Apocalypse Dawn by Mel Odom Page B

was a start. “Tell me about your telescope.”
    A trapped look creased Gerry’s thin face. For the first time, Megan saw the deep purple bruise that marred his left jawline. The back of a hand? she wondered. Or a collision with something else?
    Her stomach turned and she had to push back from the line of thinking and the images that came to mind. Boyd Fletcher was a big man physically, and he lived on adrenaline. A definite type A personality filled with anxiety, tension, and aggression.
    “What about it?” Gerry asked defensively.
    “What kind is it?” Megan started slow, working with small details that would gradually tear away the fabrication Gerry was presenting. If she did it, here and now, with him knowing she was on his side, maybe it would go easier when the MPs presented their questions and Helen and Dr. Carson accused Boyd Fletcher of abusing his son.
    Gerry carefully raised and lowered his thin shoulders. “I don’t know. It’s just a telescope.”
    “How long have you had it?”
    “A while.”
    “Did you get it for a birthday or Christmas?”
    The presentation of the choice brought home to Gerry that he was going to have to be careful and more attentive to his answers. “Does it matter?”
    “I don’t know. Is the telescope broken?”
    “Probably,” Gerry replied. “It was a long fall from the top of the house. I mean, the fall banged me and my arm up pretty bad.” He nodded, more to himself than to her. “Probably the telescope got broke. “

    The television had returned to the basketball game, but Gerry’s attention was riveted on his cookies and milk and the questions Megan had for him. He nibbled at one of the cookie pieces.
    “Did you check on the telescope?” Megan asked.
    “No.”
    “1 was just wondering. You know how your dad is about your things.” Boyd Fletcher had a history regarding his son’s property. If Gerry broke or damaged something, the boy was made to pay a price. But if Boyd were mad at his son, he broke or disposed of Gerry’s toys.
    When Gerry had claimed he’d had a bike wreck, Boyd Fletcher had gotten rid of the bike, which had upset Gerry terribly. The briefvery brief-conversation Megan had shared with Boyd Fletcher had been harsh and to the point: Maybe Megan could require the sessions, but she couldn’t require him to provide a bike for his son.
    “He won’t care about the telescope,” Gerry said.
    Megan nodded. “That’s good. Who got the telescope for you?” Hesitating, Gerry said, “My dad.” During the sessions, he always tried to build his dad up in her eyes. He was eleven years old and he knew that she didn’t feel good about his father even though she had tried to hide that fact.
    “Is your dad interested in astronomy?” Megan asked.
    “I guess so.”
    “How is he going to feel about the telescope getting broken?”
    “He’s probably not going to like it.”
    There’s an understatement. Megan sometimes got the feeling that Boyd Fletcher deliberately gave his son breakable things or items that were hard to manage just so he could find fault with him.
    “Probably not,” Megan said. “So what are we going to do about it?”
    Panicked, Gerry looked at her. “What do you mean? It’s broken. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
    “Don’t you think we’re going to have to tell your dad?”
    Gerry was quiet.
    “You know your dad doesn’t like it when you do something wrong and then hide it from him,” Megan said. Several of Gerry’s more severe punishments, including physical as well as mental ones, resulted from the boy’s attempts to conceal things from his father.
    “I’ll tell him,” Gerry said. “Promise.”

    “I appreciate you being willing to. But I think this might be something we’d do better together.” Megan slipped a glance at her watch. Only eleven minutes remained of her allotted time. It was time to turn up the pressure. Help me here, God. I’m getting in over my head, and there’s not going to be