My Brother's Keeper

Chapter Two

I was walking home when a car pulled up beside me. I looked over at with a raised eyebrow. It was the same boy from earlier today. I think he said his name was Tremaine. I rolled my eyes.

"Victoria." he said. I ignored him. Then after a couple of seconds, I heard him whisper. Then silence.

"Vickie." I heard my brother say. I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked over at the car.

"Danny?" I asked.

"Vickie, this is my friend, please, just listen to what he says. I need your help and he is going to help you, help me."

"If I should trust him, and this isn't a recording, what did I want to name my child if I had a daughter?" My brother laughed.

"You want to name her Catalina, after your favorite salad dressing." My breathing hitched. I shook my head.

"How many kids do I want?"

"2. A boy and a girl." Tears started sliding down my cheek.

"This is to really test to see if it's a recording, how did I break my nose when I was younger and what did Mommy do when I tried to tell her?"

"You fell off the swing and Mommy screamed because she hates seeing blood. Vickie, it's me. It's not a recording." The back window rolled down to show my brother sitting there smiling.

"Danny?" he opened the door and motioned for me to come over to him. I walked towards him and gave him a huge hug. Crying. I haven't seen my brother since the trial.

"Vickie." I pulled away. "How have you been?"

"I was horrible but I'm better now."

"I know the feeling." he smiled. "I missed you little sis."

"What? How? Does Mommy know?"

"I got my connections. But, I have to talk to you. I need you to do something."

"What?"

"Can you get in the car?"

"Why?"

"We need to talk." he said. I rolled my eyes. "Stop rolling your eyes. They gon end up breaking." he said like he always told me when we were younger.

"Slide over." I said. He slid over and I got in. The man started driving. I looked over at Danny. "So, what do you want?"

"Well, for starters, I'm in jail for something I didn't do."

"Yeah, we established that 2 and a half years ago."

"Can I finish my story, Vickie? Dang."

"Sorry, go ahead."

"So, I've been trying to have a retrial. But I need evidence."

"OK?"

"I need you to collect evidence. To go back and look at all of the evidence the police got and go and find your own evidence. Like, talk to all the people that were there that night with us. Get them to tell you what they remembered from that night. Especially ask them about who they saw with Vanessa." I nodded. "You're my only hope, Vickie. Please, I don't want to be in jail longer than this now. And I know you don't want me in jail any longer."

"OK. I'll help you."

"Yay." he kissed my cheek. "Thank you baby sis. You won't regret it."

"One question though, how the hell am I supposed to get in those files from your trial? The case is closed."

"I was hoping you would be able to find that out. The only thing I can actually help you with is naming the people that were at the party and the numbers you can reach them at. I mean, as long as they didn't change their numbers." I sighed.

"So, basically, I have to start from the beginning?"

"Yeah, but I know you got this, Vic. You're smart as hell and you can do anything you put your mind to."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Look, I believe in you. If I didn't, would I have asked you?"

"I mean, you literally have no other choice but to ask me. Who else were you going to ask?"

"You right." I looked out the window as we pulled up to the house. "Wow, this house looks a lot different than what I remembered." Danny said.

"Yeah. Mommy, painted the house last year."

"It looks nice." I smiled. "I'mma call you every day at 5 to see what new information you got. OK?"

"Whatever you say." I got out the car and looked back at Danny. "I'm happy that I got to see you today. I missed you a lot."

"Same here. Now go before I'm late getting back to the prison. I love you."

"I love you too." I ran up to the house then I waved as they drove off. I closed the door then started to go upstairs when my mother called my name. I looked over at her. "Yes ma'am?"

"Who was that?" she asked. I didn't want to lie but I had to. I mean, I don't think Danny wants her to know that he isn't doing what he supposed to be doing.

"Uh, a friend. They offered to drive me home because it looked like it was going to rain." she looked out the window then back at me.

"Mmm hmm. OK." she looked back at the tv. I quickly ran up the steps before she could ask me anything else. As soon as I got in my room, I turned on my laptop. I sat down in front of it and opened Google.

Daniel Xavier Wilson

I stared at it for a couple of seconds before pressing the Enter button.

A bunch of pages popped up instantly. The first one was an article about what they think he did. I clicked on it in order to sort of refresh my memory of what happened. After the trial, I tried to forget about what happened.

A well-known name and face around the Pine Haven community, Daniel Xavier Wilson has been indicted on the murder of 17-year-old Vanessa Carlson. He was the last known person to have seen her alive on the night that she was brutally murdered at a high school party.

I rolled my eyes and kept reading the article.

Vanessa was stabbed 45 times in the chest and abdominal area. A weapon was found but it was never proven to be the actual murder weapon. It didn't have blood on it or the suspect's fingerprints.

I heard a knock at my door. I looked over at it as it opened. My mother stood there with a smile on her face.

"Are you going to eat today?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm not hungry." I admitted. Her smiled dropped.

"Are you sure? Did you even eat today?"

"Yes ma'am." I lied. She stared at me for a second and then nodded.

"When you get hungry, I'll put a plate in the microwave for you." She closed the door as she walked out. I sat there for a second and then kept searching for more information.