Read Online Dread Champion by Brandilyn Collins - Free Book Online

course it is Mr. Breckshire’s job to continue painting those scenes in your heads throughout this trial.What I will ask is that you be suspicious and cautious of the picture he is presenting. You see, when it comes right down to it, the prosecution has very little proof. Much of his story hinges on a blouse. And a supposed confession of burying it.”
    The attorney said the word confession as if it held not the slightest weight. Brett cringed. He knew the weight of the word and it was heavier than lead. His shoulders nearly crushed beneath it.
    â€œDad, why?” he’d whispered that February afternoon as he faced his father in the tiny visiting room of the Salinas County jail. Brett had hulked toward the glass that separated them, his arms as stiff as his heart. He remembered how he’d heard the pulse beating in his head as he pressed the telephone into his ear. His father’s explanation about the blouse echoed through his mind like an avalanche through a canyon. His father, a man he’d barely recognized, had sunk into his battered wooden chair on the other side of the glass, a hand over his forehead. A long moment passed before he spoke into his receiver, his words distant and frail.
    â€œI didn’t mean to hit her.”
    So many words went through Brett’s head at once. He couldn’t speak.
    His father’s forehead wrinkled, the grooves down the sides of his mouth deepening. He looked exhausted, old. “I was drunk and she got me mad. …”
    The words cut through Brett like a knife. His muscles turned watery.Words fell from his lips in a guttural fury.“Dad,why did you tell them you buried the blouse? That’s just going to give them more ammunition against you!”He threw out his hands in despair, head tilting back as he breathed hard at the ceiling. Shock and anger and guilt raged through him in a confusing, nauseating flood.He opened his mouth and a low moan slipped out, resonating through his stretched vocal cords. Like a wounded puppet’s, his head dropped back down.
    â€œIt’ll be all right, Brett. It’ll be all right.” His dad leaned toward the glass. “Listen to me. They can’t keep me in here; that’s what Ter-rance says. They don’t have enough evidence.We’ll get through this. We have to.We’re all we’ve got right now.”
    Brett’s head shook back and forth, back and forth, his breaths coming in ragged puffs. The pain of the last four years welled within him. “You shouldn’t have married her in the first place, Dad; I told you that. She was selfish and greedy.” His lips pulled back as he locked eyes with his father.“And why did you have to drink so much? Why did you have to run around with all your girlfriends in front of Shawna like you were spitting in her face? Now all that’s going to come back and haunt you. They’ll use it as an excuse for you wanting your wife out of the way! Why didn’t you listen to me when I told you not to marry her?”
    How could you try to replace my real mother after her death, the mother Iloved so much? The unspoken words hung in his throat. Brett glared at his father and watched the man’s head draw back, hurt sinking his eyes into his head.
    â€œBrett, don’t,” his dad rasped. “You have to help me now. I need you.”
    Brett’s anger vaporized. He sucked in a breath, chest heaving. He’d waited all his life to hear those words from his father—always capable, in control. Now here they were, on this day, in this godforsaken room. The irony nearly squeezed his heart shut.
    Brett held up a palm against any further words.He couldn’t take any more. His father was in trouble, his father needed him, and all he was doing was blubbering about his own pain. Suddenly the walls closed in. Brett raked a hand across his chest, pulling his shirt away from his skin. “This place is awful; we have to get