They’ve had to take extra loans and a second mortgage on the house and work more hours to pay for the legal stuff.”
Her voice tightened, somewhere between anger, frustration and grief. “But Derek didn’t have an alibi that night. And he needed something airtight. Something documented. So the lawyers did some digging and realized that I was livestreaming on Twitch the evening in question. Exactly when the whole thing went down…” She took in another ragged breath, and I sat up, concerned. “So they said that I could be an important witness if I spoke up and swore that Derek was in the house with me all night. Our rooms at home are right across the hall from each other. In theory, I would have been able to see him—or evidence he was there—while I was livestreaming.”
“But he wasn’t there…” I said between clenched teeth, the sinking in my gut telling me clearly where this was going.
“He wasn’t there. In fact I didn’t see him the entire day from the time I got off work in the morning—I was working a graveyard shift job then. I’d come home, eat and then crash until mid afternoon usually. Then I’d get up, do stuff around the house or workout and get on my Twitch. Since I had that night off, my livestream went longer. I never saw Derek until the next day.”
“So of course the lawyers are pushing you to vouch for him.”
She shook her head. “They merely suggested it in a roundabout way. ‘If she were to tell the authorities he was with her all night…” sort of thing. But my parents clamped onto that and ran with it. They insisted that that’s what I needed to do.”
I blinked. “Oh yeah, no big deal, just perjure yourself.”
She reached up and scratched her jaw with a shaky hand, swallowing fiercely. If I didn’t know her better, I’d say she was close to tears, and it did something to me deep inside to see it. If her father were in the room right now, I’d probably punch the fucker. Her parents, the people whose job it was to look out for her instead expected her to put herself in legal danger to save her worthless brother’s skin.
“When I said I wouldn’t do it, they flipped out. My mum screamed at me and my dad threatened to take my car and my electronics away, my computer, everything. Mind you, I’d paid for almost all of it with my job. The only reason I was living at home was because I’d had to move out of my cheap student housing when I graduated. It costs a king’s fortune to live in Vancouver. I was planning to save up for my own place. It was the biggest mistake of my life, moving back home, because all the problems with Derek were still there and even worse.”
I sat up and took her hand, which was visibly shaking, and covered it with my own. “I’m sorry. That was incredibly shitty of them to put that pressure on you.”
“It’s the pattern of things that went on all throughout our lives once he started using. They always gave him a safe spot to land, no matter how bad the mistake. And it only enabled him to keep doing it. I put my foot down. And because he had some minor things on his record, if he got convicted, he’d likely get some real time in jail. The parents guilted me with that. ‘Do you want your brother to rot in prison? What kind of person are you? It’s just one quick thing to tell them and you can save him.’
“And the more I refused, the more they freaked and threatened. So finally I just grabbed a suitcase and packed it up one night and took off early in the morning when everyone was still sleeping. Then I got on a plane for LA.”
“So the letters from the lawyers… that’s them trying to get you to come back and testify?”
She nodded. “Yes, they want my deposition to provide his alibi. They hadn’t been able to find me for a while. Then somehow all of a sudden, the letters started showing up. I think they must have used an investigator to track me down.”
I blinked. “I’d lay down money they’re also the ones who tipped off US immigration about your work situation. The government had a flag on you when they ran your passport that day you came back into the country