“Man being the operative word. If they had been led by a woman, that slaughter never would have happened.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Talk to one teenager about another teenager. Female-to-female.”
Michelle clicked off, climbed back out into the snow, and headed into the Panera once more. She was going to find out how much Kathy Burnett really cared about Tyler Wingo.
CHAPTER
11
“HI, KATHY.”
Kathy Burnett looked up from her computer to find Michelle staring down at her. She was holding a cup of coffee and a tray on which sat a bowl of soup and a roll.
“Oh, hi.”
“Mind if I join you?”
Kathy glanced around. “I thought you and Tyler had gone.”
“He did. To swim practice. And I was thinking of leaving but I thought I’d see what the snow was going to do. And then I decided a cup of coffee and a bowl of soup were calling my name.”
Michelle sat down across from her and took a few seconds to situate her coffee and her soup while Kathy pulled her laptop and backpack out of the way.
“Thanks,” said Michelle. She took a spoonful of soup and smiled. “Not many things better than soup on a cold, snowy day.”
“I guess not,” said Kathy, smiling awkwardly.
Michelle looked at her computer. “I hope I’m not interrupting homework.”
“No, it’s okay. This stuff isn’t due for another week. I’m just trying to get a jump on it.” She closed her laptop and looked questioningly at Michelle. “So you were meeting with Tyler about his dad?”
Michelle dipped a chunk of bread into the soup and took a bite. She nodded, swallowed, and said, “It’s really tragic. Nothing worse for a kid than losing a parent, especially like that.”
“Are you with the Army?”
“No. I wasn’t helping Tyler with that. Just some other things. He said you two were in a few classes together. He also said you were really smart and had skipped a grade.”
“He said that?” Kathy asked as a smile spread across her face.
Michelle took a sip of coffee and nodded slowly. “Yes he did.”
“He’s a straight-A student too, really smart. But he doesn’t brag about it like some of the other people do. He’s, well, he’s just sort of quiet.”
“I take it you two are good friends?”
“We’ve known each other since elementary school.”
“Friends are important right now for Tyler. I’m sure you can see that.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said somberly.
“Did you know his dad?”
“He and Tyler have been
to our house for dinner quite a few times. And he picked me and Tyler up from school a few times. He was always really nice. I knew he’d been deployed overseas. My mom was over there two years ago. She’s back now and I hope she never has to leave again.”