It stung, because Sean didn’t have much pullwith his uncle, not on his own.If Dave had decided to fire Lucas,it wasn’t because Sean had asked for it—it was because Mrs.Gagehad.Sean had told her the story and she’d decided that Lucas wasout.He’d failed to protect her son, after all, so Lucas couldn’treally blame her.One look at her son’s battered face and she wouldhave gone into full warrior mode.Mrs.Gage was the closest thingto a mother Lucas had ever had, but Sean was her real son.Lucaswas just someone she allowed Sean to drag inside her wide andindiscriminate circle of affection.Or at least, that’s what he hadbeen.Now that Sean was done with Lucas, Mrs.Gage obviously wastoo.
He forced himself to nod.“Thank you,” hesaid.But the priest didn’t leave, so Lucas stayed still, staringat the spot on the wall.
“You need to do something with your time.That’s a condition of your parole.You can’t just sit around hereand watch TV.”
“I’ll try to find another job.”
“Do you have something in mind?”There was astrange tone in the priest’s voice, almost as if he was enjoyingthe opportunity to rub Lucas’s nose in this.
But there was no avoiding the truth of it.“No.I don’t.”
“You need to call Darren.”
“I know.I will.”
And there really wasn’t much more to sayafter that.The priest headed back to the house and Lucas forcedhis body into autopilot.He didn’t want to mess around with socialsquirrels, not anymore.He just wanted to exhaust himself, to poursome of the wild energy from his body out into the ground.Hestarted digging, following the margins of the last year’s garden ashe turned over the soil, broke up the clods, and tried not tothink.
ChapterTen
The man talked to squirrels.The manmadepromisesto squirrels.And from what Mark had seen, he kept thepromises too.There were several pine cones covered in peanutbutter set out in the backyard when Mark arrived at the house onMonday morning, and they definitely hadn’t been there the daybefore.
It was impossible to reconcile these gentle,if eccentric, actions with the cold-blooded killer Mark had beenimagining.But no, not imagining.The man was a killer.He’dconfessed to the crime.There’d been no real trial, just a hearingto confirm the plea bargain that had diminished the charges fromsecond-degree murder to manslaughter.Some testimony from witnessesto aid in the sentencing.Cain had never once denied the actitself.
Never denied the act.Of course, that wasanother thing that could be interpreted in a different way thanMark had been seeing it all along.Rather than being a sign ofcold-blooded bravado, maybe his honesty was his form of acceptingresponsibility.
Mark didn’t want this.The plan had been towatch the man and find his weaknesses.Instead, Mark seemed to beuncovering strengths.
The doorbell rang then and Mark was glad tobe distracted from his thoughts.The halfway house was empty duringthe day, all the residents off at work or training, so Mark wasthere alone.Probably somebody was delivering something and hadn’tbeen told about the right hours to arrive at.He headed for thefront door and saw three young men, each of their faces sporting atleast one bruise or cut.It took him only a moment to realize thatone of them was Cain’s friend, the one he’d been staying with.
“Can I help you?”Mark asked, his voice asunwelcoming as he could make it without being totally churlish.Residents weren’t allowed to have visitors, and Cain should haveread the rules about that.
“I’m looking for Luke Cain,” the friend saiduncertainly.“I heard he was staying here?”
“He’s not here right now.And he’s notallowed visitors.”
“Why not?He’s not still in jail, is he?Imean, even there, we got to visit him.”
Mark wasn’t in the mood for this.“He can seehis friends anywhere else.He can go to see you.But you can’t cometo see him.It’s a shared space, and we don’t need theheadaches.”
The friend just grunted.“Yeah, well, I don’tthink he’s going to be staying with you much longer.Look, can youtell him Sean came by?Tell him…” The man looked a little furtive,as if he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to say.“Tell him to comehome, if he wants.We’ll figure it out.”
Mark couldn’t say what possessed him.Hecouldn’t justify it either as a man of God, devoted to truth andlove, or as a gay man, committed to fighting homophobia.Butsomehow, he still said it.“Oh, are you the boyfriend?Did you guyshave a lover’s quarrel?Is that why he had to move out?”
The change in the friend’s face was instant,and appalling.He’d looked like a schoolboy apologizing for atantrum when he’d asked Mark to pass the message along, butsuddenly he was a grown and very angry man.“What?Fuck you,asshole.I’m nobody’s boyfriend!”He looked from one of his friendsto the other, his eyes wide as he invited them to join him inoutrage.“I’m not a fag!What did Luke say?Whatever it was, he’stalking about himself, maybe, but not about me!”
Mark’s regret came hard, but too late.“No,I’m sorry,” he said quickly.“He didn’t say anything.I just…” Justwhat?Just gave in to vindictiveness and evil?“I made a mistake.He’s not gay.I’m sorry.”
But of course his denials just made the menmore suspicious.“I told you, Sean,” one of them said.“No moredrinking, no more fighting, and now you’re his boyfriend?They madehim into a fag in prison.”
“No,” Mark said again.“I was just stirringup trouble, or something.It was stupid.He’s never mentioned aboyfriend.He’s not gay.”
“This is bullshit,” Sean said.He wasstarting to look like a schoolboy again—a frightened, confusedchild trying to figure out the best way to stay out of trouble.
“No, I didn’t mean it.”Mark could see hiswords were having no effect.Maybe it would be best to just wrapthis up.“I’ll give him the message.Absolutely.Sean came by andsays he can go back home.”
Sean looked from one friend to the other,then said, “No.Don’t tell him that.Don’t tell him anything.Forget we were even here.”
“No, really,” Mark started, and he reachedout to grip Sean’s shoulder.But the man shrugged his hand offviolently.
