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“He’ll be fine,” Brian said.
“I’m sure. It seems nothing bothers him.”
Brian laughed at her dry tone. “I’m not so sure about that. He just keeps a lot in for a guy that never shuts up.”
“I’m starting to realize that all this talking is a front.”
“You figured that out well.”
“Can I ask you something?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“I don’t want you to betray Cal or anything. Not your friendship either. So tell me if that would happen and I’ll understand.”
“You want to know how he was when his mother died?” Brian asked.
“Yeah. He was in high school. You guys were friends. I just can’t imagine. I’m trying to understand him better.”
“Most don’t think Cal is complicated, but he is. I think everyone in school was just rocked to the bone. We all felt as if that could have been our mother. She’s out Christmas shopping. A fight breaks out and she is just trying to defuse it and gets shot by mistake. She wasn’t the only one hurt that day.”
“Others were hurt at the store?” she asked.
“Yes. When the shot went off people ran and many were trampled. Lynn was the only fatality.”
“I did some searching and saw the article that the guy was sent to prison.”
“Yes,” Brian said. “For second degree murder. He was sentenced to twenty years. He’s been up for parole once already for good behavior. Cal and I went to the hearing. He was denied. He’s appealing it.”
She wished she’d known this. “When is the appeal?”
“These things take time. Whether he gets out early or not doesn’t mean he’s not getting out at all. Cal is going to have to come to terms with that.”
“You don’t think he can, do you?”
“I think he can do anything he puts his mind to. The guy that killed his father, he died a few years ago in prison.”
It hadn’t come up and she hadn’t wanted to ask those kinds of questions.
“How was he when he found out about that?”
“Fine,” Brian said.
“He always acts like he’s fine when I don’t think he really is.”
“You’re right. Those are conversations you need to have with him. But you asked more about when his mother died and I’ll tell you. His father stepped up. Not that anyone expected anything different. But you could see there was just this hole in Cal after.”
“I think there still is one,” she said sadly.
“Could be. He wouldn’t tell anyone if there was. But the guy that shot Lynn was strung out on drugs. He’d had a lot of charges against him already. When Tyler was picked up last night, it was the same. Strung out on drugs. Says he doesn’t remember doing any of it.”
“Shit,” she said. “Is that his defense?”
“Seems it. It doesn’t matter. He’s on video.”
“Do you think he’s trying to get Cal to feel sorry for him?”
“No. There are a few things in this life that Cal will never feel sorry for and that is someone doing drugs. He gives people a chance. More chances than he should if you ask me. That is one thing he draws the line at. So when he says he wishes he pressed charges before, it’s because somewhere in his mind, it’s the thought maybe Tyler would have turned his life around or gone to rehab. Maybe gotten clean in jail for a month or so.”
