I called as soon as I got home. My hand was shaking so much it was hard to punch in the number. I was using the upstairs phone, and I kept thinking somebody would hear me. They’d have to know sometime, but I didn’t want them to know just yet.
I asked for Detective Langford, but the voice on the other end said she wasn’t in. “Give me your name and number and I’ll have her call you.”
I swallowed, and gave my name. “I’d like to talk to her right away,” I added.
“Is this an emergency?” the voice asked.
I told him I wasn’t sure.
His voice was gruff. “Is somebody going to die if she doesn’t call you back in the next five minutes?”
“No,” I answered.
“Then she’ll call you tomorrow morning.”
Before I could say another word, he hung up.
I sat there holding the dead telephone, my whole body numb. Then I almost laughed out loud. You get it in your head that what’s happening to you is the most important thing in the world. I had this stupid movie vision of Detective Langford waiting at the station for my call. She’d hear my voice and she’d rush out to her car and race over to get my statement. What an idiot I was! She must have hundreds of cases to worry about—and every one was probably more serious than what Josh had done! She might have forgotten all about it. I felt like a fool, an absolute fool.
Still, all that evening I was jumpy, and the three or four times the phone rang I popped up to get it. None of the callers was Officer Langford.
Around nine o’clock Grandpa Kevin came upstairs and knocked on my door. I really didn’t want to talk to anybody. Had he been my mother or father I would have told him that straight out, but I couldn’t say it to him.
“You got a minute?”
“Sure,” I said, but he must have heard the doubt in my voice.
“I won’t be long. I know you’ve got things on your mind.”
“That’s okay. What is it?”
“I just wanted you to know you’re a terrific catcher.”
I shrugged. “When you’ve got a pitcher like Josh Daniels—”
He didn’t let me finish. “When you’ve got a pitcher like Josh, it’s harder. He’s out there on the black all the time, and you’ve got to frame the ball just right, or the umpire won’t give you the call. Remember, I was a catcher too. I know the game.” He paused. “You’re a good ball player, the kind of ball player I’d like to think I was.”
“Thanks, Grandpa,” I said softly.
He stood. “Well, that’s all I wanted to say.” He headed to the door.
I had a sudden desire to tell him everything. “Grandpa Kevin,” I said as he stood in the doorway.
He turned back to me. “Yes, Ryan?”‘
I could feel the kindness in his soft gray eyes. Too much kindness. “Thanks again for the gear and for your help and everything.”
“Sure, Ryan. It’s been my pleasure. Watching you play has given me a chance to relive a part of my own life.”
I felt numb walking to school the next morning. It was hard to believe that it was all going to be over soon. I was sure something would happen first period, but nothing did. Second period came and went. Still nothing. I wondered if the message had gotten lost, if I should call again. Then, during the passing period, Mr. Phelps tapped me on the shoulder. “Mr. Haskin wants you in his office.” I must have looked blank. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I heard you.”
I could hear voices as I tapped on Haskin’s door, so I knew he wasn’t alone. But I didn’t expect what I got when I opened the door.
Everyone was there. Mr. Haskin, Detective Langford, Coach Wheatley, Mr. and Mrs. Roby. I felt cold suddenly, looking at them.
“Sit down, Ryan,” Mr. Haskin said, nodding toward a chair right in the middle of the room.
I sat. For a long moment no one said anything. Then Detective Langford took out her yellow notebook and flipped to a clean page. “I believe you have some information you’d like to share.”
When I finished, they took turns saying all the expected things: “We’re glad you came forward.”. . .“We know this took courage.”
But I was nobody’s hero anymore. I was just another confused kid who didn’t know what he was doing. I didn’t leave anything out, but they didn’t believe me, at least not one hundred percent. I could see the mistrust in their eyes, especially in Mr. and Mrs. Roby’s.
“You can go back to class,” Mr. Haskin said. “You’re all done for now.”
But I wasn’t done. Coming out of Haskin’s office, I knew there was something else I had to do. I had to be the one to tell Josh. I figured they’d call him to the office right away. He had history in Room 24, so I hung out at the end of the twenty-wing hallway.
I wasn’t there more than a minute when a door opened and he came out. When he saw me, the color drained out of him. “You did it, didn’t you? You sold me out.”
“I told them the truth, Josh.”
He looked away from me for an instant, then pounded his hst hard against one of the lockers. The noise was like a gunshot. I jumped a little. He looked back at me. “You could have been part of a championship team, you know. All you had to do was keep your mouth shut. Now it’s gone. All of it. Not just for you, but for everybody. You trashed it for nothing.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Then he walked by me toward the office. I watched him until he’d gone around the corner and out of sight.