Before Killing Was Cool ➊ FRERARD

21: These Legal Proceedings Didn't Account For Sociopaths

"So his parents are homophobic." Mikey rolls his eyes, not surprised. They always sounded pretty stuck-up. "It's the twenty-first century, they'll get over it."

"No, Mikey, you're not listening; you're a boy." Alicia finally releases her grip on his shoulders and simply looks disappointed. "Not a man. Pete is eighteen and is - well, was - looking to move out and move on with his life. His parents wouldn't want anything holding him back because their son is a liability - they knew it as soon as they got the call about his DUI. They want as little a part in his life as possible as long as it suits them."

"What do I care what his parents think? What does he care? I'm not doing anything wrong," Mikey argues.

"You've certainly done wrong in their eyes now. You've ruined their image by putting their son in jail."

"So let him out!"

"Mikey!" She refrains from shaking him in an attempt to reason with him. "Pete was always going to leave you behind. This simply speeds up the process."

"What, you think I don't know about Chicago?" At Alicia's conflicted expression, Mikey will bet that Pete's made those details clear to her too. "Who says I wouldn't go with him?"

"Because he doesn't want you to go," she tells him softly and her eyes reflect nothing but the sad truth, "to him, you were fun while it lasted but people like Pete - manipulators, abusers - they can have a short attention span. There's fresh meat waiting for him out west. He doesn't care enough to take you with him, Mikey."

This sets a clear change in mood. Mikey heads for the front door to the street, wanting to be alone with his self-deprecating thoughts but Alicia isn't so willing to let him go, worried the boy will turn back to alcohol or something worse. The sound of her heels clacking on the polished floor is deafening as she walks behind him, too stressed to aim for casual.

"You're welcome to go to Chicago," she says, "you don't need my permission for that. Something tells me your parents wouldn't hold you back." She's right about that. "So it's up to you to think these things through with rationality. Pete isn't getting out so if you leave, you leave alone."

She doesn't know that he's friendly with Patrick, then. Patrick would take pity on him; they'd sit next to each other on the plane. Maybe there's an opening in his future apartment for one more messed up kid.

He remembers what he was told the day of the shooting, when the police rounded everyone up and cleared the area. How he was pulled to his feet. It was a 'place of death' and he couldn't stay there. But here is where he's trapped. He puts a hand on the door but doesn't open it.

"You've got what you wanted," Mikey spits, "why are we still talking?"

"Because for months what I have to keep telling you is that I'm doing this for you - because you deserve better than what you've been getting. You deserve a happy home, a bright future and a real adult to talk to." The all-business tone in her voice reduces to nothing and here comes the personal bit. "It's not my obligation to ensure your happiness beyond your basic safety, but it is my intention."

He had started to trust her before Joe died. Nothing but that has changed.

"The bail is set high for Pete's release." This information peaks his interest. Alicia carries on to deliver the bad news. "He has a record already, he's over eighteen and has a history of substance - as in alcohol - abuse. This all contributes to the number."