She squeezed his hand and gave him what she hoped passed for an understanding smile. “I’ll call Shorty so you can leave.” Then she pulled her tablet out and handed it to him. “I wrote down which hospital they were taking him to.”
His relieved “Thank you” told her she’d done the right thing.
Shorty took over the rest of Luke’s shift, and he headed home. She went through the motions of her work, Luke’s reaction in theback of her mind. It made sense for him to be upset that a kid he used to babysit had turned to drugs. But the anger confused her. Almost like it was a personal insult for him that Mikey had the drugs in the first place.
Chapter 11
Insteadofgoinghome,Luke had spent the rest of his day at Underhill Books and Games, under the guise of helping Felix. In reality he’d sat in one of the arm chairs in the corner and stared into space. It was a good thing Luke had filled up on breakfast, because his appetite had disappeared.
Calling Suzy and Clyde, Mikey’s parents, gutted him. They didn’t need to tell him it wasn’t the first time. Mom’s letter did mention the rumors surrounding Mikey’s last hospitalization.
Mikey was such a smart kid. Why would he turn to drugs? The use of Narcan meant he’d been on an opioid of some kind. The paramedics had collected some of the white powder he’d found in the bathroom. Two hundred people died in the U.S. from opioid overdose everyday. Remembering this wasn’t Mikey’s first time in the hospital for this made his blood run cold.
Felix plied him with dinner upstairs at his parents’ apartment, but Gretchen’s cooking had tasted like ash in his mouth. He knew he wasn’t himself.
Back home, he’d cried in his mom’s arms like a little boy when Suzy called and said Mike would pull through. She’d thanked him profusely for saving her son.
But Luke knew he hadn’t saved him. Not yet. Band-Aids couldn’t fix a broken arm.
He hadn’t told his mother what he’d found in the shed. God, how he’d wanted to be wrong. His oath from the day he’d been inducted into the FBI burned in his chest.
“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
But this was his little brother. The baby Mom and Dad had placed in his arms at seventeen. He couldn’t… he had to give Aaron a chance to fix it. To stop.
Watching his brother go to prison might just kill him.
So, he encouraged Mom to take a pain pill that night, knowing it would make her sleep deeply. Aaron had been gone all evening, but Luke brewed a pot of coffee and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
All the while, his anger at Aaron grew. They’d all gotten the “Just Say No” talk in school. Aaron knew what he was selling was dangerous and illegal. And now Mikey was paying the consequences. Luke didn’t know for sure if Aaron had sold him the drugs, but if not then he probably knew whoever did.
He left the lights off as he sat in the living room, facing the door. Somewhere around two in the morning, a scraping sound reached his ears from the front porch. A key turned in the lock, and then the front door swung open.
Luke waited until the door shut and locked behind Aaron, and his boots were on the mat. Then he spoke.
“Where thehellhave you been?”
Aaron jumped a foot in the air and clutched at his chest. “Fuck. What the hell, Luke?”
Luke stood from the chair, and his nostrils flared. “Where do you go every night?”
“None of your business.”
He moved closer, rounding the furniture to face his brother. “Cut the shit, Aaron. I know what you’re doing.”
Aaron drew himself up straight. “What are you talking about?”
Luke gritted his teeth. “I found the drugs, Aaron.”
He’d had plenty of time for his eyes to get used to the dark, so he saw the color drain from Aaron’s face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” Luke’s blood pounded in his ears. “I’ve dealt with drug dealing scum a hundred times before. But I never thought my own flesh and blood would stoop that low.”
Aaron sneered. “We can’t all go to college, and the factory closed years ago. There aren’t any jobs, Luke.”
