Not the Only One (Book 1 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

Seventy-Five - May 31, 2018

Luke

"Dead? What do you mean, 'dead'?" I croaked.

"I – I don't know. That's all he said. He said we needed to go down to the jail for the whole story," he said, gathering up his keys and wallet.

"I'm going with you," I said, putting my shoes on quickly.

"All right. And Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Miles until we find out what happened. Then we'll call him down. Okay?"

I nodded. "Okay." I really didn't want to be the one to tell him this anyway.

***

At the jail, we were ushered in to a conference room and joined by at least three guards and one suited man who turned out to be the Warden of the jail, Mr. Ronald Yates.

"Thank you for coming in, Mr. Salazar. Please, have a seat."

We did, and I tapped my foot anxiously as I waited to hear the explanation.

"First of all, I want to say how sorry I am for your lo – " Mr. Yates began, but Dad held up his hand.

"Trust me, Mr. Yates, there is no love lost here. My brother and I were estranged at best," he said, and the warden's face betrayed a touch of relief. "We just want to know how it happened," Dad continued.

The warden nodded and began to speak. "At breakfast this morning, Mr. Jefferson and another inmate got into a verbal altercation. It started out very quietly, I guess, because our guards didn't realize it was happening until they had both sprung out of their seats to fight. Before they could be stopped, they started shoving each other, punches were thrown, and the other inmate pushed Mr. Jefferson backward. He stumbled sideways and hit his temple on the corner of a table. It was one of those one-in-a-million hits, the ones you only hear about on TV and in the movies. It killed him instantly."

I couldn't help but wince when the warden described the hit that killed William. A hit to the temple... yikes.

Next to me, Dad shifted in his chair and sighed. "Do you need someone to identify the body? Is that a thing you have to do even here?"

The warden nodded. "It's a hoop we have to jump through. And we need it to be his next of kin, which would be his son, Miles."

Dad and I glanced at each other, and I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was: I was William's son too, even though it wasn't written down anywhere. Miles had already been through enough. Would he want me to do this for him? I couldn't be sure. Dad shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"Let me call him," Dad said, pulling out his phone.

The warden nodded and gestured to the door. "We'll give you a minute," he said, ushering the guards out into the hallway.

"Thanks," I responded.

The warden nodded and closed the door behind him.

"Miles?" Dad said. "It's Adam. I need you to come down to the jail." He paused a second. "Yes. Now. And bring Rachel." Another pause. "Okay, yes, we're here. Bye."

He ended the phone call and looked over at me. He looked tired. "He's going to need as much support as he can get." He sighed, a sound that seemed to come straight from the depths of his soul. "I know Miles says he hates him, but at the end of the day, he's still his father. This isn't going to be easy for Miles. Even if he pretends it is. He's going to need his brother, Lucas," Dad said seriously.

I felt tears spring to my eyes, and I nodded. "I'm here."

***

Fifteen minutes later, Miles and Rachel showed up at the door of the conference room. They both looked weary.