Chapter Twenty

A policeman stood in the living room the next morning, “Mr. Klein will be sent to a mental rehabilitation clinic, and once we believe that he is mentally stable-”

“Which there’s a chance he never will be…” Stacey intoned.

“True. From there, if that happens. He will be sent to prison. And Mr. Turner, ‘Frog face’ to you lot, as professional as ever… He will be sent straight to prison for attempted murder. Happy?”

“Frog features, actually,” Kyle corrected.

“McMillan, how tightly locked down is the rehab?” Stacey asked.

“I’m not sure… Why?”

“Make sure the security’s tight, Klein’s good at getting out of places. He was involved in The ‘James Bourne’ Incident.”

“I thought we caught everyone,” the police officer replied in shock.

“So did I.”

McMillan blinked, “Well, okay. Good work, guys, and Mr. Willis, I hope you and Mr. Simpson aren’t too badly scarred by this event.” He left.

“How is Charlie?” Matt asked once the door was shut.

“Fine,” Brendan reassured him. “Once he wakes up, all he’ll have is a scar where the bullet entered. The bullet didn’t hit anything major so there shouldn’t be any side effects.”

“That’s good to hear…” Matt got up and left the room, heading down the hall to the music room, where he picked up one of the basses. He thought it might be Stacey’s one. Deryck wandered in a minute later.

“Sorrowful…” Matt had discovered that once Deryck found his voice with you, you kept hearing it. “Will I be hearing it later on, or are you just playing?”

“Would you hear it later if I wasn’t?” Matt asked him curiously.

“What can I say? Kenz’s excited about the prospect of a solo album. She was a huge fan when you were together. Never went to any of your concerts though…”

“She doesn’t seem like an arena person anyway…”

Deryck nodded slowly. “You okay now? You haven’t really spoken much since…” He trailed off, but Matt knew what he meant.

“I’m still in shock, to be honest. I can’t quite believe what’s happened. It’s a lot to take in all at once.” He looked back down at the bass, “And you’re one to talk about not speaking, I only first heard your voice in that room.”

“Be honoured. My mum hasn’t heard my voice.” He grinned at him, and left. Matt continued playing the bass, then the guitar, inspiration suddenly hitting him all at once.