Page 90 of All the Missing Pieces

His hazel gaze jumped around the room before landing on the mirror. He looked somewhere between Ryan and me. It was unsettling, having him stare at nothing but still so close to me. But I tried to look into those hazel eyes, tried to see if they were capable of ending so many lives, of causing untold pain.

Colt gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the table. “Have a seat. I need to ask you a few questions. Could always have a lawyer here with you. Do youneeda lawyer, Bryan?”

The use of the coach’s first name was a conscious choice. A way to make things seem normal, an everyday encounter, not an interrogation.

Kerr swallowed hard. “No…I don’t need a lawyer. You know that, Colt.”

Colt leaned back in his chair, letting silence sweep through the room. That quiet was like a boa constrictor, gliding along the floor, curling around Kerr, and then strangling him.

He swallowed again; this time the action was more pronounced. “What’s this about?”

Colt was quiet for a moment longer before speaking. “Walk me through May twenty-third ten years ago.”

Kerr’s eyes shifted to the side and then back to Colt. “I’ve done it a million times. You have my interviews on video. All of them.”

“Walk me through itagain.”

“All right. All right. I, um, we had practice like normal. Emerson stayed after like she always did. She had a spare set of keys to the equipment room, so I left her with the ball machine. She was practicing when I left.”

Colt didn’t move, and I knew he had to be pinning the coach to the spot with those storm eyes. “Was anyone else still there when you left?” Colt asked.

Kerr wiped his palms on his khakis. “No. No one else was there. I had to clean up the rest of the equipment before I left.”

“But there’s not all that much equipment, is there? Not when everyone has their own rackets and Emerson was still using the ball machine.”

The coach shifted in his seat. “I watched her practice for a little while, gave her some pointers, and then left.”

“Interesting. I don’t remember you sharing that when you were questioned before.”

“I—I probably forgot. It was a high-stress time.”

“Yeah,” Colt spat. “It must’ve been real high stress for you. Nothing like what it was for my sister who’d been fucking kidnapped, hit over the head, and thrown in the back of a truck.”

“I didn’t mean?—”

“Of course you didn’t. Now where did you go when you left the park?”

Kerr’s breaths came faster now. “I drove around for a little bit. I was trying to brainstorm some new drills and training tactics. I always drive around to think.”

Colt made a soft scoffing noise. It wasn’t even a word, but it was like a physical blow to Kerr.

“God, he’s good,” Ryan muttered softly.

It was true. Colt was slowly but surely backing the coach into a corner.

“Then I went to the gas station because I was running low.”

And now he had Kerr right where he wanted him. Like a spider weaving the perfect web.

Colt leaned back in his chair. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was taking the coach in, using silence as a weapon. Kerr twisted in his seat, the metal squeaking with the action.

“You know, Bryan, it’s interesting. Sometimes you look at something so many times that you stop truly seeing it. Has that ever happened to you?”

Kerr opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

Colt made a low humming noise. “Take the video of you at the gas station. I always fixated on the time. On seeing your face. Checking and rechecking that it was really you.”

The coach began to tremble, his hands shaking so strongly he tucked them beneath the table.

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