FOUR
“YOU’RE NOT STAYING HERE.”
Naomi
“You must be Naomi,” the cop said.
I might have been mid-panic attack, but I kind of liked the way he said my name in a friendly drawl.
Knox apparently did not like it because he was suddenly placing his muscled bulk directly in front of me, feet planted wide, arms crossed.
“I am,” I said, peering around Knox. The oaf didn’t budge when I nudged him in the back.
The man looked back to Knox, and whatever he saw there had him grinning.
“I’m chief of police around here, but you can call me Nash. It’s real nice to meet you, Naomi. Sorry it’s under these circumstances. Mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“Um. Okay,” I said, suddenly wishing I would have taken a moment to wash my face and fix my hair. I probably looked like a deranged, zombie bridesmaid.
“Why don’t we have ourselves a chat out in the parking lot,” Nash said with a jerk of his head.
Waylay’s attention was back on the movie as she sipped lime green sugar.
“Sure.” I followed him out and was surprised when Knox joined us. He headed right over to Nash’s SUV, which read Knockemout Police down the side, and leaned belligerently against the hood.
“You’re not necessary for this part,” Nash told him.
Knox bared his teeth. “You want me to leave, gonna have to make me.”
“I’m sorry. He’s been like this all morning,” I explained to Nash.
“Honey, he’s been like this his entire life,” the chief countered.
It didn’t hit me until they turned identical glares on each other. “You’re brothers, aren’t you?”
“No shit,” Knox grumbled.
“Sure are,” Nash said, turning his full wattage grin on me. “I’m the good one.”
“Just do your fucking job,” Knox said.
“Oh, now you want me to do my job. You can see how I’d be confused since—”
“Gentlemen,” I cut in. This was going nowhere fast. I didn’t have the energy to diffuse the tension between the brothers, and we had more important concerns. “I don’t mean to overstep. But can we get to the part about my sister?” I suggested.
“I think that’s a fine idea, Naomi,” Nash said, winking as he pulled out a notebook.
Knox growled.
“Let’s get your statement, and then we’ll figure out what needs to happen next.”
A man with a plan and a smile. He was certainly more pleasant than his brother.
“You’re saying I can just take possession of a human being?” I clarified a few minutes later. I really needed more coffee. My cognitive abilities were fading fast.
“Well, I wouldn’t advise on referring to it as ‘taking possession.’ But in Virginia, kinship care is a way for kids to stay with a family member as guardian when they can’t be with their own parents.”
I might have been imagining it, but I thought I saw a guarded look pass between the brothers.