Jem raised an eyebrow.
The boy had the good grace to blush, and his shoulders rose a few inches.“He was stronger than I thought,” he muttered, staring at the asphalt.“He surprised me.”
“Yeah, he would have surprised your ass into an early grave if I hadn’t shown up.Jesus Christ.”Jem’s bruised shoulder was starting to throb.He stretched, buying himself time to think, but he couldn’t come up with anything better than “Start from the beginning.”
“We met in the parking lot—”
“Nope.All the way back.”
Struggle played out in Daniel’s face, but only for a moment.“I went over to see Bren Sunday night.I wanted to go before that, because I knew my dad had—you know.And I didn’t know how bad it was.Or if Bren was okay.Or anything.”
Jem groaned.
“I had to!”Daniel said.
“What happened?”
“He was—” The click in Daniel’s throat caught Jem by surprise, and when the boy spoke again, his voice grew thick.“He was downstairs.I always met him down there because nobody else uses the basement.The doors are mostly glass, so I saw him first.He had a bruise—” Daniel gestured to his cheekbone.“—and he was moving funny, like maybe he was sore.But he looked okay.I was so glad he was okay.And I was about to knock when I realized he was getting ready to go out.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’d showered.He was putting on clothes—nice stuff, the stuff he’d wear when we went on dates sometimes.”Daniel hesitated.And then he said, “He kept checking his phone.”
“He was hooking up with someone.”
Daniel gave a miserable nod.“I knocked, and I asked him what he was doing.Just like that.I didn’t ask him how he was, or if he was okay, or anything.And he didn’t want to tell me, so I grabbed his phone.He was on Prowler.”Daniel paused, as though weighing something, and said, “It’s an app for gay guys.”
“Yeah, believe it or not, you didn’t invent being gay.What did he do?”
“He told me to give it back.But I didn’t.He was planning on meeting up with someone—not at home, obviously, because he couldn’t.But at the park.”Shame made Daniel’s voice small.“We got in a huge fight.”
“You didn’t know he’d been fucking other guys?”
Daniel flinched.“He hadn’t!But we couldn’t be together now that my parents knew.That’s what he said.And he had to move on.I told him I was going to be sixteen in six months.I told him I could get emancipated, and then we could live together, like we’d talked about.He…he laughed.And the phone kept buzzing because he was still getting messages.And he said I didn’t know what I was talking about because I was just a kid.And I said I knew I loved him.And he told me I ruined his life.”
“What a fuck.”
“He was upset,” Daniel said, drying a cheek on his shoulder.“He didn’t know what he was saying.He was hurt, and everything had gone wrong, and he didn’t know what to do.I get that now.But I was so mad at him.I ran out of the house.I didn’t even realize I still had the phone until I got home.”
Which explained why the last location the phone had registered was at Ammon’s house.And why the police had been so sure Ammon had been involved in Brennon’s death, even if theyhadleft it off the affidavit for the warrant.
“After he—” Daniel stopped.“After I heard what happened to him, I didn’t know what to do.But I knew my dad hadn’t done it.”
“Oh yeah?”Jem asked.“Because he confessed.”
“He saw me come home that night.”The hesitation was so raw it was painful.“He was afraid.”
Jem didn’t bother saying anything to that.
Voice a little stronger, Daniel said, “The night you and Uncle Tean came over, I remembered Bren had been going to meet someone.So, I looked at the app.I found the messages.Bren had been—he’d been lying.He said he was a lot younger than he was.He said he’d just moved here and didn’t know anyone.He said he didn’t talk to his family anymore.”Silence came on the wake of the words.“I felt like I was going crazy.It was like my brain was awake.Like it had never been awake before.All I could think about was Bren, and what had happened.And it was like I could see how it happened, every step of it.”
“Please don’t tell me you made your own Prowler account.”
“But I found him!It wasn’t the same account, but Iknewit was him.He asked the same questions.Had the same way of talking.I could tell it was the same guy.So, I said what Bren said.Kind of.”
“What do you mean, kind of?”
“He wanted a picture.”