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come down
on him. You know that. But don’t go looking for trouble—he’s bad news. So stay
away from him.”
    Miles still
didn’t respond.
    “Let it go, you
got that?” Charlie was speaking now not simply as a friend, but as Miles’s boss
as well.
    “Why are you
telling me this?”
    “I just told you
why.”
    Miles looked at
Charlie closely. “But there’s something else, isn’t there.” Charlie held
Miles’s gaze for a long moment. “Look . . . Otis says you got a little rough
when you arrested him, and he filed a complaint—” Miles slammed his hand
against the table, the noise reverberating throughout the restaurant. People at
the next table jumped and turned to stare, but Miles didn’t notice.
    “That’s crap—”
    Charlie raised
his hands to stop him. “Hell, I know that, and I told Harvey that, too, and
Harvey isn’t gonna do anything with it. But you and him aren’t exactly best
friends, and he knows what you’re like when you get worked up. Even though he’s
not gonna press it, he thinks it’s possible that Otis is telling the truth and
he told me to tell you to lay off.”
    “So what am I
supposed to do if I see Otis committing a crime? Look the other way?”
    “Hell, no—don’t
be stupid. I’d come down on you if you did that. Just keep your distance for a
while, until all this blows over, unless there’s no other choice.  I’m telling you this for your own good,
okay?”
    It took a
moment before Miles finally sighed. “Fine,” he answered.  Even as he spoke, however, he knew that he
and Otis weren’t finished with one another yet.

A Bend in the Road

Chapter 3
    Three hours
after meeting with Charlie, Miles pulled into a parking space in front of
Grayton Elementary School just as classes were being dismissed. Three school
buses were idling and students began drifting toward them, clustering in groups
of four or six. Miles saw Jonah at the same time his son saw him. Jonah waved
happily and ran toward the car; Miles knew that in a few more years, once
adolescence settled in, Jonah wouldn’t do that anymore. Jonah leapt into his
open arms and Miles squeezed him tight, enjoying the closeness while he
could.  “Hey, champ, how was school?”
    Jonah pulled
back. “It was fine. How’s work going?”
    “It’s better now
that I’m done.”
    “Did you arrest
anyone today?”
    Miles shook his
head. “Not today. Maybe tomorrow. Listen, do you want to get some ice cream
after I finish up here?”
    Jonah nodded
enthusiastically and Miles put him down. “Fair enough. We’ll do that.” He bent
lower and met his son’s eyes. “Do you think you’ll be okay on the playground
while I talk to your teacher? Or do you want to wait inside?” “I’m not a little
kid anymore, Dad. Besides, Mark has to stay, too. His mom’s at the doctor’s
office.”
    Miles looked up
and saw Jonah’s best friend waiting impatiently near a basketball hoop. Miles
tucked Jonah’s shirt back in.
    “Well, you two
stay together, okay? And don’t go wandering, either of you.”
    “We won’t.”
    “All right,
then—but be careful.”
    Jonah handed his father
his backpack and scrambled off. Miles tossed it onto the front seat and started
through the parking lot, weaving among the cars. A few kids shouted greetings,
as did some mothers who drove their kids home from school. Miles stopped and
visited with some of them, waiting until the commotion outside finally began to
die down. Once the buses were on their way and most of the cars were gone, the
teachers headed back inside. Miles took one last glance in Jonah’s direction
before following them into the school. 
As soon as he entered the building, he was hit with a blast of hot air.
The school was nearly forty years old, and though the cooling system had been
replaced more than once over the years, it wasn’t up to the task during the
first few weeks of school, when summer was still bearing down hard. Miles could
feel himself begin to sweat