“Good idea,” I said.
“Nathan is going to get them both to come in today,” Gabriel said.
I yawned again. I didn’t mean to, but it popped out of me. “Should I change in the car?” I asked. “Before we show up?”
The others looked at each other and Gabriel shrugged. “Can you do it?”
I opened the bag, finding the skirt and top and jacket stuffed inside. They were only slightly wrinkled but still appeared clean. The skirt was easy enough to put on and slide the pants off underneath. I left the tank shirt on and put the white shirt on to replace the sweater. “I’ll carry the jacket,” I said.
Victor and Kota had ignored me while I dressed. It was Gabriel that occasionally looked my way, but he seemed more concerned with monitoring cars and whatever we were passing by, in case anyone looked in.
Once I finished dressing, I combed my fingers through my hair and then blinked rapidly, trying to remember where I left it. “I don’t have my clip.”
“Just wear it down,” Gabriel said. “There wasn’t one in the trailer. You use the same one all the time.”
“I think I left it in the bed,” I said. “Or next to it. I forgot to grab it.”
Kota looked back this time, at my hair and then at the bag. “Do we need to get you more than one?”
“I had a few. I’m down to the one.” I nudged Gabriel with an elbow. “He’s got a stash somewhere.”
“What are you talking about?” Gabriel asked with a sheepish grin. “Luke takes them all. I don’t have any.”
“I don’t have one,” Kota said.
“Me, either,” Victor said. “Sorry, princess. Do they sell them at—” He paused mid-sentence and leaned toward Kota, looking past him and through the passenger window.
The rest of us turned our attention.
We were in front of the school. The lane was a little congested and Victor had slowed to a crawl with everyone else. The lane split just on school property, going to the front of the school and around a flag pole to loop back. It often served as a drop off point, as it circled back to the road next to the teacher’s lot.
But the loop had been cut off by police cars.
And dead center, parked next to the flag pole, was North’s Jeep. I was pretty sure it was his, at least. No one else at school drove a black four-door Wrangler. We’d have to get closer, maybe check the plate to confirm, but it was far too much of a coincidence.
Everyone in the car remained quiet. Several cop cars were parked in the lane as well. One was standing by the car, writing notes into a pad.
“North reported it stolen,” Victor said. “And it’s here? When did it show up?”
No one had an answer for him.
Kota pulled his phone out immediately and dialed. “Hey. We found North’s car. Actually, the police found it...”
There was a voice on the other end, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying.
“Should we turn around?” Kota asked. “No? Okay. Just checking. We’ll see you inside.” He turned off his phone and put it back into his pocket. “Mr. Blackbourne says go in as usual but...something’s up. He couldn’t say much.”
“North should have been notified they found it,” Victor said. “Did they call him?”
“Not as far as I know, but they might have just found it. Better to wait for them to call him.”
“Won’t they tow it?” Gabriel asked, turning around and looking forward. “It’s just parked where it shouldn’t be. And why are police around it?”
“I don’t know,” Kota said.
I turned in the seat, watching the cop that was writing things down. He was joined by another officer. His partner pulled out yellow tape and started circling the car with it.
“Guys?” I said, and I pointed back to North’s Jeep. “I don’t think he’s getting it back yet.”
Gabriel and Kota spun around. Victor looked over his shoulder but had to focus on the traffic. He readjusted the mirrors to look.
The first officer was helping pull yellow tape around the car on top of thin poles I hadn’t noticed before now.
“Why are they blocking it off with caution tape?” I asked.
Gabriel’s expression turned grim, and his tone darkly serious. “Because it’s a crime scene.”
No Time for Reluctance
Nathan
Nathan had returned to his own house just before dawn. Outside of the watchful eye of Jessica and Erica, he relaxed a bit. It sucked to feel that way. Now it wasn’t just him getting questioned, but also Kota and the others.
The questions she shot from her eyes as she looked at him and Victor last night, it killed him.
She found Nathan alone without a phone in the middle of the night. Finding Sang in the grocery store. Catching Kota in lies he’d told her. Kota then not showing up until very early in the morning, dropping off Gabriel and taking Nathan out.
“It’s an emergency,” Kota had said. “I need you to trust me.”
It was all he needed to say to her, but that was temporary. He was lucky she trusted him enough to let him go without explanation.
Or maybe it was the early morning hour and she’d lost the gumption to fight it out there.
Nathan brushed a hand across his tired face. He had already been to the spot where he lost the car. He was back to get dressed for school. And he had to find a way to get Marie and Danielle to go to school like they were supposed to.
After a quick brush of his teeth and checking over the place to make sure everything was put up, he collected a bookbag and stuffed it with an old textbook and notebooks, just to make it look right.
His first stop was Danielle’s.
He took the back way, crossing by the pool, covered for the winter. There was frost on the grass and encrusting old, dead leaves. The sun peeked over the tops of trees. He breathed in the crisp air.
The woods behind his house were quiet. He took the path to the right. It had been a while since he’d been out here. A bit of bramble and some fallen tree limbs cluttered the trail. At some point, he needed to come out and clear the way again.
Would anyone else do this if the others bought a house? Would he be back to keep up with the walking paths? He wasn’t sure anyone else in the neighborhood did.
What Kota told him that morning disturbed him. On the way over to find the lake, Nathan asked him about what happened with Lily.
“You should talk to her,” Kota had said.
It was all he’d say about it. You should see her. You should talk to her.
But then he talked about houses, about how Sang needed a house. Despite Nathan suggesting they should wait on a big house until they’ve settled the relationship part, Kota seemed more enthusiastic about finding the right house for all of them.
Nathan didn’t know what to make of it. As Kota talked about a number of rooms, locations and space for vehicles, Nathan had sat back and wondered what Lily said to him. What would get Kota to change his position on the relationship so quickly?
And why did Kota refuse to talk to him about it? That wasn’t like him.
Nathan emerged on the other side of the woods, behind a neighbor’s house a few houses away from the diner. He walked a path between two homes and came out on the road. Unless Erica drove past, she wouldn’t see him.
He hurried to Danielle’s front door, ringing the bell.
Derrick answered. His brown hair still had the bowl cut, but it was shorter now. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, and was barefoot and sleepy eyed. “Hey,” he said. “What’s going on?”