When Josh finally recovered, Lisa couldn’t understand how she had ever hated him. She felt strangely empty when he finally released her, but she couldn’t blame him for wanting to keep his distance after how she had treated his family. He didn’t trust her, and he probably never would. She searched his face to confirm her fears, but to her surprise, she detected no animosity whatsoever.
Richard rejoined them a few minutes later, looking rather shaken. He was covered with dust, and his clothes were bloody, but he seemed satisfied in a fatalistic way.
“I’m glad to see the two of you have called a truce,” he said. “Near-death experiences tend to put things into perspective.”
“Are you hurt?” said Josh.
“The blood isn’t mine,” said Richard. “I would rather not talk about it. Even if he lives, he’ll never recover enough to testify against them—speaking of which, I suggest you kids don’t mention Graham when the police take your statements. We don’t really know if he had anything to do with it, and it could be dangerous.”
Lisa glanced at Josh. He took a breath, and the whole story tumbled out. Richard listened in silence until Josh expressed his feelings of guilt, and then he shook his head.
“Don’t blame yourself,” he said. “What could you have done? You had no evidence. The police might have questioned Graham and the others, but they couldn’t have arrested them on hearsay alone, and you would have suffered terrible consequences for snitching on them. No, you did the right thing.”
“I’m not so sure,” said Josh. “That man thought he was going out to eat, and now he’s basically dead. He was upset about something, too, before Graham walked away. I wish I knew what they talked about. I wonder if he had a family.”
“It’s not important,” said Richard.
“How can you say that?” said Josh. “I’m sure it’s important to someone somewhere. Haven’t Graham and his friends done enough damage already? If breaking into a house and committing a murder aren’t good enough reasons to report them, then I don’t know what it’ll take. When are we going to stop letting them get away with everything?”
“When we have a fighting chance,” said Richard. “Until then, keep your mouth shut.” He looked at Lisa with such a terrible glare that she hung her head. “That goes for you, too. I’ve tried to keep you out of the loop to protect you, but after this stunt, you know more than enough to put a target on your back.”
“I won’t say anything,” said Lisa.
“Excellent,” said Richard. “I’m glad the two of you are in this mess together. You can confide in each other. I know we’re taking an unconventional approach to dealing with these people, but it’s the best way. Are we all on the same page?”
Lisa saw the doubt in Josh’s eyes, and wondered why Richard was so adamant about protecting Graham. She was suddenly afraid of Richard. What if he had brought them to the restaurant on purpose? Running into Graham was almost too much of a coincidence. Maybe Richard was pretending to despise Graham, while collaborating with him behind the scenes. She knew Josh was thinking the same thing.
She nodded because Richard was waiting for an answer, but her mind was in turmoil. Josh was the only person in the world she could trust. That much was obvious. She doubted he felt the same way about her, but she hoped he would eventually change his mind once he recognized she wasn’t a vindictive snob after all.
∞∞∞
From that moment, Lisa stopped being so antagonistic toward Josh and his family. She apologized to Josh, and he forgave her without any hesitation, but Shannon refused to give her a second chance. A few days after the incident at the restaurant, Lisa was in the kitchen with her mother making dinner. They were both preoccupied with things that were too disturbing to discuss, so they weren’t talking. The only sound came from Shannon, who was setting the table in the dining room.
“Do you mind helping her?” said Lisa’s mother. “I know you don’t like Shannon, but it’s not her fault she wasn’t properly raised.”
Lisa decided it would be a good opportunity to be friendly to Shannon, even though she didn’t expect a pleasant reception. She went into the dining room. The clutter on the table was almost as bad as she had expected. Shannon had dumped the silverware into uncivilized little heaps, and she was distributing the plates so carelessly that Lisa wondered if she was trying to break them.
“Do you need help?” she said.
“No, but you do,” said Shannon. “You’ve been treating me like trash for the past few months, but you’ve suddenly decided you want to be my best friend. It’s pathetic, but I get it. You almost died, and you realized it would be awkward to arrive at the pearly gates and have to explain why you bullied a bunch of kids who are about to become orphans.”
“That’s not true,” said Lisa.
“Whatever,” said Shannon. “You can’t fool me.”
“I’m not trying to fool you,” said Lisa. “I’m just trying to make things right. I shouldn’t have treated you like that, and I’m sorry.”
“You will be sorry,” said Shannon.
“I’m sorry now,” said Lisa. She gathered up the silverware. “I’ll show you what to do. It’s easy. My mother taught me how to set the table when I was six years old.”
“Oh, how adorable,” said Shannon in the most sarcastic voice Lisa had ever heard her use. “Shove it in my face, why don’t you, you little brat? My mom didn’t teach me how to be stuck-up like you, and you think she’s going to die, so you’ve decided I need a good female role model. What a joke. Who nominated you for the job?”
“No one,” said Lisa. “It’s not like that at all.”
“I’m sick of this whole business,” said Shannon. “You know what? If you think you’re so perfect, you can set
