“What do the doctors say?” I asked.

“He has a broken arm, broken nose, broken jaw, and fractured skull. They’re afraid of swelling in the brain. We won’t know more until he wakes up.”

“He’ll pull through,” I said, fervently hoping that was true. “He’s strong. He’ll be fine.”

Norm didn’t answer.

“Where’s Kathy?” I asked, because I assumed his wife was here, too.

“They had to give her a sedative. She’s in another room.”

“I am so sorry, Norm. This is all my fault.”

“There’s nothing you could have done.”

“Will came to see me last night. I—I wasn’t alone. Ajax was with me. Will was so upset, and he wanted to talk about Jay. I should have stopped him. I shouldn’t have let him tell me anything until it was just the two of us. I knew what he was going to say, and I should have known what the consequences would be.”

Norm stared at me. “You knew what he was going to say?”

“I guessed.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I just had a feeling. I can’t even tell you where it came from.”

Norm shook his head. “He was my son, and I didn’t know. I didn’t have a clue. Neither did Kathy. The only way I even found out today was when I saw what they’d written on his locker. That word. I thought, they made a mistake. They nearly killed my son over a mistake. It never even occurred to me that it was true. When I saw Jay, he admitted it to me, and I couldn’t believe it.”

“You saw Jay?” I asked.

Norm nodded. “He came to the hospital. He was devastated. Just gutted. The way he looked at Will, the only way I can explain it is that he’s in love with him. And do you know what’s crazy? I don’t even know what the hell that means. I really don’t even understand it.”

I wanted to ask where Jay was, but Norm kept talking.

“You said Will came to see you last night?” he asked me. “He told you about him and Jay?”

“Yes.”

“And yet he couldn’t tell me. I’m his father, and he couldn’t tell me.”

“He only told me because he was trying to protect Jay. He knew the sheriff was planning to arrest Jay for Gordon’s murder.”

“But why wouldn’t he tell me?” Norm asked with a sad anguish. “What did he think I would say? Did he think we’d disown him? Kick him out?”

“What would you have done?”