Page 25 of Noah

We were staring at one another again.

"I'll show you to Jamal's office," Noah said after clearing his throat.

"Thank you."

I followed him down the hall, past classrooms of kids buzzing around. When we reached the offices, Noah stayed with me until he led me straight to Jamal.

"Jamal, this is Brody … the crown attorney."

Jamal's eyebrows lifted and he looked at Noah, then back at me. Then back to Noah.

Noah nodded at him.

There had been some kind of silent communication, but I couldn't read it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Brody." Jamal motioned to a chair in front of his desk. "Sit." I studied the man who had spoken to me and the desk he sat behind. It had been cut shorter.

He appeared to be sitting in a wheelchair.

"I'll leave you to it," Noah said. Then he touched my shoulder. A shiver ran straight down my spine, making the little hairs on my arms stand up. "Come find me when you're done."

I was only able to nod. Noah's touch had short-circuited my brain. I was all in my body. I could even feel the warm air on my skin. My vocal cords felt like they were thickening.

Am I going to be able to speak?

My body must have tensed because Noah apologized to me before he left the room.

"Do you need a second?" Jamal asked.

I nodded, then hummed until my throat cleared. "He caught me off guard."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about. Noah is a good-looking guy."

Change the subject.

"I shouldn't even be here, but like I said the police report was sparse. Normally, I would push them to give me more information but I'm not holding out much hope they'll help me. You do good work here. I want to make sure I have the details I need to properly prosecute the guy who had the computers in his possession. So … please tell me about the computers that were stolen."

"I have a list." Jamal pushed a piece of yellow lined paper toward me. I read the details. They were all desktop computers. All are at least five years old. A couple of printers. Not worth much.

Probably meant everything to these kids, though.

"Can you show me how they got in?"

"Sure thing." Jamal wheeled out from behind his desk and led me back into the hallway. I looked for Noah but didn't see him. A warm tumble curled through my gut when I heard his voice. He was shouting from somewhere down toward the entrance of the centre. The thump-thump-thump told me someone was dribbling a ball, and he was calling for them to pass it to him.

Then there was a cheer. I wondered if Noah had scored a basket.

"They got in through the library," Jamal said, snapping me back to why I was here.

"Show me."

We entered a sparsely stocked library. Lots of shelves. Not many books. Against one wall sat a young boy, his nose buried in a book. He didn't look up as we passed by him.

Jamal stopped and wheeled back around. "Kyle, this is Brody."

Kyle's gaze flitted up to my face, then back down to the book. The action was familiar to me. Maintaining eye contact took an extraordinary amount of effort. Often made me perspire and my guts twisted up, my internal organs poised to burst free and consume me.

Except with Noah. I had been resistant to letting myself engage with his eyes, but now that I had, I didn't know if I ever wanted to stop. They had a way of calming the storm inside me.

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