Tempers

Kyle grins and shakes his head at Misty. He half rolls his eyes as if to say, "Alright, have it your way."

Looking up at the clock, Kyle's eyes drift from the time, to himself, to Rick's empty desk, then back to himself. How long was he going ot have to stay here?


Carson looks up quickly. Nate? Jason? What could they want? A bad feeling settles in the pit of his stomach. At this point he trusted Nate…but not Jason.

Wiping his hands on a towel, he nods to Herb. “I’ll be right back.”

Cautiously, he makes his way to the front, the counter between him and the other two. He swallows hard, finding it difficult to look them in the eye. He tries to partially hide behind under his baseball cap. “Yeah?”

Jason can’t help a bit of surprise. He hadn’t seen Carson in a while, and seeing him like this now wasn’t what he expected. “Wow…what happened?”

“Nothing.” Carson grits his teeth, already his defenses rising. “What do you guys want?”

“We want to know where you were two days ago.” Jason cuts right to the chase.

Carson frowns. What had happened that he would be in trouble for now? “I was…” He stops. “What’s it to you?” He looks between Nate and Jason, leery about all of this. His eyes go to Nate directly as if asking if he’d been betrayed somehow.

Jason’s eyes narrow slightly. “Just answer the question.”

Carson straightens a little. “No. It’s none of your business.”

“It is when attempted murder is involved.” Jason eyes Carson’s reaction.

Carson is slightly taken aback. “Look I don’t know what this is about, but if you’re trying to pin some fool charges against me like that, then you’re out of your mind.”

“Are we?” Jason cocks his head. “What if it was Kyle Mitts that you were getting back at for stepping on your pride?”

“Kyle?” Now Carson is really confused. “He accusing me of something?”

“Not exactly…” Jason leans forward a bit. “You did threaten him though, didn’t you? After your little run in with him?”

Carson’s face reddens slightly. “What of it?”

Jason shakes his head. “You really are stupid aren’t you? Someone tried to kill Kyle, Carson. Poison ring any bells? Agency poison? You got the motive and the means. So tell us about it.”

Carson’s jaw muscles tighten, his irritation growing. His eyes narrow as he glares at Jason, then at Nate. He could take this from Jason, but Nate too? “Get out of here,” he growls, turning around.

Jason stops him with a stern voice. “You walk away and we’ll put you under arrest and have you interrogated downtown. The choice is yours.”

Carson whirls back around, setting his hands on the counter to look Jason square in the eye. “Now you get one thing straight, Hotshot. I do not have to take this from you. You have no evidence that I was anywhere near Kyle. You have no proof that I was involved in anything at all. You got some nerve walking in here and accusing me like this. So go ahead. Arrest me. I don’t care.”

Jason is on his feet, his temper flaring. He was too close to this case, but it hadn’t stopped him from coming. “Don’t push it. You know I’d take you down in a heartbeat.”

Carson holds out his arms in defiance, lifting his chin. “Take your best shot.”