Blood Trail Read Free Page A

voice shook, too, as she said, “Mom, Aardy’s crying.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œI saw one of the cops puking into a paper bag.”
    â€œHush.”
    â€œI heard—”
    â€œJamy, hush. Good grief …” Mom stared past me. I turned and saw a TV news van pulling in at the Gingriches’ place.
    Mom said, “Come on before it gets even worse.” She herded both of us back toward the car.
    But when we got there, she didn’t get in. She made Jamy get in, but she stopped me, and her eyes had that look like when my dad left.
    Very softly she asked, “Jeremy, how did you know?”
    I didn’t feel like I knew anything, and all of a sudden I wanted to cry. I could barely talk. “Mom, not now.”
    â€œYes, now!” Then her tone changed. “Honey, tell me. Please. You know we have to call the police. Are you going to need a lawyer?”
    I shook my head. Damn, I wasn’t going to cry. I made my voice hard. “Just call them. Never mind. I’ll tell them myself. I’m going back.” I turned away.
    â€œJeremy, no!”
    I gave her a look over my shoulder. “Mom, I’ve got to be there.”
    We stared at each other.
    â€œJust take Jamy home,” I said.
    â€œDon’t talk to the police yet. Don’t talk to anybody,” she ordered. “Jeremy, promise.”
    â€œOkay.”
    She got into the car and took Jamy home and left me.
    Running back to Aaron’s house, I saw that Mrs. Gingrich was there, looking as white as her nurse uniform, standing with Mr. Gingrich, both of them looking lost even though they were right in front of their own house. Aaron’s parents. I felt my insides go all clotted in my chest. I ran up to the yellow police tape, jumped it like a hurdle, and trotted up the yard.
    Mr. Gingrich looked at me and said, “Son, how you doing?” like he barely knew what he was saying, like he might offer me a Popsicle or something, the way he always did when I went into his store. But Mrs. Gingrich choked out, “Oh, Jeremy,” and kind of toppled toward me. The look on her face—I’d never seen her look like that, not even the time Aaron and I were poking around in the woodpile and Aaron got bit by a timber rattler. Then, when the doctors said he was going to be okay, she had cried and kidded around. Trust Aaron to find a rattlesnake in the backyard.
    But now it was no joke and she wasn’t crying. I think it was so bad, she couldn’t cry.
    I put my arms around her and said, “I’m sorry,” which sounds really stupid but I didn’t know what else to say. “I’m sorry.”
    She didn’t make a sound or say a word, just held on to me like she was drowning, with her head on my shoulder. She nodded to show she’d heard me. I felt the movement against my collarbone. Maybe she couldn’t talk.
    Aardy and a couple of cops came out of the garage; they’d been talking with her in there, maybe? Somebody had given her a fistful of white Kleenex. Then a state cop came out of the house with his hand on the back of Nathan’s neck, kind of guiding him along the sidewalk. Nathan’s face looked flat white like a paper mask, and the stains on his shirt were red turning into purple and brown. He didn’t look at me. I caught a glimpse of him, then turned my head away like I hadn’t seen him.
    The state trooper said to the Gingriches, “Come with me, folks,” and Mrs. Gingrich let go of me. Herding Nathan and his parents toward the driveway, the cop jerked his head at me and gave me a look that told me to get lost. He motioned the Gingriches into his cruiser.
    I went back to my place in the crowd and watched him drive the Gingriches away.
    I stood in front of Aaron’s house for hours. Afterward, Mom said she never should have let me stay, but I’m glad she did. It would have been even worse otherwise, imagining things. This way, I