Read Online The Same Mistake Twice by Albert Tucher - Free Book Online

mall, though.”
    They hung up. Paul hadn’t argued about who was treating. It must cost him to think about Dexter Grogan.
    She drove down Route 15, past the diner, to the mall in Jefferson. The food court was two-thirds full, which would produce enough noise to cover their conversation.
    Five minutes later Paul arrived. He had filled out since high school, but she recognized him. She must have seen more of him than she remembered.
    He stopped and looked uncertain how demonstrative he should be. She reached her hand out and shook his before he had completely extended it.
    He felt like pizza, which was okay with her. They got on line.
    “How’s your grandmother?” he asked.
    His smile looked genuine, and she gave him points for it.
    “Not so good. I had to find a nursing home a few years ago.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that. I always looked forward to lunch, and not for the food. I probably don’t have to tell you—that could be pretty disgusting. But everybody always looked forward to kidding around with Mrs. Petroski. She always had the latest slang down. It was hilarious, coming from her.”
    Diana laughed.
    “She got more attention from the boys than I did.”
    They spent more than enough time waiting for their slices to exhaust the people they had both known in high school. It was true—she had paid little attention to younger boys.
    “When you broke the school record for the backstroke? I was there.”
    That tone was back in his voice.
    “You and about eleven other people,” she said.
    She usually knew how to lighten things up when a client got too serious, but this time her effort fell flat.
    She paid for the pizza, and they took their trays to a nearby table near the windows overlooking the parking lot.
    “So you knew Dexter Grogan. I get the idea that you weren’t happy about it.”
    “You got that right.”
    “What was his problem?”
    “His problem was, he liked beating people up. Notice I didn’t say fighting. I said beating people up.”
    “Were you one of the people he beat up?”
    “Mostly I stayed under his radar. One time in the locker room, I tried making a joke when he was talking, and he offered to punch my head off. But that was the only time he noticed me.”
    Diana watched Paul brood.
    Nobody ever gets out of high school alive, she thought.
    “But other guys weren’t so lucky?”
    “No, he beat the hell out of a couple of guys on the team. Which really pissed me off. That’s not what a team is supposed to be about.”
    “So Don Rennert put up with it? I thought the quarterback is supposed to be the team leader.”
    “Hell, he was afraid of Dexter.”
    “I heard they were friends.”
    “As much as jerks like that know how to have friends. Don was the kind of guy who sucked up to bullies, like he wished he could be one of them. Matter of fact, that’s…What kind of trouble is he giving you?”
    Diana decided to keep it vague for the moment.
    “Something he did back then might be coming back to life.”
    “That I can believe,” said Paul. “You mean about James?”
    A strange mixture of dread and eagerness radiated from him.
    “Right, James.”
    She restrained herself from wincing at the phoniness of her tone, which he obviously noticed.
    “You don’t know, do you?”
    She wanted to shake him, but he looked as if he regretted saying even that much. She tried to draw it out of him with her eyes.
    “Paul, just tell me. I’m guessing he messed this James up.”
    Paul stared down at the tabletop.
    “Or maybe he did more than that?”
    She could see him editing his memories and deciding what to say, but there wasn’t much she could do to stop him.
    “Did you know James Zakrewsky?” he said.
    The words rushed out, once he had decided to name the name.
    “I’m thinking.”
    She shook her head.
    “I’m not coming up with anything, but if he’s your age, I wouldn’t, would I?”
    Whoops, she thought.
    Paul looked offended, and she wanted to shake him. Instead, she