Page 164 of My Heart Still Beats
“So we pay him,” Braden says.
I drop my mouth open. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
“Don’t for a minute think I’m happy about this,” he says. “But it’s pennies to us, and—”
“And he’ll come back for more. He’ll want fifty next time. Then a hundred. It won’t stop, Bray. If we give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.” I shake my head vehemently. “No. That’s not how I want to handle this.”
“If the guy’s got a tooth—” Braden holds up the tooth on the chain I gave him.
“He doesn’t have it. We have it. And it means nothing if there’s no DNA on file to match it.”
“But the guy was a con. His DNA is on file somewhere.”
I sigh. “I know.”
“If we don’t pay him off and this gets to the media—”
“I know. So here’s what I want to do.” I run my fingers through my hair. “I’ve gone over and over this in my head, and there’s only one way to deal with it, especially now that Tessa’s involved.”
“Wait, wait, wait… How is Tessa involved?”
“Dirk’s brother David is a few years younger. He was a bartender in Jamaica.”
“The one with the light brown hair? Light brown eyes?”
“Yeah. I had him fired because he said some nasty things about her. Anyway, he wants Tessa, and Dirk somehow found out about Garrett Ramirez as well. So now that’s part of the deal. Not only do I have to pay up, but I’m supposed to get Tessa to drop all the charges against Garrett.”
“Oh, hell, no.”
“Exactly.”
Braden shakes his head. “Fuck.”
“I know. So I’m…” I draw in a breath. “I’m going to the DA, Bray. I’m going to confess, tell the whole truth. I’m no killer. That’s on Dirk. But I was there, and I helped hide the body. That’s on me.”
“Unless they find the body…”
“I know, and it’s long gone by now. No body, no charges. But we can get Dirk on blackmail. The problem is the news, Bray. It’s going to fuck us up.”
“Jesus fuck, Benji.”
“So as of now, I’m—”
Braden’s phone rings. “It’s Claire. She wouldn’t interrupt unless it was important.”
I’m not sure what could be more important right now, but I nod to my brother.
“Yes?” he says into the phone.
Pause.
“Really? And you haven’t heard anything?”
Pause.
“I’m on it. Thank you, Claire.”
“What’s that about?” I ask.
