Just a few minutes later, I was inside the jail alone with the kid, and he didn’t look too happy to see me.
“What the fuck do you want?” he growled.
“Wesley, isn’t it?”
“What’s it to you?”
Stepping closer, I leaned against a nearby cell, pretending I had all the time in the world. “So, is this something you like to do? Steal purses? Break into houses?”
“That house was supposed to be vacant,” he argued.
“And that makes a difference?”
He shrugged, not bothering to look at me.
“So, what made you want to break into that house?”
“Does it matter?”
“Maybe.”
Scoffing, the kid looked up at me with disdain. “Why? Because then you’ll feel bad for me? You’ll want to help me and change my life? Save it for someone who wants your pity,” he spat.
This kid was hurting. I’d seen it a lot growing up. Kids who were neglected, but couldn’t trust another person to follow through on any promises. And the sad thing was that no matter how hard anyone tried, it would be nearly impossible to get through to a kid who had been ignored his whole life.
“What if I could get you out of here?”
He snorted. “Big deal.”
“You would rather go to juvenile detention?”
His shoulders tensed slightly, but that was the only sign that he really didn’t want to leave his home.
“I mean, if we don’t figure something out, the judge will send you there, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Yeah? So what?”
“Then again, there’s a possibility I could get temporary guardianship. It would require a court date to make it more permanent?—”
“If I even wanted that,” the kid snapped, glaring at me. “What makes you think I’d want to stay with you?”
“Well, it seems like a better deal than staying in a jail with miscreants worse than you. Court-ordered therapy, spilling your guts to all those adults who really don’t give a shit, and then there are all the other kids just as twisted, if not worse than you. Oh, and the jail cell you’ll have to sleep in. Yeah, that sounds like loads of fun.”
He shifted uncomfortably on the bench, probably weighing the pros and cons of his stubbornness.
“Then again, I could be wrong. Have fun in jail.”
22
MICHAEL
I was absolutely stuffed.Between the blueberry pie and the late lunch I had at the diner, I couldn’t put another thing in my mouth if I wanted.
Yet, I had a feeling that Blake would have something waiting at home for me.
I pulled down the drive, about to park when something didn’t sit right. Glancing to the right, the river rolled by, same as it always did. The mountains spiked against the night sky, and the moon illuminated the specks of snow capping the tips of the mountains.
The rolling plains were just as I left them, but there was one very noticeable thing missing.
