“Friend of yours, isn’t he?” Stephen says.
“Yeah,” I say automatically, before tweaking my answer. “Yeah, used to be.”
The picture on screen turns to shaky footage of a fire. It glows white with the ferocity, and whoever is filming cheers at the destruction. Seeing any fire on the news makes me fear for Ryker, as does hearing about an assault on a police officer. I immediately think its Liam.
No doubt it annoys them when I ask if they’re okay, but this time I didn’t.
The fire was last week, and I didn’t message Ryker to check he was all right. I trusted the news telling me there were no casualties, and switched off, but the fierce blaze on screen grows a heavy guilt in my gut. It’s painfully bright to look at, and I don’t think my headache is to blame.
“Petrol,” someone says. “It’s got to be.”
The news report doesn’t go into details on why that particular fire is so blinding, but the building collapses as flat as a pancake and I shudder.
Stephen frowns. “They think it’s those kids again, don’t they?”
I’m assuming that’s the reason for Ryker’s tour of the schools too.
“How did they know it was kids in the first place?” Stephen murmurs.
I vaguely remember Ryker saying something about evidence but can’t remember specifics. “I think they left something at the scene.”
Stephen shifts his focus back to me. “Somethingkidrelated?”
I shrug.
Someone else takes over to speculate. “Both fires went up quickly. They said on the news that whoever set fire to the barn did so at both ends, and in the case of the portable office, they think there were two fires again, one on each side. They didn’t see the kids on the CCTV, but they did record the building fromstart to finish, and a witness saw a group riding away from the scene.”
I may not have checked on Ryker, or watched the shaky footage until now, but I did read about the fire, and that summary sounds about right.
Stephen’s stare returns to me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Freddie, but you’re not looking so good.”
I’ve been massaging my temples the entire time he’s been in the room. He cocks his head. “I hope you’re not coming down with something.”
That’ll be disastrous. I could take out all his workforce with a common cold.
“It’s a bad headache,” I tell him. “I’ve had some aspirin, but it’s not taken the edge off yet.”
He studies me. “Do you think you’ll be able to continue working today?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say yes, absolutely, I don’t want to give him any reason to fire me, but right now I’ve got nothing left in the tank. I slowly shake my head and prepare for him to tell me to “man up” like my dad did.
Instead, he sighs. “Get yourself home.”
“But—”
“No buts. You’ve been working your arse off the last few months, don’t think I haven’t noticed. Go home. Shut yourself in a dark room and sleep.”
Everyone in the room is staring at Stephen, shocked at his compassion.
I nod and shakily get to my feet. Stephen pats me on the shoulder as I pass him. Getting into my car is a blur, but I feel better knowing I don’t have to spend another six hours standing in one place. I twist the key in the ignition, and the radio turns on to the music channel I’d been listening to that morning.
There’s breaking news.
The indie rock band Heavy Handed have broken up.
I widen my eyes. They’re Ryker’s and my favourite band. They’d been together for over fifteen years. Ryker, Liam, and I had been together longer.
As I drive home, I think about the first time Ryker and I saw them live. We were down by the stage being elbowed and pushed about, but the atmosphere had been electric. We’d jumped up and down in time with everyone else, arms slung over the other’s shoulders, shrieking out lyrics. At one point Ryker had given me a piggyback so I could see the stage better. It had been a fun night, and afterwards, with our ears ringing, Ryker’s dad picked us up outside the stadium and drove us back to his house. Liam had been sitting on the doorstep, radiating tension. He took in our smiles, then retreated solemnly into the house. Liam hates crowds. He hates ringing ears and jumping up and down on sticky floors. It wasn’t his scene.
