He picked up on the third ring. "Brenda? Are you okay?"

"Not at the moment, but I have hope," I told him. "Kev, I have some important information about the case."

He sighed. "What is it?"

I was pacing Heather's kitchen, but his sigh made me stop. "If you don't want it I won't tell you. If you don't want to keep working on this case with me, just say-"

"It's not that," he said hurriedly. "You caught me at a bad time. Besides, I'm surprised you still want to see this whole thing through since Ben-" He cut himself off.

"You can say it, you know. I'm okay right now. I've had time to come to terms with everything." I rubbed my face.

"You can see why I'm surprised."

"I can, but, Kev, Rob still committed fraud. I can't just let that go, not now. If I didn't do anything to nail him I'd feel awful, like I aided a criminal."

"I get that." Some soft voices spoke to Kev and he said something muffled back. "I've got to go soon, but tell me what you found. Quickly."

"First, did Rob say he was home with his daughter all night?"

"Um, he said that he picked his daughter up from school and stayed home with her until the robbery because she was sick, at which point he dropped her off at her aunt's house and went to the station. Why? Do you know the aunt?"

"Kev, the aunt is Louis' wife. We've been over this. Louis was Rob's step-brother, and she says that the girl was here since after school and she was never sick."

"Doesn't surprise me, honestly. He took the money, cried theft, pressed charges against Ben, and now he lied about his daughter. What can I do about it?"

"Interview her, question her - something. You're the officer here, you know."

"I really have to go now, Brenda. I'll do something tomorrow, okay? Just, I don't know, don't do something as stupid as what you did this morning." He hung up.

I sighed and texted Jimmy, telling him that I was fine and I'd meet him for breakfast at the diner in the morning. With that, I walked out of the kitchen and rejoined the family in the den. Leigh was standing up, holding some toy above the heads of the boys, while Heather was telling her to share with them. 

No one noticed as I sat down and just watched and listened. They were so much more like what I felt a family should be like than what my own was. It was almost annoying. Right then, it was grating. I was annoyed that Kev wasn't going to do anything now, even though I knew he'd have to wait since it was already nearly time for them to go home. 

The light in the room had grown dim, and I realized that the sun was setting. I stood, happy for an excuse to get out of there - I suddenly couldn't take this happy family. 

"I should be getting on back to Lilly," I told Heather.

"All right, then," she said as she stood. We walked to the door and I turned to her. 

"Thank you so much, Heather." We hugged once. "I really appreciate it. I haven't exactly had a good day."

"I heard," she said.

My heart picked up. "You did?" I somehow managed a calm voice. 

She nodded. "Rob's wife said he'd caught you in his office today when she dropped Leigh off."

I nodded, swallowing. "Yeah. It was a stupid thing to do."

She touched my shoulder and I looked at her, unable to push away the sudden sadness that was filling me up. "Brenda, you're not like your brother or your father. Stop doing things that make you seem like you are. You're a wonderful person. Okay?" I nodded. "Okay. Now, go and see that boyfriend of yours and set things right between you. Remember that for a relationship to work there have to be compromises on both sides, not just his or just yours. Love can also blind you to a lot of things, so make sure it's not something that's really serious." Her eyes softened. "Are you two in love?"

I gave her a tiny smile. "I am. I love him."

"What about him?"

What about him? I'd been trying to puzzle that out along with everything else, and I was making less progress on deciphering his feelings than trying to figure why my brother did it. I swallowed and for the first time voiced a decision I'd made in my heart. "I don't know, but I'll know soon."

She smiled at me. "I hope it goes well for you."

"Thanks. Me, too." I took a deep breath and opened the door. "I'll see you later." 

Once I was on the street, walking home, I began to realize I didn't want to see Ben. I didn't want to see Lilly. I wasn't sure I'd be able to look either of them in the eyes, not knowing what I do. I knew what Ben did, and I'd told the police. Not that they could really do anything about it. Not at the moment, that is. I wasn't sure how I could get them to search Rob's office. 

It was completely dark by the time I was opening the front door of my brother's house. Lilly was waiting for me in the kitchen. She called me when she heard me put my board down, so I went into the kitchen to see her. "Hey," I said.

She studied me for a long moment. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, my eyes slipping from hers as a wave of guilt crashed over me. "I'm fine. Um, I missed dinner, didn't I?"

"I'm not cooking tonight. Ben said he wanted to take you somewhere."

I froze. "No, that's okay. I'm not really hungry. In fact, I'm exhausted and I think I'm going to bed. It's been a long day."

"He said he wanted to do it to apologize for not giving you all of your money back to you," she said, sounding suspicious. Or was I imagining that?

My head snapped up as I realized what she said. "If he was really sorry, he'd just give me money instead of using money to apologize. I mean really." I fought the scowl that wanted to find a place on my face. "I'm too tired, anyway." I went to my room, ignoring Lilly trying to stop me. On any other day I knew I'd have accepted it, if for no other reason than to spend time with my big brother because I love him to death.

But, tonight, now, I knew I wouldn't be able to look him in the eye. 

I wanted to slam my door as hard as I could, but I didn't. I wanted to appear more mature than that, so I closed it quietly and locked it. Images from the video began running through my head and my brother's voice began looping. All I could hear was that one phrase that proved he was in on it: "Where's my cut?"

That was the last bit of evidence that he did it. There was no more hoping he wasn't guilty. No more hoping things would turn out well for him. Nothing. Nothing besides the facts I saw with my own eyes: he was guilty. He may not have actually taken the money out of the safe himself, but he was an accomplice. He helped Rob commit fraud. I saw it. It was as real as seeing his kindness, his honesty, his arrest, his goodness.

I sat on my bed and tried to hold back the tears that wanted to spill out. While I may have been able to get over the initial shock, I was far from okay. I wasn't going to be okay. Not now, maybe not ever. It was as bad as when I lost my dad to that car crash because Ben helped to raise me as much as he did. The two people who meant the most to me were as good as gone. All I had now were Lilly and Jimmy. 

A few minutes later someone knocked on my door. I quickly wiped my face with my coat sleeves and called, "What?"

"Can I come in?" Ben asked timidly.

I closed my eyes. I recognized the voice he was using. He only pulled it out when he was scared of doing something or talking to someone. The idea that my brother was scared of me was all it took for me to stand up, unlock my door, and let him in.

He sat on the corner of my bed and just looked at me. I stood in my open doorway with my head down, not really wanting to look at him. The awkward silence between us went on for a long while. He finally broke it. "Close the door, Brenda," he said.

I raised my head and looked at the bed just to the left of him. "Why?"

"I want to talk and I don't want Lilly to hear us. Why do you think I wanted to go somewhere else with you?"

I frowned, but I closed the door like he wanted. "What now?"

"I know you know, Brenda." I just stared at the bed, not looking at him and no expression on my face. "Say something. Please."

I shook my head. "You admitting to it doesn't change anything, you know. You still did it. You helped Rob commit fraud for a cut of the money."

"I had a reason for doing it. We need the money, Brenda. We were going to lose the house!"

"The house is paid for, though. You paid for it with the money you got from your book. You said so."

He shook his head. "I paid for our cars, but I told Dad that so he wouldn't worry about us. Our car payments were about to do us in, so I took care of that. Even with both of us working we weren't making enough. Lilly's schedule was changed to a few days a week instead of full time and with that came a pay cut. Rob was having trouble so he cut my pay a little, but enough to make a difference. We were back in the same boat we were in before except this time we were set to lose the house."

During this whole speech I was becoming more and more angry. "Right. So you didn't have enough money. That's why you helped a guy who set you up to take the fall and lost that job. The bad name you made for yourself reached your wife's boss and he fired her, so now you have no income at all except for the odd royalty check. Great plan Ben. Amazing, really."

He shook his head. "I never meant for any of that to happen!"

My eyes snapped to him, anger finally threatening to take over. I was barely able to hold it back. "Great! That makes everything better!" I paced to my desk. "I'm sure Dad's sorry too, but you know what?" I turned to him with a glare. "Louis is still dead. His car is still totaled. He's still on trial for manslaughter. Heather still has to raise two kids on her own. A lot of good sorry does after everything is said and done."

By this point, Ben's head was hung and he was staring at his shoes. "I'm sorry, Brenda, and it doesn't matter to me if nothing changes. I just wish I could go back and change-"

"But you can't, can you? Just stop, please." I could feel the angry tears coming on, hating every single one because I hated crying. "I've been working with Officer Jarvis to do some actual investigating because the two officers who arrested you aren't doing their jobs." Ben's head snapped up so fast I vaguely wondered if he gave himself whiplash. "I'm going to see this through to the end, Ben, no matter what. You're not going to stop me."

He stood, the expression on his face gone. For the first time in my life I was actually scared of my brother. "You're going to work against me?"

I nodded, trying to come across confident.

"I'm not going down without a fight."

"What do you mean?" I said, a slight wobble in my voice.

Something flickered in his eyes briefly, but then it was gone. "I don't want to hurt you, Brenda."

"Why would you hurt me?" I was barely able to keep the sudden fear out of my face and voice. 

"Stop trying to put me and Rob away, and I won't." With those words, he turned and left my room. 

I was frozen to the spot, but the sound of the front door slamming thawed me. I sank to the floor and drew my knees to my chest.

Had Ben really just threatened me?