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Joh
“I think I saw her once. Truth is, I don’t really know. I’ve just been waiting for you.” Joh
“Your father?”
“He’s trying to make an impression. Working overtime and all. He wants to make detective first grade by the time Gerald goes pro.” He took a pull on the bottle. “Like it matters.”
Joh
“Nothing.” Sullen. Joh
“Shut up, J-man! Jesus.”
Jack lowered his voice. “If you must know, I had a fight with my dad. Somebody called him about what happened at the mall.”
“Let me guess. He took Gerald’s side.”
Jack shook his head. “I expected that anyway. This was about you. He said we couldn’t be friends anymore, said it was my official warning. The last warning.” Jack waved a hand and staggered to his feet. “But don’t worry. I told him to fuck off.”
“You did not.”
The bottle went up. “As good as.”
Joh
“Who?”
“DSS. They’ll take me from Steve’s and lock me up with some stiff-necked do-gooder who makes me take a bath three times a day and won’t let me out of the house.”
“That or somebody looking for a check from the state. They’ll feed you bread and water. Make you sleep on the floor. Make you their slave.”
“Shut up, Jack.”
“I’m serious.”
“No, you’re not.”
Jack stumbled closer and squinted at the windows. When he spoke this time, he really was serious. “They’re probably worried. Your mom and all.”
“I can’t think about that right now.”
“Why not?”
Joh
“Where?”
“Just come on.”
He marched Jack to the truck. “Wait here.”
“Dude…”
But Joh
At the truck, he snatched the bottle out of Jack’s hands and tossed it into the dark. He handed Jack the box of shells. “Hold these.”
“What is that?”
“And this.” He shoved the pistol into Jack’s hands.
“Oh, shit.”
Joh
“Oh, fuck,” Jack said, and Joh
Joh
“What are we doing?”
“I need to get something.”
“Anybody there, you think?”
“One way to find out.”
Joh
“Is it the right key?”
Joh
“Why?”
“Holloway, I guess.”
“That’s good, right?”
“If that’s what it means.”
“Well…” Jack looked around, and Joh
“Sorry.”
“Who throws a rock through his own window?”
Joh
“Huh?” Jack was drunk.
Joh
Joh
He climbed through the broken window, flicked on the overhead light. The place looked the same but felt different. A pang of loss stabbed him in the heart, but he ignored it. Going first to his mother’s room, he pulled open the bedside table drawer and scooped out the cash he found there. Two hundred bucks, give or take. He took two twenties and put the rest back. In his room, he opened his backpack and stuffed in clothing and a blanket. From his closet, he took two jackets, one made of denim, the other of cotton twill. Turning to the bed, he scooped up his copy of An Illustrated History of Raven County. It fell open to the page dedicated to John Pendleton Merrimon, Surgeon and Abolitionist. For a second, he touched the picture of his namesake, then he turned the page. The bold heading read: “The Mantle of Freedom: Raven County’s First Freed Slave.” There was the story of Isaac Freemantle, and there was a map.
On the map was the river and a trail.
The trail led to a place.
Joh
The gun went in on top of it.
In the kitchen, he found ca
“Joh
Joh
“Where are we going now?”
“Camping.”
Jack looked blank, and Joh
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Hunt stood by the fireplace and kept a wary eye on Katherine Merrimon. She sat on the sofa in Steve’s living room, shaking and flushed. Every few minutes she would stand and stare through the window. Yoakum was in the kitchen. So was Cross. Steve paced and threw frightened looks at Hunt. He tried to speak to Katherine, but she slapped him. “It’s your fault,” she said.
“That damn kid.”
She slapped him again.
“I’m going outside,” Steve said. “I need a smoke.”
“Don’t come back.” She didn’t even look at him.
“Katherine…”
She stared into the dark and Hunt stepped forward. “Go have your smoke, Steve. Give us a few minutes.”
He opened the door. “Fine. Whatever.”
Hunt waited for the door to close, then took Katherine’s arm and led her to the sofa. “We’ll find him.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I will do everything that I can do to bring your son home. That’s a promise.” Both of them recognized the empty nature of the promise. Katherine folded her hands in her lap. “Nothing matters more to me, right now. Do you believe me?”