Every Bright and Broken Thing

Chapter Forty-Four - Ezra

Anger burns inside of my stomach as I burst from Liam's hospital room and find Elaine outside with Dad.

"I need your keys," I tell her, holding out a hand.

"Why?" she asks, concerned.

"I'll tell you later. I just need to borrow your car."

She fumbles through her backpack and retrieves her keys, dropping them in the palm of my hand.

Rage courses through my veins like a violent fire as I take the stairs two at a time to the parking garage where I race across the concrete to Elaine's car.

Bill Everett.

That monster!

Without bothering to buckle, I turn the key. The car roars to life and I peel out of the parking space and race right down the middle of Summit. Thanks to all those years driving Liam around, I know exactly where I'm going.

I seethe, teeth clenched, as I think of Bill Everett, a deacon at my father's church, a prominent man in the community, a family friend. All those sleepovers I dropped Liam off for, all those times I ran into Bill Everett. How could I not have known? Why didn't I see it?

From the road, I see him sitting there in that old rocker on his front porch before I even park. Veering to the right, I slam on my breaks in his front lawn, leaving tire tracks in the dirt behind me.

Bill Everett springs to his feet, bellowing at me as I swing the door of the car open and race across the yard to his front porch. Before he can get a word out, I swing and punch him square in the eye. He falls to the ground and I'm on top of him, punching again and again and again until his face cracks open and blood comes rushing out all over him and mixes with the blood that comes from the fractured skin of my own knuckles.

Behind me, the front door swings open and his son, Lincoln, is on me, pulling at my shoulders and yelling at me to stop. He manages to pull me off and I whip around to him as Bill Everett writhes on the ground, clutching his face, moaning and cursing. "Did you know?!" I bark, my face inches from his.

"Know what?!" he screams.

"Your father raped Liam. Two years ago. Did you know?"

His eyes widen and he staggers back, horror written all over his expression. His face goes pale.

"You're lying," he says, unconvinced.

"No. I'm not. Liam's in the hospital right now because one of your classmates attacked him. Did you know about that too?"

"No, of course not!"

With a snarl, I move toward Bill Everett where he lies, sputtering and choking on his own blood, and this time Lincoln doesn't even try to stop me. But instead of punching him again, I grab him by the collar of his shirt and drag him toward my car. He kicks and hollers and punches at the air as I drag him across the lawn. Lincoln, dazed and silent, watches me as I shove his father in my trunk and peel out of their front yard.

I roar through town and toward the police station. Slamming on my brakes out front, I climb out, pop my trunk, and drag Bill Everett out of the car and up the stairs to the precinct. Several police officers spin toward me as soon as I walk through the door. One of them approaches, wary, his hand on the gun at his hip.

"What's this all about?" he asks.

I shove Bill Everett at him, bleeding and whimpering.

"This man is a child sex offender. I'll be happy to give my full statement and so will my family, but I need to get back to the hospital because my little brother is there right now."

Another guy comes walking up wearing a sheriff's uniform. His nameplate says "Johnson."

"Ezra Greyson?" he asks.

I nod.

"Your father told me what happened with your brother. Now, as I recall, the person who assaulted your brother was another student."

Shaking my head, "This man assaulted him too. Two years ago."

Sheriff Johnson nods slowly, considers the accusation.

"Phillips, detain Mr. Everett," he says, a finger aimed at the man on the floor. "See to it that he gets appropriate medical attention."

Phillips leads Bill Everett, who struggles to get away, further into the precinct. All the while, he screams, curses, and demands for his release.

"Now, Mr. Greyson, I'm going to need to ask you some more questions. But I understand the situation with your family is severe so I'm going to let you go for now. But don't skip town, you hear?"

Nodding, I thank himand head back out to the car. My heart pounds inside my chest, but the angersubsides because, for all the ways that I've been wrong, at least I've madethis one thing right.