Page 89 of Gifts

He lowers his voice. “Keep your mouth shut about what, sweetheart?”

Emma shakes her head again—almost violently.

“Emma.” I try to reach out for her, but she pulls away and backs farther into her corner, so I soften my tone. “Please. Whatever’s going on is taking you away from the people who love you. Your parents are worried—I’m worried. Let us help you.”

Asa gets in Emma’s face and I’ve never seen him so serious. “If you think I’m going to let anyone hurt you, Emerson, you’re wrong. I’ll go to the ends of the earth to keep you and your brother safe. I’ll kill for you if that’s what it takes and, baby, I’ll do it without a second thought.”

Her chest is heaving and I can tell she’s thinking it over, so I add, “Only you have the power to make whatever this is stop.”

Moments go by, but finally, it floods out of her in a rush. “That day, the day those kids were killed, I forgot my calculator in Levi’s Jeep. I got his keys between classes and got a pass to go to the parking lot. When I was on my way back in, I saw them, but I didn’t know why they were there. They were messing with the car, Dad, the one those kids were killed in. One guy was under it and another was by the back tire.”

Oh fuck.

I reach out for my desk to steady myself. The accident wasn’t an accident.

I feel Asa’s hand on my hip, firm and steady, as he continues to talk to Emma. “What did you see?”

She shrugs and her tears start up again. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what they were doing. But one of them yelled at me to ‘get the eff out of there,’ and I did. I put it together right away, it wasn’t hard. Hours after I saw them messing with that car, those seniors died in a fiery ball of flames. If I would’ve told someone right away, that might not have happened. They would still be alive.”

“Emma,” I whisper. “You can’t take on that burden.”

“But it’s true,” she keeps on crying—shuddering. “I thought about telling someone after it happened. I was even on my way to the office to ask for Mr. White to tell him everything, but that’s when that kid who tried to frame Levi, Terry Mosher, cornered me and told me I’d better not do something I’d regret. Then I started getting threats to keep my mouth shut and threats against Levi, too. They even said they’d drag me into it, like I was their lookout or something since I was in the parking lot. Then I was afraid I’d get in trouble for not telling right away. After they tried to frame Levi with those drugs in his locker, I knew they could get to him. I didn’t know what to do.”

Asa gives me a squeeze and moves around me to his daughter. Pulling her into his arms, he puts his lips to her head. “Baby, you should’ve told me.”

Emma cries into his chest. “I didn’t want to make anything worse—I thought it would just go away. Why won’t it go away?”

“Do you know who they were?” Asa asks. “The guys in the parking lot?”

She shakes her head. “No. I’ve never seen them before or since.”

“This is why you pulled away from your friends? From us?” he asks.

Emma shakes her head again. “I’ve just been so freaked. I can’t focus. I can’t study. But this has nothing to do with my old friends. They turned into druggies once we started high school. I knew you’d kill me if I tried anything, plus, who wants to be a druggie?”

Asa shakes his head and holds onto his girl tight.

“Dad?” she calls, muffled by his shirt. “Am I going to get in trouble?”

Asa pulls away from her and holds her face in his hands. Leaning down, he looks straight into her eyes. “You did nothing wrong. From now on, I don’t want you to worry. You just handed this over to me and I’ll make sure everyone is safe. No way am I going to let anyone fuck with my family. You with me?”

Tears start to well again as she nods.

“Okay.” Asa pulls her back into his chest and strokes her hair as he looks at me, his eyes saying a thousand words. Words that don’t need to be said, because the accident that shook our community, was no accident. It was murder and it looks like his daughter might be the only witness.

Fuck. Just when I thought everything was settling down.

*****

Asa

I grab my keys and wallet off Keelie’s dresser and go to her closet. Pulling down a bag I put on the top shelf so Knox and Saylor couldn’t get to it, I grab my gun and holster with an extra magazine. Carson just texted. He’s got a location on the phone that sent that message to Emma.

The rest of the day was interesting to say the least. I stayed with Emma in Keelie’s office until after school and took them both home. After I called the police and made a report, detectives came out to Keelie’s house for the second time—which is two fucking too many—to get a statement and question Emma. We also learned a couple kids at school have been slipping her warning notes. Keelie got on that like the badass counselor she is. Not only will they be called in to be questioned by administration tomorrow, but also by the police. The security cameras in the parking lot loop every seven days—they won’t be of any help this time around.

For the time being, I’ve made the decision that Emma and Levi aren’t going back to school until I deem it safe. At the end of the day, I wanted to shake Emma for not coming to me right away with this shit, at the same time I wanted to hold on and never let her go.

Just when I thought my kids were smart, they became teenagers.

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