Someone Like You (9 page)

The mayor faced Brie. “What was the problem?”

“She saw Matt’s arm,” Dylan told the father. “He’s been cutting himself.”

“Excuse me?”

“Matt’s been cutting himself, Mr. Keller.”

“What does that mean?” Parents often had no idea what cutting even was.

Dylan looked to the counselor. She said, “Sometimes, when kids are in too much pain for them to bear, they take razor blades and cut their arms or legs to relieve it.”

“Cutting themselves relieves pain?”

“Physical pain alleviates the intolerable feelings a kid has. I understand Matt’s mother died recently.”

“A year ago.” Keller’s face went blank. “He’s still suffering over that. I am, too. But a lot of kids’ parents die and don’t hurt themselves.”

“Nick, do you want to tell him or should I?” Dylan asked.

“I will.” Nick hadn’t sat down, but stood behind Brie. “Mr. Mayor, Matt’s talked to me a lot. I know you and him aren’t getting along. I know what’s gone on between you.”

The guy didn’t flinch and for a second, Nick wondered if he’d been wrong to believe what the boy had told him. No! He hadn’t. He’d witnessed the agony Matt was experiencing.

“We’re close,” Nick added.

“If you’re close, why didn’t you know he was doing this cutting thing?” Keller’s tone turned sarcastic and though Nick knew the man was capable of far worse, he was still surprised.

Nick lifted his chin. “I did know. What’s more, I got him to see a counselor outside of school.”

The mayor’s eyes widened and his face flushed. “Let me get this straight. You’ve known my son has been mutilating himself? You got him help and you’ve obviously counseled him?”

“That about covers it.”

“What gave you the right to keep a problem my child is having from me? 
My
child,” the mayor emphasized. “Not yours.”

Dylan intervened. “We need to table that discussion and find Matt.”

“He’s probably gone off to lick his wounds. The boy’s too sensitive. Let him be. He’ll come home with his tail between his legs soon enough.”

The counselor shook her head. “Don’t you want to find him, Mayor Keller?”

“I want some answers about my son. If I’m not going to get them from you, I’m calling my attorney.”

Shocked faces on everyone but Nick.

The mayor stood and started out. Brie rose and blocked his way. “Is there any place he might have gone that no one but you would know about?”

A huff. “I have a hunting cabin near Letchworth Gorge. I suppose he could have absconded there. But mark my words, he’ll come back. And when he does, we’ll end these shenanigans.”

Dylan snatched a pad off his desk and held it out to the mayor. “I want directions to the cabin.”

A glare, but the guy scribbled on the paper then stormed out.

Dylan faced Nick. “Can we take your car? I have to make some calls on the way down.”

Brie said, “Let me get my purse.”

Oh, God, that’s all he needed. Again, he didn’t look at her, but said flatly, “I don’t want her to come with us.”

“What? Why?” Brie asked.

“Dylan, she’s not coming.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but we don’t have time to argue. Brie, I’m sorry, you’ll stay here. We’ll call you as soon as we find him.”

She grabbed Nick’s arm. “Nick, please.”

Flinging her off, he walked out the door. He couldn’t stand her touching him.

Chapter 7

Brie was unsteady on her feet as she left Dylan’s office. She was terrified for Matt. Educators had a sense of when a student was seriously in trouble and she’d gotten bad vibes from the boy. Dylan knew it, too. And Nick. No, she wouldn’t think about Nick and how he’d looked through her, how cold and uncaring he’d been when he refused to let her go with them.

Sheryl had called in subs to cover for her and Nick so Brie left the school and went out to sit in her car.

And worry.

Rolling the windows down, leaning back into the seat, she closed her eyes and thought about the news reports of teens hurting themselves these days. No one had used the word suicide but Brie knew that’s what everyone was concerned about with Matt. Except his father. The man had been a robot. Insensitive. Selfish. She conceded that he’d lost his wife a year ago, and remembered her own loss of Jared. But Brie knew for a fact that nothing,
nothing
could ever make her treat her daughter as badly as he’d been treating Matt.

Mayor Keller was a monster. She only hoped it wasn’t too late for his son.

o0o

Staring through the windshield, Nick blanked his mind as he drove to Letchworth. Vaguely, he was aware of Dylan taking out his cell and punching in numbers.

“This is Dylan Kane, principal of Crystal Corners High School. I need to report a situation in the home of one of my students.”

He was probably calling Child Protective Services, though most likely they couldn’t do anything because Matt was eighteen. Nick tuned out the conversation and focused instead on what had just happened in Dylan’s office. Nick had wanted to deck the mayor, who’d been so careless with his son. How on earth could a man treat his kid like that?

Dylan clicked off and keyed in another number. “Hi, honey, it’s me. I’m sorry I reached your voice mail. We have an issue with a student at the high school. You need to find Brie as soon as you’re free. She’s involved and she isn’t doing well.”

At the mention of Brie’s name, Nick gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turned white. No, he wouldn’t think about her. He wouldn’t.

After Dylan clicked off, he was silent. Then he asked, “Do you want to talk about Brie? I know something’s going on between you two.”

“No,” Nick said, “I don’t want to talk about her. Or see her. Ever again.”

o0o

Brie went home. She didn’t know what else to do. She was too upset to teach her classes so she sat on her glassed-in porch, phone in hand, hoping Dylan would call her when they found Matt. When they found Matt
in time.
Because she hadn’t contacted anybody, she was surprised when Annie knocked on the back door and stepped inside.

“Brie, are you all right?”

For a moment, Brie was confused.  When realization hit her, she felt her mouth go dry. “Oh, my God. Oh, no! Did Dylan call you to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That he’s dead?”

“Dead? Who would be dead?” Annie sat down and took Brie’s hands. “Dylan called but didn’t leave details. Tell me what happened.”

“I found something out about Matt Keller this morning. And Nick knew.” She related the awful details. “Then the mayor came to school.” And last, “Nick wouldn’t let me go with them.”

When she finished, Annie’s expression was sympathetic. “I’m so sorry. But I don’t understand. Why couldn’t you go with them to find Matt?”

It was then that Brie burst into tears.

o0o

“There it is.” They’d been on the road an hour, gotten lost and had to call the mayor’s office to get better directions. But up ahead lay a log cabin, out in the woods, isolated and…eerie.
Please God, don’t let it be too late,
Nick prayed
. Don’t let a mistake I might have made hurt Matt.

Nick parked behind Matt’s car and they approached on foot. Before they reached the cabin, they heard a gunshot crack the silence. Both he and Dylan started running.

The front door was locked. Nick banged hard on the heavy wood. “Matt, open up.”
Please be alive to open it. Please.

Dylan said, “Keep trying. I’m going around back to see if we can get in that way.”

Nick pounded and called to Matt, pounded and called. Then he thought,
Fuck it
, lifted his leg, and tried to bash the door in. Nothing but pain shooting up his shin. He was ready to erupt when he heard shattering glass out back.

Racing around the side of the cabin, he found Dylan had broken a window and intended to climb through. Wordlessly, Nick helped hoist him up then waited until Dylan opened the back door.

They entered the front room quietly and stopped short.

They’d found Matt.

o0o

“Why don’t they call?”

“They will as soon as they have news.” Annie sipped her tea and stared out at the lake from where she stood by the door.  “Oh, dear, oh, Brie, the police are at Nick’s house.”

“Police?”

“They’re nosing around, looking in the back windows.”

Brie bolted off the couch and hurried outside. She crossed the deck and yard to Nick’s house. Police uniforms stood out starkly in the bright light of afternoon and the sun glinted off their badges. “Ma’am,” one officer said. “Do you happen to know where your neighbor is?”

“Why do you want to talk to him?”

“That’s police business.”

“No, I don’t know where Nick is.”

The guy nodded and started to walk up the yard. Brie heard him say to his fellow officer, “They mayor isn’t gonna like that we can’t find him.”

The other responded, “I don’t care. I didn’t want to arrest Coach Corelli anyway.”

All of a sudden it hit Brie. She’d been responsible for this. Scaring Matt so much he’d run away. Reporting the situation to Dylan who called the mayor, who’d set the police on Nick. Would he lose his job? Would he be arrested for endangering the life of a child?

She turned to Annie and said, “My God, what have I done?”

o0o

Before he moved, Nick’s gaze swept the room. A gun cabinet door hung open on the far wall. A fireplace next to it, with a picture on the mantel that smashed to smithereens. In front of one of the two couches facing each other sat Matt, slouched over. Chilled to the bone, Nick crept softly to the boy and hunched down in front of him. “Hey, buddy. How ‘bout taking that gun out of your mouth and giving it to me?”

Matt shook his head.

“Please, Matt, don’t do this.”

Still no response—in words or movements.

Cautiously, Nick sat on the floor opposite the boy. He couldn’t afford to let in the horror of the site in, so he focused on Matt’s eyes.

“Come on, son, take the gun out of your mouth.” No answer. “For me,” he pleaded hoarsely.

Matt watched him, his face full of utter despair.

Nick kept his gaze locked with the boy’s.

Slowly, Matt lowered the gun. To his stomach. Jesus.

He also turned his head and noticed Dylan. His eyes widened.

Nick said, “Mr. Kane came here with me because he cares, too, Matt.”

“I do,” Dylan put in. “I care a lot. And I can help with any problems you have.”

“Talk to us.”

Just a blank stare again, as if Matt had retreated elsewhere. After a very long time, he said, “I’ll talk to you, Coach.”

“Would you like me to leave?” Dylan asked.

Matt nodded.

“Then I’ll be on the porch.”

Which was a damn shame. Nick was way out of his depth here, and as Dylan said, he’d had experience with suicidal teens. Hell, Nick had no idea what he was doing.

o0o

Brie jumped when her cell rang. She and Annie were still on the porch, just sitting there, waiting. “Nick?”

“It’s Dylan. We found Matt. He’s alive but he’s not out of the woods yet. Nick’s inside the cabin with him, but Matt has a gun.”

“He’s got a gun on Nick?”

“No, on himself. He wanted to talk to Nick alone. I’m outside.”

“How long has it been?”

“They’ve been talking about a half-hour. I waited as long as I could to call you but I thought you’d want to know that for now, Matt’s alive.”

Brie began to cry.

Annie took the phone from her, listened, then said, “Yes, I know. It’s right that you called. You promised to stay in touch and we needed an update badly. Yes, I will. I love you.” When she finished, she joined Brie on the couch, took hold of her hand again.

Brie said, “Our worst fear.”

“No, our worst fear was that Matt might already be dead. I have confidence in Nick.”

“I should have had more.”

“Shh, you can work all that out later. Right now, let’s just be glad Matt’s still alive.”

o0o

“Does the Mayor know?”

They’d been at this a while, but Nick’s gut told him to keep Matt talking. So far all he’d been able to do is assure the boy that people cared about him.

“Yeah, kid, Mr. Kane called him in.”

“He told you about the cabin?” Nick nodded. “Does he hate me now?”

What should Nick say?
Go with your gut.
“I could lie to you, Matt, tell you he’s not mad, just worried. But he was pissed.”

“He’s always pissed at me.”

“For what it’s worth, he doesn’t seem to think you’re in danger, that’s why he didn’t come with us.”

Matt snorted. “He probably went back to work.”

“I’m sorry. Listen, let’s not talk about him. Let’s talk about you. What made you come out here, get the gun, want to hurt yourself?”

Huge fat tears coursed down Matt’s cheeks. “He sold Mom’s piano.”

Nick didn’t understand the connection but went along with Matt’s line of thinking. “Why did he do that?”

“Because he caught me playing it. Singing.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in music.”

“Mom taught me. But when I got in high school, the mayor pushed me into sports.  He talked mom into letting the music go. When she died, I started playing again. ” He sniffed. “I love it.”

Nick followed a hunch. “But your father won’t let you play?”

“Not at all.  I think it reminds him of mom and makes him sad. But it makes me happy.”  He swallowed hard. “Better than football. There, now you can hate me, too.”

“Why would I hate you? You should be able to do what you want to do.”

“Even in high school?”

“Yeah, of course. If you give me that gun, I can help you pursue your music.”

“I’m being scouted for a football scholarship, Coach.”

“But you’d rather go to college for music.”

“Yeah.”

“Matt, all of this is okay. Normal. If your father implies it’s not, he’s wrong.”

“I have to do what he says or he won’t pay for school.”

“There are tons of ways to get financing. I’ll help you. Mr. Kane and your guidance counselor will, too.”