“Auggie—”
“Please. I’m not trying to go back on my promise. I’ll do it if you say, but please don’t make me.”
“If one of them throws a punch, you run for the car.”
Auggie was silent.
“Auggie?”
“Yes. Yeah. You’re in charge.”
Theo glanced over. “Why am I troubled that this was so easy?”
“Because it’s a good plan. I’ll get to the car, and then I’ll run them over.”
“Jesus Christ,” Theo whispered.
“Young man,” Mr. Evans said as he got closer, “I want you to listen very carefully to me. You go back to those scorpions, and you tell them that if they think they can intimidate my daughter, they’ve got another thing coming. I’ve already called the police, and you can expect me to file a full report. I have your descriptions, and this will be added to part of the lawsuit. You boys have stepped in it. You’ve really stepped in it. If you weren’t in it before, you are now.”
“Mr. Evans,” Theo said.
“If I want you to talk, I’ll tell you to talk. Do you understand? Get in your car, turn around, and go straight back to them. We don’t scare. And I won’t stand to have my children threatened in my own home. Is that clear?”
“Mr. Evans—”
“Yes or no.”
“I understand that you’re upset, but—”
“Yes or no.”
Theo looked at Auggie.
“Yes,” Auggie said.
“Now take a good look at this.” Mr. Evans reached into the pocket of his suit pants and pulled out a revolver. A .38, Theo guessed. “Do you have any questions about this?”
“We wanted to talk to Genesis about—”
“Yes or no.”
“No,” Theo said.
“This is what you’re getting if you come back. I don’t care if they put me away for it. You, or anyone like you, show your face around here again, and I’ll put all six bullets in you. I don’t want you to have any doubt about that. Wise, make sure they understand.”
The younger man, Wise, glanced at each of them. Theo recognized the look. This guy was young, inexperienced, frightened, and trying to be tough. Theo had seen the look on his own face growing up when he’d gotten dragged into fights that Jacob and Abel started. He’d seen it on Luke’s face when Luke had gone drinking with Theo and some of the guys he logged with. He’d seen it when Luke got in too deep over and over again. He’d seen it on Auggie’s face when Auggie had faced 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 had set up a board game—something really complicated, something with a million tiny painted figurines—and were laughing and shoving each other. Auggie only recognized Tayyib, who was trying to grow a goatee; the sophomore rolled dice and then howled with dismay, dropping out of his chair while the other guys jeered.