of the many. They said it’s tougher once they’ve been missing for forty-eight hours.”
“We’ll help any way we can,” Mom said.
“She wants me to take Lizzie,” I said.
Her father looked up at me from under heavy lids. “The cat? Yeah, take her. I’ll bring her over.”
“Grandma won’t allow it,” Mom said.
“It’s what Naomi wants!” I answered.
She rubbed her eyes, sighing. “Okay, fine. Just put her in the basement for now. We’ll figure something out.”
Naomi’s father stood up suddenly, nearly knocking his mug over. “Thanks for the coffee. I should get back and see if the police called.” He looked at me as he left the kitchen. “I’ll bring the cat by in an hour or so.”
Mom groaned into her hands after he shut the front door behind him. “This is such a mess.”
“It would’ve been fine if you didn’t open your big mouth,” I said.
She looked up at me over the tips of her fingers. “Do you really believe that, Drea? Was Naomi
I focused on the tiled floor. “No.”
“I’m sorry it turned out this way.”
I stared back at her sad brown eyes and her crinkled brow. Despite her flaws, she loved me. And I knew it. “I wish her dad was more like you.”
She walked over and wrapped her arms around me, kissing my forehead. “Why do you say that?”
“She doesn’t think he loves her.”
Mom’s chest deflated against my ear. “I think he does. But some people don’t show it as well as others.”
I thought of Justin’s dad and hugged her tighter.
The rain hadn’t let up by lunch on Monday. Justin and I sat under the roof overhang of the gym, picking at our sandwiches. The fountain looked lonely across the quad. Its vacant surrounding wall gleamed back at us.
We were waiting for Kari. She’d gotten a letter too.
The weekend crawled by. No phone calls or e-mails from Naomi. We’d searched downtown, the parks, and Scott’s apartment again but came up with nothing. Grandma threw such a fit about Lizzie that Justin offered to take her in. Apparently, she slept on his head.
“There’s Roger,” Justin said, standing up.
I followed his gaze and spotted Roger’s lanky frame exiting the main building. If anyone knew where Scott was, he did. Justin ran after him, dodging puddles.
“Hey,” Kari said from the other direction. She dropped her backpack in front of me and sat on top of it.
“Hi.” I tossed my sandwich onto its plastic wrapper.
She scanned my face and looked over her shoulder at Justin and Roger. They were standing close, talking. Neither looked angry, but Roger had his head down.
“Are you and Justin a couple now?” Kari asked.
“Yeah.”
“Ah.” She nodded slowly, eyeing the ground. “So, what did your letter say?”
“A lot. Nothing. Everything.”
“Yeah, that was my reaction.” She looked up at me, lacing her fingers together and twisting her hands. “She’s done this to me since fifth grade. Pisses me off so much. And each time I’m sure I hate her. But then she says or does something that makes me crumble. Mostly, because I know she hates herself more than I ever could.”
“Do you think it’s because her dad ignores her?”
Kari shrugged. “They were closer when she was younger. He started drinking a lot after he lost his construction job. She didn’t talk about it much. But Greg, her brother, was psycho. He chased us with a pocketknife once.”
“She seems to miss him a lot.”
“Yeah, I don’t get it. He was nicer to her when they got older, but he just took off one day. She cried for weeks—and then dyed her hair purple and decided she was
“Hey,” Justin said, sitting next to me. “Roger hasn’t heard from Naomi since Friday. He claims he didn’t even know what went down. But he says there’s this abandoned house Scott deals out of sometimes. He’s taking me there after school.”
“I’m going too,” I said.
“Me too,” Kari chimed in.
“Not a good idea. Roger said that Scott’s supplier got busted last week. And Scott’s pretty sure he’s next. It’s why he’s hiding out. You guys don’t want to get caught up in that.”
“I’m going, Justin. Whether you like it or not,” I said.
“I already have a record. Let me take the risk.”
“Exactly. That’s why you’re the last person who should be going.”
