“What are you talkin’ about, dude? This ain’t a movie.”
“It’s old news,” one kid said.
Holt engaged the kid. “Older than you, I’m pretty sure.”
“Yeah. Duh.”
Holt put a hand in his pocket. “Which one of you gave away the ending?”
The kids all looked at each other.
“It’s cool. I’d just like to know the whole story. Who knows it?”
The kids shrugged.
“No one?”
They traded looks between them.
“Did you know it was self-defense?” Holt asked, his tone still casual. Completely unaffected by the topic of conversation.
“It doesn’t matter,” the girl closest to Holt said. “He shot hisdad. You don’t have to like your parents, but you can’t kill them.”
Evidently, she didn’t know the definition of self-defense.
“True,” Holt told her. “I take it your parents are cool?”
“They’re all right,” she grumbled. “I wouldn’t shoot ’em.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“So why’s it okay that he killed his dad? It makes him a killer.”
“Technically,” Holt agreed.
“So why’s he not in prison?” one of the other kids asked.
“If he were a danger to anyone, don’t you think they would’ve arrested him?” Holt countered.
“They did,” one kid insisted, then waffled as he looked around. “Didn’t they?”
Rafe tuned out the conversation because he didn’t want to hear Holt share a story he’d told him in confidence. Granted, he’d told him not even as much as what had come out in court, but he figured Holt had gotten more details by reading about it online or in the archived newspapers. Rafe certainly hadn’t told him the events that ledupto that night. Hell, he’d never even talked to Rex about it. It wasn’t something he wanted to share, which was why they’d relied on Rex’s testimony to find Rafe not guilty. As for the events Rafe had endured that led up to that night … no one knew. No one but him and Jolene. And since Jolene was dead, the horrors of what had transpired in that house after his mother died would never see the light of day.
“Ignore those kids,” Rachel said as she brought Rafe’s food.
He took the plastic sack, which contained the Styrofoam container.
“We were all ignorant at that age.”
Rafe couldn’t help but smile. She was probably right.
“But tell your friend I like how his mind works.” She winked and then strolled back to the kitchen.
Not wanting to hear the end of Holt’s history lesson, Rafe headed for the door. He was almost to his truck when Holt called after him.
He made a mental note to start walking faster so he didn’t risk follow-up conversations with people he wanted to avoid.
“You working tonight?” Holt prompted when he approached.
