consisted of some white-collar crimes, no small amount of murder when people got in their way, and a couple of very high-profile businessmen that didn’t like when the spotlight was put on their business.
“Umm, nothing?” Bryan hedged, kicking the dirt with his foot.
“Listen, kid,” Flint ordered. “This is going to go a lot better for you if you just tell us what’s going on. Right now, you have sympathy for how you were raised on your side. You weren’t given a good hand in life. I know that. You know that. The system failed you. But, just sayin’, if you force my hand because you don’t tell me everything that’s going on, you’re not going to like where you end up. Most likely, you’ll be charged as an adult. Most likely, you’ll be spending some hard time in jail for the assault of a teacher. Most likely, you’ll ruin any and all chances that you ever had at making a life for yourself. I don’t want that for you. Carmichael doesn’t want that for you. And it just so happens that I have a really good lawyer right here that’ll be willing to help you if you need it.”
Bryan’s shoulders slumped.
“Dammit,” he grumbled, throwing his head back on a groan. Then he looked around to see whether there was anyone close. “They follow me.”
Flint stiffened. “Let’s go back into the school.”
I walked back into the school with them and walked with them to Flint’s office that was just a bit farther past the theater building. When we got there, it was to find barely anyone left in the school. The only person that we passed on the way was a janitor that was too busy wiping ‘fuck you Coach Duff’ that’d been spray painted on a set of lockers.
“Who’d Ezra piss off?” I wondered idly.
“Coach Duff banned a couple of seniors off the baseball team this week because he found them trying to assault a girl,” Bryan murmured. “Fuckers.”
My eyes met Flint’s over the top of Bryan’s head.
This kid was actually a pretty good kid. You couldn’t fake sincerity like that. I could tell that Flint understood that just by the look on his face.
“What were they doing?” I asked.
“They were trying to fu—uh, have sex with her, in the locker room. She wanted it, but she didn’t want to do it there. You know? When they told her she was doing it there, she freaked out. That’s about the time that Coach Duff came into the room and caught them,” he answered. “He suspended them on the spot from the team. And they’re seniors, you know? They’re pissed as hell because this was their year to be seen by scouts. So, they’re doing damage to show how pissed they are.”
I looked at Flint. “You know that happened?”
Flint nodded. “Dealt with that this morning, actually.”
“Good,” I grumbled. “They shouldn’t get to play after that anyway. They suspended from school, too?”
“Indefinitely,” Flint confirmed. “They’ll now be getting GEDs or going to an alternative school. They won’t be coming back to Gun Barrel High.”
“Good,” I said as we turned the corner to head into Flint’s office.
Before we got there, though, it was to see Carmichael’s computer geek friend standing at the end of the hall locking what looked to be his classroom door.
Flint and Bryan headed into the office.
I closed the door behind them and stood outside the door so I could block his view in case he actually had enough brains to see who we were talking to.
He looked up once he closed the door and immediately spotted me.
I gave him a chin lift and leaned against the door, knowing my height blocked the small window that was bisecting the door.
“How’s it going?” he asked, flicking his eyes to me nervously.
“Good, you?” I asked.
“Great,” he said, sounding slightly hesitant.
I nodded my head, my arms going across my chest, as I stared at him.
“You going somewhere?” he asked, looking around the empty hallway.
As if he was going to kick me out of the school because I didn’t belong there.
“Um, no,” I said, pointing my finger at the door behind me. “Waiting on Flint. He’s on an important call.”
It was at this point that I had the feeling that Alfie really didn’t want to leave me in here by myself. He didn’t think that I should be in here, so he was trying to work up the courage to tell me to wait outside.
I raised a brow at him. “Anything else?”
He started shaking