“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a grin. “Tell me the rest. What happened when you got back?”
They told him the rest of the story. After Wyatt had explained the details of the shooting, Nova just pushed his empty plate aside and dropped his head to the table. He folded his hands together behind his neck as if deep in thought.
“This is a huge friggin’ problem, Conner,” he mumbled against the wood. “There are a lot of loose ends there. If you hadn’t done what you did when you were younger, we could get you off on technicalities, but with that—”
“I know.” Wyatt shook his head. “I’m not just losing my job; I’m to going to jail. Vaughn had every right to fear for his safety. Pulling a gun on me was self-defense. I had very real motivation to kill him.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you shoot him a second time? Just kill him and then make the call to dispatch. It would’ve solved your problem. Dead men don’t tell tales. A sheriff’s word would’ve been more than good enough. Now you got him alive and likely to run his mouth.”
“That’s great advice now. Thanks,” Wyatt said sarcastically. “I know I should’ve killed him. I’ve thought ’bout it myself, but at the time I was in cop mode. Maybe when I was younger, I would’ve done it, but I’ve been sheriff for a long time. It’s sorta ingrained.”
“Friggin’ hick integrity.” Nova was still speaking with his face pressed against the table. “You said there was a witness to the first incident. What’s his name?”
“Jason Wiltkins.”
“And Tabitha’s brother, Brett. He’s the only other person who knows about it?”
“Clay knows. Jules knows.”
“Okay.” Nova lifted his head and rubbed a hand over his face. “I really wish you had coffee. I got a headache.”
“Sorry,” Tabitha whispered, feeling guilty now that she’d thrown it away. She probably should’ve thought to keep some for company.
Nova pushed away from the table and stood. He paced and said something in Italian, as if speaking to himself.
“What’s that?” Wyatt leaned forward with a scowl. “You said Tino’s name in there? Did you tell him I was in trouble?”
“You think the DOJ can walk into the hospital and ask to speak with you, and it wouldn’t set off every paranoid sensor Tino has? He started hounding me for information the second we were alone. He knows you’re in trouble. They all do to an extent.”
“No one’s told Jules, have they?” Wyatt asked in horror.
“No, Jules and Romeo don’t know anything.” Nova shook his head. “They got enough to deal with right now.”
Wyatt sighed, looking appeased. “So that’s it. The loophole man doesn’t have an answer. I might as well just make the call and face the music.”
“I didn’t say that,” Nova argued. “It’s just more complicated than I anticipated.”
“More complicated?” Wyatt repeated in disbelief. “I’m fucked, Moretti. I know that. There’s no solution for this problem. I knew it when I let you sit at this table and start asking questions.”
“There’s always a solution.” Nova arched an eyebrow at him. “It’s just way outside your moral compass. I was hoping to avoid that.”
“No,” Wyatt growled. “No fucking way. I give your brother shit all the time about this mafia crap, and now you think I’m gonna go along with you killing someone in cold blood—”
“He raped your wife, Conner.” Nova’s scowl became dangerous once more. “Get over your ethical bullshit.”
“Get the fuck out of my house.” Wyatt pointed to the door.
“I’m not gonna shoot him,” Nova said rather than leave. “That’s not my style. Very sloppy. We don’t need this prick dead. We just need to make sure he doesn’t talk to the DOJ.”
“So what?” Wyatt let out an incredulous laugh. “You’re gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse?”
Nova quirked an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything.
“Look, he’s an addict. He’s unstable,” Wyatt went on. “It’s not going to work, and getting yourself involved with this will just make things difficult for you and my sister. I can deal with the consequences of my actions. I want you to forget we had this conversation.”
“Yeah, but see—” Nova held up his hands and gave Wyatt a bitter smile. “I don’t forget things, and right now the only real issue is the statement you’re going to make to the DOJ. You’ve got a fuckload of loose ends, so let’s go over them.”
“Moretti—”
“What do you have to lose by having a foolproof statement? We’ll forget about the rest of it until later. Let’s just worry about your story.” Nova rubbed at the back of his neck again. “You were on the way to your sister’s house. She was in labor. You picked up Clay on the way. You took Harkin road rather than—”
“That’s way out of the way,” Wyatt argued.
“It doesn’t matter. So you went outta the way. You took the time to drive by the bar to make sure there were no drunk assholes out on the road. It was three o’clock. Last call. You were just double-checking to make sure your town was safe.”
“While my sister was bleeding out?” Wyatt arched an eyebrow at him. “No one’s gonna buy that.”
“She wasn’t in distress yet. She just had some pains, and you wanted to be there in case they needed to get to the hospital.”
Wyatt picked the DOJ card up off the table and tapped it against the wood as if considering it. “I guess that would make sense. I’ve been after drunk drivers for a few years now. Everyone knows it.”
“Perfect.” Nova looked pleased with that development. “You saw him swerving. You made the traffic stop. He pulled a gun. You shot him. That’s it. That’s what happened, Conner.”
“But that’s not what happened. He wasn’t swerving.”
“Yes, he was.” Nova raised his eyebrows. “He was all over the road. You had an obligation to pull him over. I saw his numbers while I was in the ICU. He was above the legal limit.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“Just hanging out at the nurses’ station.”
Wyatt grunted in shock. “You hit on the nurses to get his blood alcohol limits?”
“You highly underestimate me.” Nova pulled back at the insult. “He’s in ICU. Jules is too. So I spent a few hours talking to a couple of the nurses until I saw the numbers on the screen. I didn’t have to ask. That’s a loose end. We don’t like loose ends. Now tell me your story again.”
Tabitha looked to Wyatt, who seemed to be debating with himself before he shrugged as if he had nothing to lose. “I was on the way to my sister’s. I picked up my friend Clay.”
“Why’d you pick him up at three in the morning?” Nova barked, sounding like an investigator.
“He’s lived with us since me and Jules’s were teenagers. He’s like another brother to her. She wanted him there.”
“Okay, then why did you go by the bar?”
Wyatt flipped the card over in his hand, staring at it before he said, “I dunno; habit, I guess. It was on the way.”
“Not really,” Nova argued, his words still sharp as if he was looking for a lie. “It’s way outta the way.”
“Ever since I found that Johnson kid dead, I always drive by the bar if I can. I had time. She was just feeling a few pains.”
“Then why make the trip at all?”
“My brother-in-law’s been so stressed out. My sister’s been on bed rest. Clay and me figured we could give him a break if she had him up at three in the morning. Keep her company for a little while if it was just that false labor she’d been having for the past month.”