...
Afterward, when the police had taken Jesse away and the woman, whose name was Mrs. Alvarez, had been checked by the paramedics, Victor found Daniel sitting on the tailgate of his truck.
Daniel's hands were shaking.
Victor sat down beside him without a word.
"You could've taken him," Victor said finally. "Easy. I've seen you move. You could've had that knife in two seconds."
Daniel looked at his hands. "Because two seconds is long enough for somebody to die," he said. "I learned that a long time ago. The hard way."
He touched the bracelet without thinking.
Victor glanced at it. "The name on there. Can I ask?"
"Marcus Reed," Daniel said. "He was my best friend. He saved my life. Then he didn't come home."
"He was the loudest man I ever knew," Daniel said, with a faint smile. "Always joking. Always showing off. If there was a crowd, Marcus was in the middle of it." The smile faded. "But when it counted, he didn't make a sound. He just did what needed to be done. No one was watching but me."
"I'm sorry," Victor said.
"So am I." Daniel took a breath. "You know what you did tonight, Victor?"
Victor shook his head.
"You wanted to fight. I saw it. Every part of you wanted to charge that kid and be the hero. And you didn't. You helped an old woman up off the ground and walked her to safety. Nobody's going to put that in a newspaper. Nobody's going to give you a trophy for it."
Victor looked down.
"That," Daniel said, "is the strongest thing I've ever seen you do."
Victor's jaw trembled. He looked away, toward the academy, where Ethan was standing in the doorway with Lily, both of them watching.
"My father would've called that weak," Victor said.
"Your father was wrong," Daniel said. "About a lot of things. Especially about you."
...
Two weeks later, Raymond came with a question.
This time he didn't ask in the lobby. He came to Daniel's house. He stood on the small porch with a box of donuts and an envelope.