for attention, instead.
Raven and Scout started a thing together almost the moment she was released from jail. He just needed to quit calling her by her first name before she would commit to a relationship. Raven offered up the information about Denver without a fight.
Downtown Denver was an upturned graveyard, filled with decayed bones and probably rampant with disease. The skyscrapers were imposing mausoleums. Nobody went downtown.
Most of the kids lived on the northeastern outskirts that stretched along the Platte River, doing different jobs to earn their food. Their farms were supposedly getting better at producing crops, but they didn’t possess the variety Jimmy offered. Eggplant was definitely not on their menu. Mainly corn and potatoes, although their corn was weak compared to Jimmy’s; Independents was in Husker country, after all. The Denver kids’ main sources for protein were chickens, hogs and the occasional wandering elk herd.
Jimmy stood from his chair at the window and stretched as daytime ended with the sunlight drifting from the house like smoke, leaving the in-between shadows of twilight. Scout lit a candle behind him. He and Raven sat with a deck of cards, playing a game that Scout kept winning. Raven kept complaining. Jimmy stared out the window, waiting for the two most important people in his life to return with news of their day. The waiting was killing him.
“You shouldn’t stand directly in front of the window,” Scout said. It was the sixth time they told Jimmy that day and about the twentieth over the past three days.
He stepped sideways. He knew he shouldn’t be there, but he kept finding himself in that spot without realizing it. He scanned the street one more time and sat in the chair that Molly placed as a reminder of where he ought to be. It was usually the pacing that did it. After a moment or two of pacing, Jimmy was there again, back in front of the window.
“They should be back any time now,” Scout said. “Relax.”
Jimmy’s shoulders tightened from the suggestion, but he released his negativity with a slow exhale. Molly would be pleased.
“This has been the longest three days of my life,” he said. “I hope they found something. I can’t take another day of this staring out the window.”
“We can’t either,” Scout said.
Jimmy caught a glimpse of Scout’s poorly concealed smile behind his hand of cards.
“Be nice,” Raven said. She inspected Scout’s last discard and drew two fresh ones from a pile. “Like I keep saying, Jimmy, Denver’s a big place. Just because Chase wasn’t at the old house doesn’t mean they left town.”
Jimmy pressed his hands into his face, very aware of the impression he’d make if he were to scream. Molly would come at him with one of her books, for sure.
“I’m running out of time,” he said.
“What?” Raven asked.
Outside, two dark forms detached from the deeper shadows and closed on the house. Jimmy peered from behind the curtain, his skin tingling with relief when he recognized Ginger and Hunter. Four long strides carried him to the door; he swung it wide open, ready to smother them both with hugs regardless of what they’d discovered through their investigations.
Ginger jumped, confusing Jimmy with her startled expression. Hunter seemed angry.
“What’s wrong?” Jimmy asked.
Ginger buried her face in his chest and her tears bled through his sweater instantly. Her body trembled; he held her tight and frowned at Hunter.
“Inside,” Hunter said. He closed the door, locked it, and looked out the peephole. Then he pulled the cord, closing the curtains for security or privacy, Jimmy wasn’t quite sure which one was more important at the moment.
More candles were lit on the table and the corners of the room darkened. Scout and Raven packed away the cards. Jimmy guided Ginger to the table and pulled out a chair for her.
Molly appeared with two steaming cups in her hands. “Here guys, have some apple cider.” She placed the cups down, gave Hunter a kiss on the head, sat and held his hand.
Ginger’s eyes were vacant after the tears, and that worried Jimmy. She stared at her lap where her folded hands were busy wringing themselves together.
Jimmy nodded at Hunter. “What happened?”
Hunter shifted in his seat. He rubbed his head, making a swishing sound in the silence of the house that intertwined with the flicker from the candles. “We found Patrick.”
Everyone at the table shifted closer to the light, except for Hunter and Ginger. Jimmy felt a twinge of pain prodding his ribs as a reminder of his last encounter with Patrick.
“Did he recognize you?” Scout asked.
“No. I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow. He’s going to give me some easy job to earn my chips.”
Raven laughed. “That’s perfect. You’re in.”
Hunter didn’t say anything more. His brow knotted tightly like his head was about to explode. He swayed in his chair, agitated by something other than finding Patrick.
Jimmy looked from Hunter to Ginger, him with the anger, her with the sadness that was pulling Jimmy emotionally apart. His concern rose like a flash flood through a dry creek bed. “What else happened?”
Hunter glanced at Ginger, sighed and spread his hands on the table. His knuckles were red and swollen.
“You got into a fight,” Jimmy said.
“How did you know that?” Hunter asked. Jimmy pointed and Hunter hid his hands underneath the table. “Yeah, I had to.”
“Not with Patrick?”
“No, he helped me.”
Ginger stood and hurried from the room.
Molly pushed Jimmy down gently when he tried to go after her. She said, “Let me.”
Jimmy settled reluctantly into his chair. “What happened?”
“Some guy started messing with Ginger.”
Jimmy’s throat constricted and a cold lump dropped into his stomach. He narrowed his eyes. “Messed with her how?”
“First he was just hitting on her, being rude and stuff. The next time he was grabbing at her. That’s when I got into the fight.”
The cold expanded outward and froze Jimmy solid where he sat; he couldn’t move, speak or climb up on his chair and scream. He wanted to throw both his fists through the table and head for the front door on his way to find the kid that had touched Ginger.
He had one question. “What did you do?”
Hunter flared like a struck match. “What do you think I did? I beat the shit out of the guy! And then Patrick finished him up. Apparently the kid has a reputation.”
“Tommy the Perv,” Raven said. Hunter nodded. She shrugged at Jimmy. “Sorry, I forgot about him.”
Hunter’s face split into a humorless smile. “Well, we won’t have to worry about him anymore. Patrick told him to leave town. I’m pretty sure the kid took the advice.”
Jimmy’s mind processed the events and he came away feeling more than a little angry. Number one, he hadn’t been there. Number two, someone touched his girlfriend and he hadn’t been there. Number three, he now felt like he owed the kid that once beat him close to death some type of gratitude, all because he hadn’t been there.
“Where are you meeting Patrick tomorrow?” Raven asked.
“Back at the cafeteria for breakfast,” Hunter said. “Do you know what kind of work I’ll be doing?”
Raven rolled her eyes. “Something easy, I bet. Patrick doesn’t get his hands dirty, unless there’s a fight. Which cafeteria were you at again?”
“Place called Jackson’s Joint.”
Raven made a face. “Yeah, that place was always disgusting.”
