Free Counterfeit Son by Elaine Marie Alphin Page B

Scott was a victim, too. He'd been abused by his own father until he left home, and should be in therapy instead of in jail. Cameron shuddered. Cougar, abused? How could you grow up to do something like that to someone else, if it had been done to you?
    The headlines in subsequent issues of the newspaper were full of speculation, but in the end Scott had only gone to trial for the abduction of Alan Wells. The prosecution had brought up the other boys in court and the judge had ruled that there was no proof that Cougar had ever had anything to do with nine of them, as he'd been in school in Memphis then, and living at home. But Cougar had no alibi for the other cases, so the jury had heard all about those, including Neil Lacey. They'd sent Bill Scott to jail for what he'd tried to do to the Wells boy, and several jurors said they believed he had killed at least eight of the other boys, including Neil. Because of that, they'd recommended a much heavier sentence than he'd have gotten for Alan Wells alone.

    "Hey, Neil?"
    Cameron looked up, startled. It was the first time Diana had actually called him Neil.
    She was holding a crisp newspaper, the same issue that their father had taken away from her that morning, he guessed. Her eyes were wide, and she was smiling faintly.
    "Bill Scott, you know? Last week, after they killed Hank Miller and started to dig in his cellar…" She looked pale beneath the smile, Cameron realized. Maybe reading about the bodies had jolted her.
    "…his lawyer went to court to get him released after they dug up the bodies," she went on. "The lawyer said Scott had said all along it was Hank Miller, that he'd been trying to help that boy get away but the kid panicked and didn't understand what had happened to him. So the lawyer filed an appeal, now that they know Hank Miller's really the one who killed the boys. He asked them to release Scott on bail." Diana looked up from the paper. "I guess he has you to thank."
    "For what?" Cameron asked, confused.
    "For turning up. He didn't kill you, obviously, and his lawyer said he must have told the truth about not killing the others, because the police found all those bodies at Miller's, where he said they'd be. So the court granted his immediate release, pending that appeal."
    She handed the newspaper to him. "You're both free now."

10. The Broken Rule
    "Not another word out of you, young lady!" Neil's mother shouted. She glared at Diana. "How many times have I told you never to go off alone without telling anybody where you were? How many?"

    "I wasn't alone!" Diana screamed. With her fists on her hips and her deep brown eyes wide and furious, Cameron thought she looked exactly like her mother. "I was with Neil! You never yell if I go somewhere with Stevie, as long as we stay together. I just took Neil to the library, so what's the big deal?"
    "Shut up," Cameron muttered to her. He might be shaky on a bicycle or a microfilm machine, but apologizing for breaking a rule he didn't even know existed was something he'd had a lot of experience with. "I'm sorry," he said aloud. "I didn't think. It was my fault, but I'm really sorry."
    "How could you?" Neil's mother cried. She gripped his shoulders and shook him. "How could you?"

    "It was my idea," Diana shouted. "How was I supposed to know you'd want to come home and have lunch with him? You took him shopping all day yesterday! That's more than you ever did for one of us on a workday!"
    "Please," he whispered, not resisting the hands on his shoulders. What in the world was Diana doing? It was crazy to argue back—it just made the punishment worse.
    His mother suddenly let go of Cameron and turned to face her daughter. "Don't you talk back to me, Diana," she said, her voice icy. "I want you to go to your room and stay there. We'll talk about this when your father comes home tonight."
    "That's not fair!" Diana cried. "What about Neil? I suppose you're going to have lunch with him and fuss over him and forgive him