By the time Darrell and I reached the school, an ambulance had already taken Will to the neighboring county, which was where the nearest hospital was located. We arrested three teens who bore the bruises and black eyes of Will fighting back. They refused to identify any of the other teens who’d been involved, and none of the kids who’d watched in the hallway would talk to us, either. Even the teachers claimed to have not seen who else had taken part.

I had to leave the interview room rather than listen to the questioning, because I was sickened by what I heard. I knew these teens, and I knew their parents. Before that day, I would have called them good kids, funny, athletic, even a little naive about the ways of the world. These same teens had set upon a boy who’d been one of their heroes, and there was absolutely no regret in their eyes. They thought that they were the real victims, that Will had made fools of them, gulled them into being friends with a pervert. That was actually the mildest of the words they used to describe him.

There would be no legal consequences for what they did. I knew that. We’d arrested them, but the county prosecutor would make it all go away. Even in the unlikely event that the case made it to court, the judge would give them a stern lecture and set them free. There would be nothing on their records. Nothing that would follow them around for the rest of their lives.

I went back to my desk, but I could hear the other deputies talking about it. Laughing, making jokes. Ajax was among them. Ajax, who’d probably gone straight to the 126 from my house and started the rumors flying. He’d known exactly what would happen to Will as soon as the news got out, but he didn’t care. I couldn’t even look at him. It sickened me to think I’d actually felt a physical attraction to this man. I sat at my desk for a while and tried to block it all out, but I realized I needed to get away from there. I grabbed my coat and left, feeling as if their voices were chasing me out the door.

Outside, the snow we’d been expecting had begun. It fell in a white cloud, heavy and dense, making the world seem quieter. A storm like this came once or twice in a season, gathering inch by inch as the hours passed, making you wonder if it would ever stop. I got in my cruiser and drove, and other than the occasional plow trying to keep up with the snowfall, I had the highway to myself. I struggled to stay in the lane and not slide off into a ditch, and I had to squint to see.