The Kid paled a little bit more.

“Only a few left,” Otter muttered. “I know there was more than that.”

There had been. The bottle had been half full when I’d fished that pill out for him after the day at the lake. I remembered that much at least.

“Okay,” I said. I took a deep breath, trying to push the anger away as much as I could before I looked back at the Kid. “Here’s how this is going to go. You’re going to talk. You’re going to tell us the truth. We’re going to listen. I promise you that we will listen. But if at any point we think you’re lying, it’s just going to be that much worse for you. Are we clear?”

“That much worse?” the Kid said, laughing bitterly. “What do you think you’re gonna do, Bear? Spank me? Ground me? Send me to my room? Come on. Let’s be real here.”

“You currently enjoy a life with little to no responsibility,” Otter said. “You don’t have a job. You don’t pay rent. We put money in your account every month for you to use. You have everything handed to you. And for good reason. After—after everything, this was supposed to be your reward. You worked hard, so we made sure that you got what you deserved for that. It was one of the big things we discussed before we moved here. We didn’t want you to have to worry about the little things. Your focus should have been on your classes.”

“And I have been focused on school—”

“What’s your major?” I asked.

He blinked. “What?”

“What are you majoring in,” I repeated slowly. “What are you going to school for?”

“I’m not… look, it’s complicat—”

“How are your grades?”

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Mostly fine,” he corrected, looking away. “Nothing to worry about.”

He’ll lie, his therapist had said. Most likely he’ll try and lie his way out of everything. And you know how much respect I have for him, Derrick. Tyson is truly a wonderful young man, no matter what issues he may have. But he can be manipulative. Whether he means to be or not, it’s something he does. I don’t necessarily think it’s malicious, because I don’t know that he’s got a mean bone in his body, but he does know how to twist things sometimes.

“Then you won’t mind if we check up on that tomorrow,” Otter said. “In fact, we should probably set up an appointment with your advisor. Just to check in.”

“You can’t do that—”

“I think you’ll find that we can do quite a lot,” I said. “You wanted to know how much worse it could be, Kid? You’re about to find out. Because starting now, I’m going to be so far up your ass, you’re not even going to be able to take a goddamn breath without me knowing.”