She was brushing her teeth when Jane texted. She wasn’t available until later. Something had come up.
Grinding her teeth, Mia grabbed her purse and keys. Then she ran to the living room. “Gus, are you all right if I leave for about an hour?”
“Of course, dear. I’ve had my pills. My favorite show is on in fifteen minutes.”
“Great. I’ll be back soon. Call me if you need me.”
She ran to her car and drove to the station.
Jackson and Cynthia were both standing outside, holding what looked like a tense conversation. Mia hurried to join them.
“Let’s do this.” Jackson spoke through clenched teeth. He didn’t look at either of them. She could only imagine the agony inside him at the moment.
“Jackson.” The young officer greeted him.
“Stan. We’re here to file a missing person’s report. Actually, probably two.”
The officer’s eyebrows rose, but he led them back to a desk. Cynthia and Jackson provided all Dylan’s personal information. When he asked for a recent picture, both Jackson and Mia pulled out their phones. She had some from camp that were more recent than his, so she texted them to the officer.
“Okay. So when did he go missing?”
Between the three of them, they went over all the details from the past few days, from Dylan’s anger after the hearing to the text messages. When Reggie’s name came up, something in the officer’s face shifted.
Dread curdled inside Mia.
“I think we might have a case of two runaways,” Stan announced flatly.
Jackson stiffened. “Dylan wouldn’t?—”
“No? It seems they both lied to you all, multiple times. And you all said he was angry. Now look, I’ve taken your report. It’s filed, and we will work on it. But it’s not high priority. Several officers were injured in a recent fire, and we have drug dealers out there selling this highly addictive and lethal drug to adults and minors.”
“Stan, this is my kid brother.”
“I know that, Jackson. Which is why we will search for him, honest. But you have to know, if he’s been gone for three days—if he ran away—he could be halfway across the country by now. I’ll make sure his picture and description goes out on a nationwide AMBER alert.”
She thought about asking if he’d heard of the Youth of the Future Foundation but decided against it. If searching for two boys wasn’t high priority, then looking into her little problems wouldn’t be either.
Discouraged, they departed from the station.
“I’ll keep trying to get something from his friends,” Mia promised.
Jackson nodded. “I’m not giving up. Dylan is all the family I have. I will find him.”
Mia wanted to share his confidence. But her life experience told her that determination wasn’t always enough to protect those she loved.
Seven
Jackson dragged himself into work Saturday morning by sheer will. He hadn’t slept more than a couple hours the night before, his mind constantly running. No matter how long he thought about it, he had no idea where Dylan might be. It was like he’d run into a brick wall. All the hope he’d had three days ago had vanished.
“I need caffeine.” Yawning, he stood from the table where he, Amber, and Moses had been playing a game of Monopoly.
He sauntered into the kitchen, squinting at the sun beating down through the windows, and went to the refrigerator and grabbed a Mountain Dew. He chugged it down, tossed the can, then took a second can and wandered back into the main room.
“You know, that stuff is really bad for you.” Swanny indicated the can in Jackson’s hand before taking a loud slurp of coffee from a large mug with Renegade Station One in bold letters on it.
“And that motor oil you drink isn’t?” Jackson shuddered. Even if he did like coffee, somehow, he doubted he wanted to drink anything Swanny brewed.
Moses snickered. “That’s what cream and sugar are for.”