down the girl who held Theo at knifepoint. He’d seen it too many times.
“If my dad doesn’t kill you,” Wise said. “I will. Stay away from my sister. Stay away from our family.” He touched the hem of the polo he was wearing, and the fabric tightened over the outline of the gun holstered underneath. “Understand?”
“Yes,” Theo said. “I just want to be clear: we’re not trying to cause trouble. We’re looking into Cal’s murder—”
“Oh no,” Mr. Evans said. “You’re not pinning that on any of us. If I’d met that man in the street, I would have shot him dead. You can put a Bible under my hand, and I’ll swear to it. I’d have killed him with my bare hands if you gave me half a chance. But I own my actions. That’s how we’re different from the Reese family. We’re not the kind to drag a man off and leave his body in the weeds; if I’d killed him, I’d be telling the whole world. We’re not the kind who trap girls in dark rooms.”
“What does that mean?” Theo said. “Why—”
“Get off my property,” Evans said, gesturing with the .38. The movements were erratic and unsteady, and Theo could see the cartridges in the cylinder. Evans looked agitated enough that his finger might slip—accidentally or, for a man in his state, not quite so accidentally.
“We’re going,” Theo said, catching Auggie’s arm. He moved in front of Auggie, and they shuffled backward together. “We’re leaving right now.”
“Don’t come back,” Evans said. “You come back, and I won’t bother telling you again.”
“We won’t come back,” Theo said. He still held Auggie’s arm. Auggie was shaking. Theo was shaking too, he realized. The .38, which had looked small when it came out of Evans’s pocket, seemed very big right then.
Evans and Wise watched them go.
A soft bump and then, “Car,” from Auggie made Theo stop moving. “Ok,” Auggie whispered after another moment. “Theo, you’ve got to let go of me now.”
“I know.”
But he didn’t let go. He was watching the .38. He was seeing Luke in the hayloft, flies crawling on his eyes.
“Theo, it’s ok. We’re going to get in the car and drive away now.”
“Yes,” Theo said. Then he took a shuddering breath and released Auggie. The younger man sprinted around the car, and Theo eased into the passenger seat. Auggie started the engine, pulled around sharply, and sped back up the street.
At the end of the next block, when the Evans house was out of sight, Theo said, “Stop. Stop the car.”
Auggie hit the brakes, and the Civic squeaked to a stop.
Theo grabbed Auggie and pulled him close, one hand in Auggie’s short crew cut, one hand around his back, the smell of Auggie’s hair in his nose, the feel of his face against his shoulder.
“We’re ok, Theo. It’s ok.”
Theo released him and dropped back into his seat. He covered his face. He could still hear the flies. He managed to say, “Ok. You’re ok.”
“We’re ok. We’re both ok.”
“Right.” Theo took a deep breath, but he had to keep his hands over his eyes because it wouldn’t help if Auggie saw him like this. “Right. We’re ok.”
23
Auggie drove back to the Sigma Sigma house at Theo’s insistence.
“I really don’t think you should bike home,” he said when he pulled into the lot.
Theo’s face was the color of that white, goopy cheese Fer liked. His mouth pulled into something that was supposed to be a smile, and he said, “I’m fine. Just need some fresh air.”
“Theo, please let me drive you home. We’ll put your bike in the trunk.”
Elbowing open the door, Theo just gave that awful smile again and shook his head.
It didn’t matter how hard Auggie argued; Theo wouldn’t budge. Auggie stayed outside, squinting into the September sun, as Theo shrank to a black smudge. Then Theo swung around a corner and was gone, and Auggie went inside.
The Sigma Sigma house, by this hour, was busy. Auggie had been making an effort to learn names, so he recognized Kyle Whitney, blond, freckles, chasing Digs—Auggie didn’t know the kid’s real name—down the hall, snapping a towel at Digs’s bare ass. Igor was in the kitchen making a club sandwich; he offered to make Auggie one, but Auggie just got water from the tap and shook his head. The kitchen had a pass-through that connected to a serving area, and the serving area had both doors open to the dining hall, and Auggie found himself watching the guys who