“I was beaten to a pulp…”
I looked at Paul as he winced in pain from a wound in his mouth, probably from a punch to the face.
“I can see that… Jesus… who did this to you?”
“Shane’s cronies… they cornered me this morning behind the trailers… I bloodied one of them up pretty good, but the others knocked me down… one of them threw rocks.”
He pointed to a bloodied patch of hair on his head.
“How did they find out?”
“Apparently he was supposed to meet them last night with Kayla… I don’t know how they knew it was me… maybe shane’s still alive..”
Fear struck me. That would bring up a whole new fiasco. Lawsuits… police… money… this can’t end well…
It came to me. If Shane was still alive, there’s only one reason Paul wasn’t being hauled off to trial at this moment… black mail… But what does he want?!

The answer came to me as swiftly as I’d asked the question. My eyes widened.
“Tom, you alright?”