He looked around, taking in our surroundings. "Wherever you live, you gotta fit in, right?"
I thought of myself at the Parkers'. Slowly, I nodded.
"Well, we didn't fit in," he said. "It was a problem. And the older we got, the bigger the problem."
"So what'd you do?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I learned to blend. Or when I couldn’t, I learned to fight."
"Well, you sure learned that good," I said. "But what happened with that councilman?"
"Officially, I was a minor. But at first, the guy worked like hell to see me tried as an adult."
"At first?" I said. "So he changed his mind?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"With that," Lawton said, "I had a little help."
"From who?" I said.
"Bishop."
"But he couldn't have been much older than you."
"He wasn't. But he was old enough."
"What'd you guys do?" I asked.
"That, I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because," he said, "it wouldn't be right. My secrets are one thing. But his?" Lawton shook his head. "They're not mine to be giving out. Even to you."
"I can respect that," I said. And I could. Somehow, it made me think more of him, not less. "So tell me in general terms," I said. "What happened with the case?"
"Plea bargain," he said. "I spent a couple years in juvie, got out when I turned eighteen. And you pretty much know the rest."
I tried to smile. "I seriously doubt that."
"Wanna know something funny?" he said.
"What?"
Lawton's gaze took in the neighboring houses. It suddenly occurred to me that we hadn't seen a soul since we'd stopped. It was kind of eerie, actually.
Lawton returned his gaze to me. "Juvie was a cakewalk compared to this."
"Why didn't you guys move?" I asked.
"Because Grandma had a bad hip and a pension that barely paid for groceries. And besides, where would she go?"
I looked around. "Anywhere but here," I said.
Lawton gave a bitter laugh. "Easy for you to say. When I was born, Grandma owned that house outright. But when I got in trouble, she mortgaged everything to pay for my legal team, sorry as they were."
