“Go easy on him.”
I grimaced and hung up.
I couldn’t make any promises.
“So what’s this about?Did another scout reach out?” I heard Parker ask before he and Trey rounded the corner in the boys’ locker room to Trey’s office, which was currently being used by the varsity basketball coach since they were in season and football wasn’t. Still, it was a quiet, private place to talk.
“No, uh…” Trey mumbled, searching for and failing to find a good excuse. They came into view then, the sandy blond-haired seventeen-year-old who, freakily enough, could pass for Trey’s son, and my brother. With a file folder tucked under his arm, he wrung his hands together in front of him, twisting his fingers this way and that. We all had our nervous tics, and this was Trey’s.
“The fuck?” Parker asked when he laid eyes on me, then turned to Trey. “Coach?”
“The sheriff just has a few questions, kid,” Trey said. “You’re not in trouble.”
Parker’s brow creased in confusion, like he genuinely couldn’t figure out what I was doing here, and that annoyed the shit out of me. Still, I kept my mouth shut as we headed into the office, Trey closing and locking the door behind us.
“Will one of you please tell me what is going on?”
Trey flipped the folder open on the desk and spread out the photos within, which were stills he’d printed from the security footage he’d combed earlier.
“If you were going to break into someone’s house, Abrams, you could’ve at leastnotworn your team hoodie.”
I hadn’t been sure how Trey had so easily known it was Parker in the footage, but it became obvious when I studied the photos. His name and number blazed brightly under the streetlights in the darkness.
“That’s not me,” Parker said quickly.
“Park,” Trey sighed. “This will be easier for you if you just tell the truth.”
“Iamtelling the truth. That’s not me.”
“Parker.”
“Idoknow who it is, but…” He trailed off and glanced up at his coach imploringly. “It’s not what it looks like. And if I tell you, you cannot tellanyone. I swear to god, Coach. This would fuck up a lot of people.”
Trey looked at me, and I subtly dipped my chin. I wasn’t making any promises, but we’d cross that bridge when I had all the information in hand.
“Okay.”
“Actually, for the sake of protecting them, I’m not even going to tell you their name. But?—”
“There’s no ‘but’ here, Parker,” I said, joining the conversation for the first time. “If you don’t tell me who this is,youcould be facing charges for these break-ins.”
Parker’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh, fuck. This is bad.”
“Glad you finally realize how serious this is,” I said.
“She can’t possibly have done this,” he mumbled to himself, head tilting into his hands.
“Who is ‘she’?” Trey prompted.
“Sadie Lennar.”
“Like…the daughter of these homeowners?” my brother asked, tapping the photo.
“Yeah,” Parker said, still not lifting his head.
“But…That’s…” I sputtered dumbly. “She lives there.”
“Yep.”
