Painting With Fire by K. B. Jensen Page A

out the door and for a moment, the two of them locked eyes.
    “You have the right to remain silent…” the cop spouted.
    “I’m not gonna say nothing!” Kevin yelled. “I’m not gonna say nothing!”
    Kevin squished his eyes closed and silently prayed they’d believe him.
    As the cop pulled him to his feet and dragged him out the door, he looked over his shoulder to glimpse Justin pulling out his cell phone and punching in a text.
    Kevin decided he wasn’t going to talk. He wasn’t lying when he said he wouldn’t say anything. He’d go to jail if he had to. It would be a relief.
    How disappointing it was when they let him go home with his mother, pending possible criminal charges.

 
    Chapter 16: Wanted for Murder
     
    A month after the expulsion hearing, the police finally seemed to be looking for Kevin, but Janice wasn’t happy about it. He was wanted for questioning about the murder.
    Tom and Claudia were sitting on the couch watching the TV news when h is photo flashed across the screen. It was a yearbook photo but somehow it looked like a classic mug shot complete with bad hair and bewildered blood-shot eyes. Janice’s car had been found parked downtown. It was towed from a loading zone near the bus and train stations. Police suspected he had fled the state.
    “Police are not calling him a suspect in the case, at this time,” the TV newswoman said, with weird inflections in her voice. It certainly didn’t sound like she believed it.
    “Bullshit he’s not a suspect,” Tom said, turning off the TV. “That’s why he’s on the run.”
    “How do you know?” Claudia said. “He’s a kid, Tom. Maybe he’s in trouble somewhere.”
    “He’s 17, sweetheart. That’s close enough to act like a man.”
    “Sweetheart? Since when did you start calling me sweetheart? You’re starting to sound like Stan.”
    “Like a chauvinistic , old cop?”
    “He’s not that much older than you,” Claudia said , crossing her arms.
    “Whatever,” Tom said, smiling. “I just like to get a rise out of you, sometimes. Makes life more interesting, picking on your roommate.”
    “On that thought, have you painted anything today?” she asked, changing the subject. She noticed Tom had ridges of blue and green underneath dirty nails and faint remnants of paint lining his knuckles.
    “Yes,” he said. “But I’m not showing it to you. It’s not finished.”
    “I’m going to go with Janice to help put up more fliers,” she said.
    “You’re probably just wasting your time,” Tom said. “He’s fine. He’s probably out there with his friends, having a grand old time.”
    “I hope so,” she said. “I really do.”
    When Claudia showed up to help Janice, she had two large bags of fliers and Alice by her side. The three of them walked all around the neighborhood putting up fliers with Kevin’s photo on them and stuffed fliers in mailboxes. He looked much happier in these photos. He was jamming out with his guitar and had a smile on his face. The fliers had all t he usual data. Name: Kevin Miller. Height: 5’11. Weight: 270. Age: 17. Last seen date: 5/09. Jesus, Claudia thought, she hadn’t realized he was 270 pounds.
    Janice was quiet as she stapled the sheets to the wooden poles down the street and ducked inside businesses to tape fliers on the insides of windows.
    Alice handed Janice a piece of tape. “There’s something I have to tell you,” she said.
    The three of them stopped and took a break, sitting on the curb and passing the same water bottle back and forth. Claudia tried not to let the plastic touch her lips and spilled a bit down her chin and shirt.
    “Janice, it’s really hard for me to tell you this but I think you should know,” Alice said. “Maybe it will help you come to grips with the situation, I don’t know. If I were in your place, I’d want to know.”
    “Know what?” Janice said.
    “Well, two things. One is that your son is a suspect in that murder.” Alice tucked a lock of