Page 66 of Little Stolen Memories

I just had a few more things to say before I gave him the hard press.

“When your father realized some of his students had cheated, he went to the school principal,” I said.

“What about it?”

“He was so upset, he retired,” I said.

“Who told you that?”

“One of your classmates.”

“It isn’t true. My father didn’t retire because some knuckleheads cheated on a test. He was going to retire anyway. He just hadn’t told anyone yet. My mother and I knew, but my dad was waiting to make it official until after school got out for the summer.”

Ty seemed nervous, and I wasn’t close to being done yet.

He ran a hand along his sweaty brow.

“You assaulted Jackson after the truth came out,” I said. “You pushed him up against the lockers and tried to choke him.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake … I don’t have time for this right now. This entire conversation, it’s ridiculous. What happened with Jackson at his locker wasn’t a big deal. I was angry.”

“Did you think he wouldn’t turn you in if he got caught?” I asked.

“I dunno. Hard to say. He was put in a difficult predicament.”

A difficult predicament?

He was playing it off like it meant nothing.

Then again, a lot of time had passed since it happened.

Maybe it wasn’t a big deal anymore.

“The day after the test, Jackson and a few of his friends were called into the principal’s office,” I said. “They didn’t admit to cheating, but Jackson’s stepdad said he’d seen the test in Jackson’s room. The following day, the principal found a note on the door of his office stating you were the one who’d given Jackson the test. I assume you thought Jackson wrote the note because you confronted him. You spit in his face.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“There were eyewitnesses who saw what happened.”

“I didn’t spit on Jackson on purpose. I was mad, and while I was yelling at him, I got carried away. I wasn’t trying to choke him either. I was trying to keep him from taking off until I told him how I felt about what he did.”

“I bet I know how you felt when you gave him the test,” I said. “You felt accepted. You thought the two of you were friends. You thought you were doing him a solid, a favor no one else could have done except for you.”

“I felt bad for the guy. So what?”

“You felt bad for him before you gave him the test … not after everything came out. Someone wrote the note. Someone stuck it on the principal’s door, and you decided Jackson did it.”

Ty opened his desk drawer. I thought he was going to reach for the flask again, but he didn’t. He grabbed a bottle of water, opened it, and drank it halfway down. Then he slammed it down on the desk, shaking his head as he said, “I confronted Jackson that day, yes. I asked if he’d written the note. He started laughing, and he just kept on laughing while everyone looked on.”

“You threatened him. You said you’d make him pay. You said you’d make them all pay.”

“I was heated. It was a stupid thing to say. I should have never said it. For all I know, any one of them could have written that note.”

I tapped a fingernail on the top of his desk, thinking about what he’d just said to me. “I’m trying to figure out why you’re defending Jackson, even now, a kid who I’ve heard was a school bully at times. Why not be honest about how you feel? What does it matter now?”

Ty downed the rest of the water and said, “He’s dead! Why would I speak ill of him now? I’m alive. I’m still living. He died too young. They all did, lost their lives to some violent maniac who’s still free because the cops in this town couldn’t do their job!”

There it was, the anger I’d been pushing for, needling him bit by bit until I wore him down. His anger showed me he still had a temper after all these years. And even though twenty years had passed, not only did he still blame Jackson, but I believed he hadn’t forgiven Jackson for his betrayal.

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