“Adam, please.” Patrick placed a hand on his arm. “He’s gone.”
Tears ran down his face. “No. It’s not right. He’s so young.”
Patrick slid an arm around him, and Adam knew his friend was thinking of his own son, PJ, and how it could have been him. If only Manny’d had someone to talk to.…He drew in a shaky breath and stepped away from Patrick, took the oxygen mask off Manny’s face, and gave it back to a subdued Chambers. They turned and left the room, and the mother began to shriek at the sight of their faces.
“What’s wrong?”
Behind him, he heard Chambers calling the incident in, asking for the police and the medical examiner’s office to come.
“Ma’am. Is there anyone you can call to be with you? Is Manny’s father available?”
Instead of answering, she pushed past him and began screaming when she entered the room and saw her son.
“No, oh my God. Don’t leave him. Why aren’t you helping him?” She ran back out and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back inside the bedroom. “Help him, damn you.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” The words tasted like sawdust in his mouth, and all he could do was hold her when she collapsed in his arms. In the distance he heard the wail of a police siren.
Later that afternoon, while hunched over a cold cup of coffee in the break room, Adam still heard her painful cries. The scars on his soul wouldn’t ever heal as long as things like he’d witnessed today kept happening. People kept saying “love is the answer,” but maybe they needed to start listening to the questions. Manny’s mother loved him. It just wasn’t enough.
“You okay?” A subdued Patrick slid into the seat next to him. “I was talking to PJ. I had to tell him that I loved him and that no matter what, we’ll always be there for him.”
Unable to speak, Adam merely nodded. At the sound of footsteps at the door, he glanced up.
“Barton? Lieutenant wants you.” Chambers waited by the entrance.
Uneasiness seeped through him. “Me?” He glanced over to Patrick, who gave him a grim, tight smile. “Do you know what it’s about?”
“Better go and talk to him. It’ll be okay.”
With Patrick’s ominous words playing in his ear, Adam followed behind Chambers, who led him to the lieutenant’s office. Chambers knocked once on the closed door.
“Come.”
Ronnie gave him a quick smile and a pat on the back. “It’ll be fine.” He opened the door. “I have Barton for you, sir.”
“Thanks.”
Ronnie stepped aside, and Adam entered the room where Lt. Christopher Dixon sat unsmiling behind his metal desk. Somber brown eyes regarded Adam steadily, giving no hint as to why Adam stood before him. A cold nervous sweat broke out over Adam’s body.
“Lieutenant, sir.”
“Adam, sit down.”
Uh-oh.Being called by your first name was never a good sign.
“Thank you, sir.” He sat stiffly in the hardback chair.
“I hear you had a rough call this afternoon. Teenage suicide.”
“Yes.” Fearful of crying in front of Dixon, Adam blinked rapidly. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“That’s not what I heard.” The stern lines in his face softening, Dixon exhaled sharply. “Both Chambers and Reilley were impressed with your compassion and strength. But I know what seeing something like that does to a person.”
Adam’s gaze shot up to meet Dixon’s. “You do?”
Dixon nodded. “It was early on, when I was still going out. Also a young boy. It killed me for weeks. I couldn’t eat…sleep. My wife finally said I had to see someone before I did permanent damage to myself and our marriage.”
“Did it help?”
