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Bonds of Trust -- Part XVII Bo and John join Rex outside the pawn shop. Shaggy is inside trying to get a look at what Nathan is pawning. John agrees to let Bo approach Nathan so he doesn’t run. John wants to take him down to the station and find out what he knows before offering him the deal. Shaggy exits the pawn shop, giving Rex the thumbs up as he saunters down the street. Nathan leaves the shop minutes later and Bo approaches him. “Hey, Nathan.”   He looks up, surprised to see Bo. “Hi. What are you doing here this time of night?”   Bo shrugs. “Just out for a walk. How’s it going?”   Nathan looks around. “Fine. Good to see you. I gotta head home.”   “Hold up. I’d like to talk to you for a minute. How about a coffee at the diner?”   “Okay.” He looks at his watch. “I guess I got time.”   They start walking toward the diner. When they turn the corner, John pulls up beside them, rolling down the window. “Get in, Taylor.”   Nathan looks at Bo. “What’s going on?”   Bo opens the back door. “Just get in and we’ll explain everything.”   Nathan slides into the back seat beside Rex. Bo takes shotgun and John pulls away from the curb.   “What’s up, Buchanan?” Nathan demands. “Did I miss my curfew?”   Bo turns to him. “Don’t. We both know what’s going on here.”   He shakes his head. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”   John looks at him in the rearview mirror. “We’ll talk about it at the station.”   Nora follows her son into the house after taking Stevie home. Matt tries to escape to up the stairs to his room. “Not so fast, young man. We need to talk.”   He turns to Nora. “I’m kinda tired, Mom. Can it wait ‘til morning?”   “No. We’re going to talk now.” She points to the couch. “Have a seat.” Matt reluctantly marches over and sits, crossing his arms in front of him, head down. Nora joins him. “Tell me about Danielle’s bruises – the one tonight and the one before.”   Matt looks at the floor. “What did she say when you saw it?”   Nora puts her hand under his chin and turns him to face her. “Please look at me. I want to know what you know about the bruises.” He hesitates so Nora shifts into lawyer mode. “You knew about the one I saw tonight?” He nods. “And you know how she got it?” He nods again. "Same with the one from before?"   He shakes his head. “I just suspected…”   “But now you know, don’t you?” He nods. “How did she get the bruise I saw tonight?” Again, he hesitates. “Matthew, please. I will help Danielle any way I can, but I can’t do that until you level with me. You’ve obviously talked to her about this. What did she tell you?”   He shakes his head slowly. “She didn’t tell me anything…”   Nora starts thinking out loud. “Was it her father who did this? Is this why you’ve been so interested in Kallie’s article? You suspected what Danielle’s father was doing and now you know for sure?”   “No, Mom.”   She sighs. “Matthew, you’re not doing your friend any favors by hiding what she’s going through. If her father…”   “It’s not her dad,” Matthew says quietly, looking down again.   Nora is confused. “What do you mean? Are you saying her mom…” He looks up at her, tears in his eyes. She puts her hand on his cheek. “What is it, Matthew?”   He takes a deep breath, finally releasing his secret. “It was Stevie.”   Nora is shocked. “What? Stevie gave Danielle that bruise?” Matt nods, tears rolling down his cheeks. Nora wipes them away. “I know you’ve had something on your mind lately. This must be it. It’s time to tell me everything, Matthew.”   John walks into his office, followed by Bo, Nathan and Rex. “Have a seat, gentlemen.” John walks to the coffeemaker, holding up the pot. “Anyone? It’s going to be a long night.”   Bo walks over and John pours him a cup as Nathan and Rex sit in front of John’s desk. John sits in his chair and Bo leans against the file cabinet behind his desk. John turns to Rex. “Why don’t you fill Mr. Taylor in on what you’ve been doing the past couple weeks.”   Rex turns to Nathan. “I’ve been watching you and I know all about the parts you’ve been stealing from the machine shop.”   “That’s a lie! I have receipts to prove I bought those parts.”   John takes a sip of his coffee. “Even the ones you pawned?”   Nathan shrugs. “What I do with them after I buy them is my business.”   John opens a file on his desk and takes out a stack of pictures, handing them to Nathan. “Got receipts for these?”   He casually flips through the pictures. “This is just pictures of me with parts. That’s no proof I pawned them or stole them.”   John sighs. “Except you did. Look, Taylor, there's plenty of evidence here and we both know what you’ve been up to. I brought you in here tonight to offer you a deal. Now you have a choice – stick to your story and you go down for this or give me the fence and your contact inside the machine shop and the DA goes easy on you. What’s it going to be?”   “I think you’re bluffing. I want a lawyer.” Bo turns to John. “Can you give us a minute?”   John stands. “Sure. Take all the time you need.” He picks up his coffee and walks out of the office.   Bo turns to Rex. “You too, Balsom. I want to talk to Nathan.”   Rex reluctantly gets up and follows John out, closing the door behind him. Bo turns to Nathan. “It’s just you and me now. Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me how this happened.”   “I’ve got nothing to say to you, Buchanan.”   Bo sits in the chair beside Nathan, staring straight ahead. “We’ve known each other a long time. Our boys have been best friends since they were little. I’m willing to help you because of the bond between them. Whether you accept my help is up to you, but you’re in a lot of trouble here. I’m not judging you, Nathan. I just want to know what’s going on.”   Nathan takes a deep breath, not looking at Bo. “I lost my job a few months back. I’ve been trying to find something but jobs are tight around here. You know how this economy is with those damn Republicans in charge. No work for little guys like me.”   Bo nods. “I’m sure it hasn’t been an easy time. How did you end up pawning stolen parts from the machine shop?”   “I wish I knew. Ed Trask is an old friend of mine. He works at Turner’s shop. We started having coffee a couple days a week and I told him how I was having trouble getting work. I asked if there were any openings at the shop. He said no but if I was interested, there might be another opportunity. I had a couple interviews lined up so I declined at first, but when those jobs fell through too, I asked him about this opportunity he told me about. That’s how it started. At first, it was just petty stuff. Easy money for me and we needed it to pay bills. I kept looking for real work, thinking I would get out of it as soon as I found a good job. That just didn’t happen and I have to feed my family, you know?”   Bo nods. “I understand. You should have told me about your job situation. I have a few connections at BE.”   Nathan shakes his head. “I’m not qualified for office work.”   “BE has many positions that don’t involve pushing papers behind a desk.”   “It was my problem, not yours.”   “Well, you have an even bigger problem now.”   Nathan sighs, finally looking at Bo. “What are my options here?”   Nora listens intently as Matt recounts the story of the fight with Stevie the day before at the school over Stevie pushing Danielle. She stays quiet after he’s finished. He looks at her, slowly shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Mom. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t want to get Stevie in trouble. I really thought Danielle would break up with him. I was surprised to see them together at the dance tonight.”   Nora finally looks at him. “What about the bruise I saw that day on the way home from practice? Did you know Stevie did that too?”   Matt shakes his head. “At the time, I just thought it was possible…”   “Why?”   “What do you mean?”   “Why would you think Stevie was hitting Danielle?”   Matt looks away. Nora puts her hand under his chin, turning him to face her. “I want the whole story, Matthew.”   “I don’t know where to start.”   “At the beginning, sweetie. You’ll feel better if you tell me everything.”   “It started when Dad took you to see Little Richard.”   Nora nods, thinking back. “Asa said you were ‘ornery’ that weekend and he mentioned to Bo that you had asked him about hitting women. Is that when you started to suspect Stevie?”   Matt shakes his head. “It wasn’t Stevie.”   “Wait, now I’m confused. What wasn’t Stevie?”   “Mom, please. This is really hard. Just let me tell you and then you can ask questions.”     She nods. “Okay, sorry. I’m listening.” “When you went to the concert, I went to Stevie’s house to avoid having Nigel show up at the school in Grandpa’s limo. Stevie and I were playing video games in his room when his parents got into an argument. But it sounded like his dad hit Mrs. Taylor. Stevie just shrugged it off, but it freaked me out. They’ve had arguments before, just like you and dad, but this time I swear he hit her.”   “Oh, Matthew. This is why you’ve been so worried about us fighting.”   Matt nods. “Stevie’s parents argued before too but that time it did turn violent.”   Nora pulls him into a hug. “I’m so sorry you were exposed to that. There is no excuse for that behavior.” She pulls back to look at him. “That’s why you haven’t been back to Stevie’s house, isn’t it?” He nods. “Why didn’t you tell us what happened?”   He moves back as his eyes fill with tears again. “I wanted to. But I read Kallie’s research and I was afraid Stevie would go to juvie and his dad would go to jail. He’s my best friend, Mom. He denied it even happened and he said the arguing stopped. I wanted to believe him. When I saw Danielle’s bruise, I wondered if Stevie had done it but she never said a word to me and I wanted to believe Stevie wouldn’t do something like that.”   “I know you wanted to be loyal to your friend, sweetie. But you should have told Dad and me what was going on.”   “I tried. It was just too hard.”   Nora pulls him close again. “Oh, Matthew. You are so much like your parents, it’s scary sometimes.”   He pulls back. “What do you mean?”   “I mean you have a hard time letting us in.”   “I’m a teenager, Mom.”   She smiles. “Yes, you are. But once upon a time your father challenged me to let him in, just like I’m doing to you right now.”   “Why? What did you hide from Dad?”   Nora looks away, remembering. “When Bo and I first got engaged, I had some trouble with my eyesight that was caused by a brain tumor. I was so scared I was going to die. And I was equally afraid of how much that would hurt Bo. So I had the surgery without him knowing.”   “Wow, Mom! That’s extreme. Was Dad really mad?”   She nods. “Yes, it is and yes, he was. I was wrong to shut him out.” She looks at him, shaking her head slowly. “And you were wrong to keep this to yourself, too. We can’t help you if you don’t let us in, Matthew.”   “I was scared, just like you said you were about the brain tumor.”   “I understand that. But you didn’t help Stevie by letting this go on and now Danielle is involved as well.”   “I’m sorry, Mom. Until yesterday I didn’t know Stevie would do something like this. I was going to tell you after the dance, I swear. I just wanted to have my date with Kallie. I couldn't believe Danielle came with Stevie to the dance tonight, acting like nothing happened.” Nora nods. “She was very upset when I saw the bruise and she certainly didn’t want to discuss it.”   “What are we going to do now?”   She stands. “We’re going to pay a little visit to Stevie and his parents.”   “Now?” She nods. “Mom, it’s late.”   “Yes, it’s late but we need to resolve this. And the only way to do that is to get it all out in the open. Do you think you can just go to sleep?” Matt shakes his head. “Me neither. Go up and change out of your suit. I’m going to change and call your father to meet us at the Taylor’s.”   TBC