CHAPTER 52

I was too stunned to say anything. I just gazed at my father as if the man had started talking in a language other than English. I had been there. Been with the other boys in the car, and they had been talking about doing that job of robbing the factory. But I had protested. I had protested the whole damn plan, and I had left them in the car.

My cousin Ivan had come to see me and tried to persuade me, but I didn't give in. It was like I knew what would happen there and had not gone in with them.

"Frank!" my father shouted.

I retreated a step and then stepped forward once more when I remembered the question that my father had posed to me. I shook my head to indicate "no" and said, "I did not, Father. I did not kill my cousin and the other boys."

"So what is this? I'm hearing that they have stolen a metal factory, and you are with them?" Mister Xia questioned.