lorenzo bit off the rest of the sentence.

“Yeah. They do,” Darrell said wearily.

“That’s fucking ridiculous. Why would they even suggest that?”

“They did more than suggest. Seems they spoke to someone that worked at the hotel who heard us arguing.”

Darrell closed his eyes tight for a moment as that day flashed through his head. He stood up abruptly and started pacing back and forth as he forced himself to focus on what Lorenzo was saying.

“And because of that they jump to the conclusion that you murdered her? People argue all the time. What did you tell them? I hope you kept your cool and didn’t let them provoke you into saying anything they might be able to use against you later.”

“I admit I got a lil’ hot, but Jerra was there. She insisted on sitting in while they questioned me.”

Lorenzo released a low sigh of relief. “Good.”

“Enough about that. You said Gabby’s asleep?”

“Yeah. She was hysterical. I had my doctor come over and give her a light sedative. She ended up crying herself to sleep. I carried her to her room a little while ago. I’ll make sure I keep an eye on her tonight. We’ll fly out to Vegas tomorrow.”

“Thank you. You don’t know how much I appreciate you being there and taking care of her.”

“We’ll get her through this, Darrell. It’s just going to take some time. I plan on lighting a fire under the police’s ass when I get there,” he added in a chilling voice. “They can just abandon this idiotic idea that you killed Tina, and start looking for the person responsible.”

“Yeah, they’d just love to see you,” Darrell said sarcastically. He told Lorenzo about the detectives’ interest in the Pattels.

Lorenzo immediately dismissed the policemen’s concern as inconsequential. “I’m not worried. We’ve always been on the authorities’ radar. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” Sensing there was something Darrell was holding back, Lorenzo asked, “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”

The corner of Darrell’s mouth lifted in a quick half-smile. “Think you gettin’ to know me, huh?”

“Yeah. Maybe a little. What’s up?”

“Remember how Tina told us she wanted to tell us something about Joseph and Isaac?”

“Yeah. I asked Pop about it, but he just blew it off, said it was a last ditch attempt by Tina to cause trouble.”

“Did you expect him to say anything else other than that?” Darrell said with disdain.

“Why?” Lorenzo asked hesitantly. “Did you find out something?”

“No, but now, I just…” Darrell swallowed a pang of regret. “I wish I had let her explain. She kept saying it was something we should know. Something that would change everything, and that they would do whatever it took to stop the information from coming out. ”

“Wait. Are you saying you think my–
our
– father and Uncle Joseph had something to do with Tina’s death?”

Darrell heard the disbelief in Lorenzo’s voice. For some reason, it rubbed him the wrong got damn way. “You don’t think it’s strange that one minute Tina is desperate to tell us a secret she says Isaac and Joseph have guarded for decades, then a few months later she’s dead?”

“Darrell, I know you don’t have the highest opinion of my father, but–”

“Lorenzo, come
on
! She left town because of them.”

“After she sold her own son and tried to auction off her other one!” Lorenzo snapped harshly. “D., it’s tragic what happened. It is. But let’s not go whitewashing things. Tina was far from innocent. Who’s to say she wasn’t feeding you another bunch of lies like she did before?”

Darrell’s voice was deadly cold. “Whether she was or wasn’t, I’m telling you now, it ain’t gon be nice if I find out your father and uncle had something to do with her death.”

Lorenzo kept his voice even as he tried to reason with Darrell. “I know you’re upset. You might not believe me, but so am I. Be that as it may, you can’t just ignore everything we found out about her, or ignore the way she’s treated you your entire life.”

“That doesn’t mean I wanted her dead!” Darrell’s chest heaved. He was angry, but mostly with himself. He couldn’t get over the fact that he should’ve handled everything differently. Maybe if he had…

Darrell shook his head. He couldn’t think about that right now. Instead, he directed his anger towards Lorenzo. “Isaac Pattel is nothing to me, you understand what I’m sayin’? Nothing. If he and his brother are responsible for this, they
will
pay for it. I
promise
you that.”

“And you think me or my cousins will just stand aside and let that happen, D.?” An underlying layer of steel threaded its way through Lorenzo’s voice, but there was also pain. He’d come to love his brother as much as he did the rest of his family, but what Darrell was talking about doing…

“So even if it turns out to be true, it won’t change your position?”

Lorenzo’s answer was a simple one. “He’s my father. I would do no less to protect you if I had to.”

“But not your own mother.” Darrell’s laugh was harsh and bitter. “A Pattel through and through, huh?”

“Always, brother.” It was something he would never apologize for.

Lorenzo’s tone left little doubt that he meant it with everything in him. It also held a hint of sadness. They’d been kept apart all their lives, robbed of the chance to grow up as brothers, and it looked as if things would remain that way. They both knew something had just changed between them, and if Darrell’s suspicion turned out to be true, there was no way they would be able to bridge the gap that was slowly widening, because neither of them were giving in when it came to this. The words etched on his and the chests of the other Pattel men were more than just meaningless tattoos. Family would
always
be put above all else. Darrell clearly didn’t want to acknowledge it, but he was apart of that family now as well, which meant the Pattels would close ranks and protect him whether he wanted them to or not.

“When are you bringing my sister home?”

Lorenzo heard the distance in Darrell’s voice. “We should make it to Vegas around ten in the morning. Look, Darrell–”

“You plannin’ on stayin’ for the funeral or are you goin’ back to New York?” Darrell asked sharply.

Lorenzo’s temper exploded. “What in the hell do you think? Tha’ fuck kinda question is that?”

“I don’t know where your head is, Renzo. Tina may have been many things, but never once did I wish for something like this to happen to her. Can all of the Pattels say the same?”

“Got dammit, D.!”

Darrell hung up in the middle of Lorenzo’s angry rant. Heart thumping in his chest he paced the length of the room, trying to calm down, trying to block out the image of Tina lying on that slab in the morgue.

Grabbing the back of his neck, he closed his eyes tightly. The last couple of times he’d seen her, he’d been so damned angry. And yes, cruel. That was the worst part. The last words he’d said to her had been mean and ugly and threatening. Now it was too late to take them back.