“They said you two attacked Mr. Phillips with a baseball bat. They said you intended to take him down, steal his money, and steal his car. Is that true?” Arnold asked.

“But it wasn’t Mr. Phillips. It was the chief,” Teddy said. “It was a setup. They were lying in wait for us!”

Donna was horrified by her son’s defiance. It made her angry, and her anger was what she needed to get past the shock. She turned loose of her husband’s arm and walked into the aisle between their cells. She was tiny, but she was mighty in her rage. Her hand was shaking as she pointed at both of them.

“Oh…you mean like the setup you two had when you were lying in wait for Mr. Phillips? When you were going to hit him in the head with a baseball bat? When you were going to steal his money and his car? Did you intend to kill him, too?”

Brian wailed. “No, Mama, no!”

“But you could have,” Donna cried. “A head injury is a deadly injury. So attempted assault, robbery, and car theft are your solutions to failing school again, while claiming you’re both adults?”

Brian stumbled back to his cot and buried his face in his hands.

Arnold walked to his other son, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You have been feeling sorry for yourself because we’re poor. But you never offered to get a job. You just complained about what you didn’t have. We raised you boys in church. We loved you every day of your lives. We supported you every way we knew how, and you chose to solve your absences at school by smoking weed and drinking with your so-called friends. You didn’t even graduate and were screwing off your second chance at that, while wondering why we were upset.” Arnold took a deep, shaky breath. “I would have bet my life you two would never do something like this…and I would have died, wouldn’t I?”

Teddy shuddered. If his dad had been angry and shouting, he could have maintained the don’t-care attitude. But this broken man standing before him hurt his heart.

“I’m sorry, Dad. It was a mistake.”

Donna interrupted. “No, sir, Theodore Hollis! You didn’t make a mistake. A mistake is something that happens by accident. You planned every bit of this. You two decided it would be okay to attack a man, to rob him, and to steal his car. You both disgust me.”

“I’m sorry, Mama. I love you,” Teddy said.

“I don’t believe you,” Donna said.

“I love you, too, Mama,” Brian said.

Donna glared at the both of them.