Page 21 of Sawyer
She couldn’t get through this looking at him, so she turned her gaze to stare at the ottoman. “When I was 11, my mother was killed in a car accident. Up until then, my life was pretty normal. A year later, my father remarried. I loved my stepmother. She was really great. And I got a stepbrother out of the deal.”
Saul nodded but didn't speak, which was good because she needed to get this out before she changed her mind. “When I started seventh grade, my life kind of fell apart. I seem to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time whenever anything bad happens. Back then, it started off small. Graffiti on the side of the drugstore. Candy stolen from the gas station. Little stuff, but then it got worse. By the time I was in high school, the town had started having problems with bigger issues like drugs and gangs. And somehow, my name got linked to those as well. I could never understand why.”
Her memories had pulled her in so deeply, she jumped when he asked, “You say ‘linked to.’ What exactly do you mean by that?”
“I mean, anytime drugs were found, or the gangs did something bad, I was taken to the police station and questioned about how I was involved. When anything happened, really. I was always the first suspect.”
“But why would they question you?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I don't know. Rumors would start,usually at school, that somehow had me in the area whenever the trouble happened. It always seemed to be at a time when I couldn't prove I wasn't there. So, even though they couldn't charge me because they couldn't prove Iwasthere, everyone believed I was guilty.”
“You’re telling me that although you were the suspect, you didn’t do any of those things?
“Not one. I never understood why they even suspected me.”
“And you say this started happening shortly after you started seventh grade? Wasn't that also shortly after your father remarried and your stepmother and Hector came to town?
“I guess,” said Lele.
“Does that not sound suspicious to you?”
This was why she needed to talk to him. She needed to make him understand. “I can see why you’d think that. But you weren't there. My stepmother was wonderful, but she was a very mild, timid person. She loved me, but she was never one to come running to my defense publicly. She was much too reclusive and shy.”
But at home, she’d been wonderful. She always had time to listen and hold Lele when she cried about anything that was going on.
“My father always spoke up for me. But no one believed him either. And he couldn't be at school, where the worst of the bullying and name-calling happened. That's where Hector came in.”
Saul leaned closer. “Yeah, I'd like to hear about Hector.”
“Hector was amazing. He stood up for me when no one else would. He was always there, telling people they needed to stop talking about me. He defended me every time. Sometimes he even got into fights. All because of me.”
Saul leaned back again. Was he getting all that Hector had done for her? She couldn’t tell.
“I don’t like hearing you blame yourself, Half-Pint. If none of what they said was true, then those fights weren’t because of you. It sounds like Hector was just doing what a brother should. Did you ever find out who was starting the rumors?”
She shook her head again. “I tried, but either no one knew, or they wouldn’t tell me. I got the feeling they were scared to mention the name of whoever started it.”
He was quiet, and she could tell he was thinking. The silence and pensive look on his face made her nervous. Her nerves settled when he said, “You do understand that you were the victim here.”
“Then you think I’m telling the truth?” she hardly dared to hope.
He reached over and pulled her chin up so he could look directly into her eyes. “Yes, I do.”
She offered him a faint smile at the tone of revelation in his voice. “Where were you when I was in high school? Another champion would've been nice.”
His hand rested back on her knee, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Babygirl, if I had known you then, you better believe I would've been your champion.”
She huffed a silent laugh. “I would have let you," she said.
What would it have been like to have someone else who actually believed her? Maybe even believedinher. It had just been Lele and Hector against the world.
Saul crossed his arms over his chest. “So, tell me. Do you have any good memories from school?”
Finally, a topic she could enjoy. “I never was much into sports or music or things like that, but the one thing I loved was video games. I loved co-op role-play games online more than anything, even back then. It turned out I was really good at it. When I graduated from high school, I was going to a college that specialized in game design.”
He nodded. “I’ll have to challenge you to a game. Where’d you go to school?”
She tried to smile, but the expression on his face said she didn’t succeed. He tensed. “I never got to go. My dad won a trip to Hawaii. He and my stepmom were so excited. While they were there, they went out on a small boat for one of those dinner cruises. An unexpected storm blew up, and the boat went down. There were no survivors.”
