When I turn the corner, I see the lights on top of the sheriff’s car, parked on the kerb outside the house. There’s what looks like a Canyon P.D. patrol car too. The sight of the sheriff don’t make me nervous, but I’m worried for my younger half-siblings.
When I get there, the door’s already open.
‘AJ!’ Mom shrieks as I enter. She wears a loose-fitting red dress, her hair wavy in the humidity. She’s lit candles, but it’s almost impossible to see in the gloom. The kids are up, even the little ones, and the baby is crying. There are two uniformed officers inside.
‘What’s goin’ on?’ I ask.
She wipes tears. ‘AJ, have you seen Noah? He’s missing! These officers told me he’s been stealing cars over in Canyon.’
‘Ma, calm down. What the hell?’
The county sheriff steps out in front of her. I’ve seen his picture before. He’s a youngish guy with a square jaw. Goes by the name of Luke Saint, but folks in Rapture call him Saint Luke, on account of him being a straight-as-they-come lawman in Haywood County. ‘What’s your name?’ he asks me.
I can barely see his face in this light. ‘Ajax,’ I say, ‘Ajax Callahan. Everybody calls me AJ.’
‘Where you been tonight, AJ?’
‘Playing pool over in Scotch & Smoke.’ And I know the whole damn bar will vouch for me.
‘You seen your brother Noah Brady tonight?’
‘Ain’t seen him in a while. What the hell’s he been doing?’
‘He evaded arrest in Canyon earlier tonight. Canyon P.D. are trying to track him down. You’ve had no contact with him whatsoever?’
‘None at all,’ I say coolly. ‘My friend just told me a patrol car was parked outside my mom’s house, so I headed on over. Mom, y’all right?’
Mom’s name is Mercedes, Mercy for short. Kept the name Callahan even after my dad skipped town. Had Logan at eighteen, then me at nineteen. Somehow wised up to birth control after that, for a while at least. That, and somebody warned her what my dad was doing on a Saturday night. She didn’t take the name Brady on account of Noah and Mason’s father being a complete waste of space and about as sharp as a marble. He left before Mason was even born. Her current partner, Armando, wants to marry her, but she ain’t taking the bait, despite having three more babies with him. Right now, she’s pacing. She doesn’t have time to answer me before the Canyon P.D. officer steps closer to me. He’s older and uglier than the sheriff, with a belly on him, and sharper features. ‘When was the last time you saw your brother, son?’
‘Uh, ten… maybe eleven days ago.’
‘Where were you when you saw him?’
‘Right here.’
‘You been in touch with him over the phone since that time?’
‘Not really, no. He sends me links to weird YouTube shorts.’
‘You have any idea where he might go and hide? In a situation like this?’
I give a shrug. ‘I don’t know. He can’t drive. He should be in school.’
The sheriff reaches for a card with a phone number written on it. ‘Mr Callahan, it’s been reported your brother hasn’t been in school nigh on three weeks. Mayor Wallace is clamping down on car thieves. Your brother might not have a license, but he sure as hell knows how to drive.’
I take the card, glance down at it. ‘He shows up, or makes contact,’ he adds, ‘I’d appreciate a heads-up.’
‘Yes, sir,’ I mumble.
When they’re gone, I help Mom get the kids back into their beds. Armando works a night shift at a construction site over in Lincoln County.
‘You wanna crash here tonight?’ she asks me in the kitchen when the kids are all asleep, wiping the sweat from her brow.
‘I’ll walk back to Scotch,’ I say.
‘I would offer you a beer, but the refrigerator has to stay closed overnight. Otherwise, the food’ll spoil. Plus, the roaches get inside.’
I glance down. I can see a couple of two-inch roaches scuttling along the baseboards. ‘Come on, Ma, you gotta get the generator fixed.’