Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,52
He’d confessed? To what? He hadn’t done anything except beat Josh up. However, since the cops hadn’t stormed our house and arrested me yet, I had a sudden stomach-churning fear that Ramsey’s confession wasn’t going to match mine at all.
The reporter was still talking when I sprinted from the house.
My brother was my hero.
He had kissed every skinned knee I’d ever gotten.
He’d held me every night after our mom left.
And he went out of his way to protect me from our father’s rage.
In all the ways that mattered, I was alive because of Ramsey.
Letting him take the fall for a crime I’d committed wasn’t going to be the way I repaid him.
Arms swinging, legs pumping, pulse thundering in my ears, I sprinted to the police station. I couldn’t breathe when I got there, but in my desperation, air was inconsequential.
“I did it!” I confessed, physically dropping to my knees in front of a young, uniformed officer. I wasn’t begging; I just no longer had the ability to stand. “My brother didn’t do it. It was me. I did it. I killed Josh Caskey.”
The cop stared at me with a bored glare. “Girl, get up off your knees. He already signed the confession.”
I folded my hands in prayer. “Arrest me. Arrest me please. I’m begging you. Just don't take him from me.”
Grabbing my arm, the slender officer helped me to my feet. “Okay, okay. Relax. You want to make a statement about what you think happened to Josh?”
I wanted to make every statement about what I knew happened to Josh as long as it led to Ramsey being released. “Yes. I just need someone to listen. It’s not what it looks like.”
Clovert was small, the police force even smaller, but there was another officer nearby who sauntered over. The small silver tag on his uniform read Perry. “Nelson,” he said to the young officer, “we don’t need a damn statement. We’ve got a motive, a confession, and charges filed. Don’t you dare put more paperwork on my desk about this.”
Panic built. “You have the wrong person. Ramsey didn’t do this!”
Officer Perry, with his yellow stained teeth and gray hair, cocked his head. “And you expect me to believe you did? I was the first officer on the scene. We had a dead body and your brother’s car covered in blood. Where the hell were you?”
“I ran home. I…” My stomach rolled at the memory. “I…” Oh, God, where were the words? I couldn’t tell them Ramsey told me to leave. It would make him an accessory or something. No. If I was going to get him out of there, this had to be all about me even when it seemed irrational. “I did it. I swear. You have to believe me.”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Get outta here, girl. Go home. Your brother’s getting locked up for a long time. Don’t tie yourself to a sinking ship.”
"He’s all I have left! You don’t understand. Josh did things to me. And to Thea. And… And…” My breathing stammered.
There was a long silence while I tried to catch my breath, and the two men exchanged pointed glances. Officer Perry shook his head while Officer Nelson looked down at his shoes and scratched the back of his neck.
Officer Perry spoke first. “All right now. That’s enough of that.” He rested a hand on the backstrap of the gun on his hip. “If you quiet down and stop all this nonsense, I might be able to let you see him for a few minutes before transport gets here to take him over to the county jail.”
My back shot straight, and my lungs filled with what felt like my first ever breath of air.
He was still there. Ramsey was still there.
He’d know what to do.
He always knew what to do.
“Okay. Okay. I can do that.” Frantic, I started wiping away my tears and willed the shaking in my hands to still. I smoothed my T-shirt down and tried to hide the evidence of how I was tearing apart at the seams.
The men exchanged mumbles I couldn’t quite make out, and then young Officer Nelson led me down an empty hall, florescent lights humming above us.
“You got about five minutes, so make it quick,” he said, swinging a door open.
He might have said something else, but my eyes, mind, and heart homed in on my brother sitting on a metal chair, both of his hands cuffed to the table.
“Nora,” he breathed, shooting to his