“He went to your house?”
Massaging his knee, Theo nodded. “Has he talked to you?”
“No. The other detectives came, Somerset and the other one.”
“Why did they want to talk to you?”
“Someone broke into my dorm room and searched it. They tore it apart. I think it was those white supremacist assholes.” Auggie explained the rest of it, and when he’d finished telling him everything through Orlando saving him on the quad that morning, he said, “They told me I have two weeks to find that flash drive.”
Theo was still rubbing his knee, but he leaned back now, shaking his head. “What the fuck?”
Auggie giggled; he slapped a hand over his mouth, and his eyes crinkled.
“This is funny?” Theo said.
“No, it’s just—that’s basically the only thing I’ve been able to think. I’ve got cops in my dorm room accusing me of murdering Robert. I’ve got white supremacist assholes trying to break my fingers on the quad. I’ve got Orlando trying to turn me into his fuck buddy. And now you’re telling me that there’s a dirty cop who’s threatening you.”
Hand slowing, Theo tried to keep his voice casual as he said, “What about Orlando?”
One of Auggie’s eyebrows shot up.
“Never mind,” Theo said, his face heating. “Just be careful.”
Auggie’s other eyebrow shot up.
“I’m just trying to say, you can develop feelings for someone—”
“Theo?”
“Yes, please, God, say something.”
“I don’t need a dad, so shut the fuck up.”
Theo considered pressing the point, realized how far up shit creek he’d gone, and nodded.
“So we’re starting from scratch,” Theo said. “I guess we go back to his apartment and search it, although the police probably already took anything that was there. Then we go back to trying to figure out who he was and where he might have hidden the flash drive.”
“A dirty cop wants it,” Auggie said, “and so do white supremacists. How does that work?”
“In Wahredua,” Theo said, “that means drugs. The Ozark Volunteers control most of the meth production and trafficking, and they have their hands in just about everything else. Shit. I guess we could try to find a contact who might know why this is so important to them. That might give us some info about who Robert really was and where he might have hidden this stuff.”
“I, um.” Auggie flushed. “I actually might have somewhere we can start.”
“Really?”
“Robert pretended to be a pledge, and he filled out one of these interview sheets. I’ve got the original. I kind of stole it. But I took a picture on my phone in case I lost it. Here, look.” Scooting across the room, Auggie moved his chair next to Theo’s, their knees bumping, and displayed his phone. “Can you read what he wrote?”
“Graduated from Wahredua High, plays lacrosse, likes fishing and water skiing, favorite place in the world is family condo at Lake of the Ozarks. Sorry, Auggie, but these are needle-in-a-haystack kind of answers. Every kid from Wahredua is going to have answers like these.”
“That’s what I thought. I figured he was just making up stuff. But take a look at this one: Favorite Place to take a Date.”
“Frozen King on Route 50. Ok, that’s kind of strange.”
“I looked it up. It’s, like, twenty miles outside of Wahredua.”
“Yeah, it’s . . . I mean, it’s an institution, and it’s been around forever. But it’s far enough out that it’s not exactly a place every kid in Wahredua goes.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Even though he knew it was wrong, even though he knew he was going to hell for it, Theo couldn’t help himself; he said, “Auggie, this is fucking fantastic.”
It was like flipping a switch; Auggie squirmed a little in the chair, his whole face lighting up. He said, “So let’s go visit Frozen King.”
Theo grinned. “How about you go to class, and I go to class, and we go this afternoon?”
“This afternoon, ok. You promise?”
“Promise.”
For the first time since Theo had spotted Auggie in the hall, the tension in Auggie’s body eased. He pocketed his phone, moved to the door, and stopped with his hand on the knob.
“Theo?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t blame you, you know. For what happened. And, well. Thanks.”
5
That afternoon, Auggie met Theo back at his office.
“Let me just lock up here,” Theo said, “and we can go get the car.”
“The car?”
“Frozen King is twenty miles away. Were you thinking about giving me a piggyback?”
Auggie checked his phone. “Why don’t I go get it?”
“What?”
“I’ll run back to your house and get the car. I’ll pick you up here.”
“What’s the rush?”
“No rush.”
“Oh, you’ve got plans.”
“Theo, please.”
For a moment, he just combed his fingers through his beard. Then he shrugged and handed over his keys.
Auggie ran. It was after three already, and he was supposed to meet Orlando for dinner at six. They’d decided on a craft pizza place a few blocks off campus; low key, casual, and somewhere a couple of buddies could go without anybody thinking it was something else.
Outside, clouds blanketed the city, and a few flurries flitted through the gloom. The cold made Auggie’s cheeks tingle, and his nose was running by the time he hit the state road. He jogged along the shoulder, slowed by the slush and the gravel. His sneakers were soaked by the time he’d made it halfway. Traffic seemed busier than usual, and Auggie guessed people were trying to get ahead of the storm. A red van shot past him. Its tires threw up a spray of snow, coating one side of Auggie, and his eyes stung as he blinked them clear. He thought about Theo doing this every day.
He unlocked the Malibu, climbed inside, and started it. The engine grumbled, and somewhere under the hood, a belt squeaked. The car smelled closed up, and a little bit like sour milk. Cranking up the heat, Auggie backed out and headed to Wroxall.
When Theo got into the car, Auggie said, “I think it’s going to snow.”
Theo stared straight at him, didn’t glance at the steady fall of flurries. “Really?”
“I just meant, maybe we should
