That’s not a knife an average person would be carrying with him.Not unless that average person was Crocodile Dundee.I cross my arms, trying to make sense of what Leopold is telling me.“Kill him?As in the teacher was going to?”
Leopold nods.“He flipped his desk over and stormed out, but the principal managed to keep him distracted until I got there.When he saw me, he lost it.”He gestures to the bruise on his cheekbone.“Clocked me pretty good for being as young as he is.”
Assaulting an officer.
Resisting arrest.
Possession of a weapon on school property.
These are no small charges.
Groaning, I run both hands over my face.This is bad.So bad.“What’s it looking like?”
“I want you to talk to him first.I need to know why he had that knife before I take a stance on it.I’m willing to bet he’ll be expelled, but before I decide what to move forward with, I want your opinion.Kyle was a good kid before his dad did a number on him.Used to mow my grass.”He looks exhausted and just as tortured by this turn of events as I am.“I want to help him, but endangering the other students is not something I can let slide.”
“I understand.”In the last few years, Leopold and I have worked together on more than a dozen difficult cases involving teens and difficult households.He trusts my judgement, and I trust his.
If he’s waiting to officially charge Kyle with anything, it’s because he thinks there’s hope for the kid.I can only hope he’s right.Lord, please let him be right.
Turning away from Leopold, I head for the interrogation room and pull the door open.Kyle is staring away from the door, his expression hard, hands clasped in his lap.His mother looks back at me from where she’s kneeling beside him.Her cheeks are stained with tears, and based on her expression, she’s all but given up.
She stands and presses a kiss to the top of his dark hair.“I love you so much, Kyle.I’m so sorry.”She leaves the room and closes the door behind her, so I take a seat across from him.
His shoulders are rolled forward, his expression downcast as he refuses to make eye contact with me.
“Hey, Kyle.”
He doesn’t respond.
“It’s been a while.I apologize for that.”
More silence, then he offers me a quick glance.“I thought you were dead.”
An ache spreads through my chest in response to his broken tone.“For a minute there, I thought I was, too.”
“Hmm.”
“Want to talk about what happened today?”
“People overreacted.”
“You brought a knife to school,” I tell him.“I saw it.It’s a big knife.You hunting crocodiles these days?”
“It’s mine.”
“It’s a weapon,” I tell him.
“I wasn’t going to hurt anybody!”Kyle explodes out of his chair like dynamite.It scrapes against the floor and hits the ground as he pushes to his feet, hands fisted at his sides.
The door opens, and Leopold starts in, but I shake my head and hold up a hand.Slowly, he backs out.All while I remain seated, my muscles tense for a fight I sincerely hope doesn’t happen.
While I don’t fear what the kid could do to me on a normal day, Sawyer will never let me hear the end of it if I was pepper-sprayed by my neighbor and hospitalized after a teenager attacked me all in the same week.
Not to mention the damage it will cause to the fragile relationship I’ve built with this kid over the last few weeks.
“I don’t believe you were going to hurt anybody, Kyle.”
Tears stream down his cheeks now.His expression is broken and furious at the same time.“I wasn’t gonna,” he insists.“I needed it.”His voice wavers, and he pokes himself in the chest.