Jake, I feel him go rigid.
“What are other options?” I ask.
Parker glances at Jake. “Taking into account the time lapsed since the crime and the circumstances, it is possible another party might be placed on probation. But this isn’t an answer or a guarantee I’m speaking of. We’re talking very hypothetically here, Rita,” Parker warns.
Ryan James steps in at this point and swivels his chair to Jake, noting Jake’s indignation. “Is there something you’d like to share with us?” With Ryan’s back to me, I glance over his shoulder to find Jake staring across the table, eyes not necessarily on Parker but the wall behind her. He wants to be free. He wants to be cleared of the scar on his record and the dirt on his name, but the way Jake holds himself—stiff and tense—he’s going to protect Nolan at all costs. It’s written in his body language. His loyalty is something I love about him, but in this situation, I’m not liking it.
“I have nothing to share.” His elbows rest on the table, and his fingertips steeple, pressing them against his lips.
“Jake,” I whisper, and Ryan turns his chair back in the direction of Parker.
“Are you certain?” Parker prompts. Parker admitted herself she never felt right about how Jake’s case was handled or sentenced. When I reached out to her with the possibility of information to exonerate him, she was willing to listen. The warehouse fires were considered inconclusive so only the high school is on Jake’s record along with Ian’s death. I didn’t want Jake to continue to suffer with these facts when it isn’t his cross to bear. He hadn’t committed a crime, but he still held the guilt that someone had, and now he knows who.
Jake nods in answer to Parker, still steepling his fingers. Parker glances at me. As we had spoken before this meeting, I warned her that Jake might actually resist sharing information. She’d also told me that if he didn’t speak up, she couldn’t do anything to help him. “Then if you’ll excuse me, I’m finished here.”
I wait for her exit before turning to Officer James. “I’m sorry I dragged you here,” I say to him. Ryan turns from me to Jake and back.
“It was worth a shot. I can’t make you talk, but I would have offered up something,” Ryan says. “Then again, it’s your life, man, and you’re so close to the end of this sentence.”
“Am I free to leave?” Jake asks, sounding a bit belligerent toward his parole officer.
“Free to leave this room, yes,” Ryan states, and Jake hastily stands without a glance back at me.
“Well, that imploded,” I state, scoffing at my failed attempt to right a wrong for the man I love who doesn’t love me.
Ryan shakes his head. “We see things like this all the time. Fear of giving up someone else. Retribution if he did.”
I sigh as I doubt this case is that devious. What could Nolan possibly do next to his brother? Ryan slowly rises and then turns to shake my hand.
“It was worth a shot,” I mumble.
Ryan narrows his eyes at me. “Why do you care?” His question isn’t intended to be derogatory. He’s simply curious, and I have to wonder myself. Why did I invest the time and energy into this risk when Jake clearly doesn’t want to be set free? He wants to serve his time and leave his brother behind, just like he’ll leave me.
25
Jake
As I exit the meeting room, I’m fuming. That insufferable woman. Anger nearly steams off my body. Walking away from Rita’s bed the other morning had been difficult enough. I wanted nothing more than to stay as she invited, but I needed to get my head clear and organize a plan. I needed to take steps to move forward, as she was always stating. I needed time to recover from what Nolan had done to me.
Still, I don’t know why Rita has to be so meddlesome. She should have asked me what I wanted to do. She should have talked to me. Then again, I’m the one who hadn’t answered her texts. I’m also the one who told her I was leaving Vermont. I had to get away from this place, and that presently includes her. Huffing out into the hallway and down a corridor, I see a familiar wheelchair and a woman next to my brother.
“Nolan?” My heart races double time at my brother in his seat. “What are you doing here?” I don’t