Chapter 17
Curtis
“You’re not callin’,” my dad said softly, pushing against my chest. “You won’t be able to keep your head straight, and I doubt he’d even take the call if it was comin’ from you. He hasn’t taken any so far. Let your president handle it.”
“I can’t keep sittin’ on my fuckin’ hands,” I argued, looking at the house where I knew Teddy’s old phone was lying on my dresser.
“You’re not,” Dad replied. “We’re doin’ everythin’ we can. Boys are out talkin’ to the neighbors that weren’t here earlier. Cops are processin’ the scene. We’ll find him.”
Answering the police’s questions had taken longer than I’d wanted, but I was grateful that they’d left Teddy alone.
They’d been pissed when they realized that she’d left, but after a few words with Casper, they’d let it go.
Fucking vultures. They knew we hadn’t been home when it all went down.
There were fifty witnesses who put us at the club.
They’d already put out an alert for Finn. Soon, people across town would get notifications on their phones with his description.
“Curtis,” Kara called, running toward me from the direction of her house. “What can I do?”
“Baby, what are you doin’?” Draco asked, moving to intercept her.
“We’re here,” she replied, slowing to a stop. “Everyone’s been waiting at our house. What do you need? What should we do?”
“Go back home and wait,” Draco ordered.
“No,” I cut him off. I looked at Kara. “You think you could get the old ladies to talk to the neighbors—”
“We’re already doin’ that, son,” my dad reminded me.
“Ask ’em if you guys can check their yards. Sheds. Whatever. If Finn went somewhere to hide—”
“On it,” Kara said. Her face was swollen and blotchy like she’d been crying, but now she was clear-eyed.
“Motherfucker, I know it was you,” my grandfather’s voice barked from inside Dylan’s truck. We’d moved it away from the house and would’ve done the same with Teddy’s, but she’d taken her keys when she left.
My phone buzzed in my hand. Another update from Charlie.
“Teddy made it to the hospital,” I informed my dad as I put the phone back in my pocket. “Kids are both in surgery.”
“Good,” he replied.
He and Draco had been sticking close. The boys were all watching, waiting for me to lose it.
“Fuck,” I growled, shoving my hair back from my face with both hands as I put Dylan and Jesse out of my mind. They were safe. Teddy was there. As much as it killed me, there was nothing I could do for them, no matter where I was.
Finn needed my full attention.
I’d promised Teddy that I would find him, and I wasn’t any closer to knowing where the hell he was.
David Granger hadn’t taken any of the numerous calls that we’d made until my grandfather had picked up the phone and called himself.
He figured correctly that Granger would be willing to ignore everyone else, but not willing to show that kind of disrespect to our president.
I looked over at Dylan’s truck but couldn’t see anything from my vantage point.
The fucking neighbors hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary.
Considering the absolute destruction in my living room, I couldn’t understand how no one had heard anything. The houses had good-sized lots, but they weren’t that far away from each other.
I was pacing up and down the sidewalk when my grandfather got out of the truck and headed toward me, shaking his head.
“What?” I asked as I met him halfway.
“He assured me it wasn’t him,” my grandfather said emotionlessly. “It was.”
“Fuck.” We needed to find out who Granger had used to take Finn. If they were on their way to Sacramento, we may be able to cut them off before they got there and hooked up with the rest of Granger’s crew. If we could figure out who he’d sent, we could find out what they drove and watch for it.
“But I don’t think he has Finn,” my grandfather continued.
“What?”
“He was lyin’ when he said he didn’t send anyone. He wasn’t lyin’ when he said that he didn’t have Finn. Asked how the fuck we’d lost him. The man went from amused to panicked even though he was tryin’ to hide it. He doesn’t know where Finn is.”
I tried to make sense of the development.
“Granger sent a couple of his goons up here to take Finn, but he doesn’t have him?” Draco asked in confusion. “Did they fuck him?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” Dragon replied. “The man wouldn’t admit that he sent anyone. Wouldn’t tell me if the men he sent betrayed him.”
“So we have no fucking idea who has Finn,” I stated flatly, breaking out in a cold sweat. “Whoever Granger used nearly killed my kids. If they’ve got Finn and they aren’t in touch with Granger—”
“I’ve still got feelers out,” Grandpa Casper reminded me. “We’ll hear somethin’.”
Yeah, we would. Eventually.
But our ten-year-old was somewhere, probably scared out of his fucking mind, going through only god knew what after watching Jesse and Dylan get beaten unconscious. Every minute that went by meant one more minute that he wasn’t safe. That he was going through something I couldn’t protect him from.
Walking toward the neighbor’s bushes, I barely made it there before everything I’d eaten that day came back up. I heaved and coughed as my head pounded.
What if we didn’t get him back? What if by the time we did get him back, he wasn’t himself anymore? He was only ten. He had no way to defend himself from the monsters who’d beaten and stabbed a couple of kids nearly to death.
I thought I’d have years to show Finn all the shit I’d taught Dylan as he grew up.
We hadn’t even pulled out the dirt bikes, even though we’d mentioned it at least ten times.
He hadn’t had time to make new friends yet.
I’d told him that we’d go to the hardware store to get him some new work gloves and a headlamp so we could work in the yard at night.
He loved helping. It made the kid practically vibrate with happiness.
I should’ve taken the half hour and brought him to the fucking hardware store.
“Steady,” Draco said, putting his hand on my shoulder as I stood straight again. “We’ll find him. Don’t give up.”
“I should’ve taken the kids out in the Chevelle,” I said, numbness invading my body, starting with my fingertips. “I was waitin’ to take Teddy first. Stupid. We’re always with the kids. Should’ve just taken them.”
Christ, Jesse had been so excited, and I’d made them wait. And for what? Bullshit.
“You’ll take ’em out,” Draco assured me as we walked back toward my dad. “Still got time.”
“Do I?” I asked sharply. “You sure about that? Because I’ve got two kids in emergency surgery and another that’s fuckin’ missing, while that fuckin’ car sits in the garage—”
My words trailed off as something occurred to me.
“The cops search the garage?” I asked my dad. I looked over at Grandpa Casper and raised my voice. “Did the cops search the garage?”
“They said they cleared it,” he replied with a nod.
They’d cleared it for intruders, but had they searched in the spaces that wouldn’t fit a grown man?
“The garage,” I told Draco. “No one checked the fucking garage.”
My brother kept pace with me as I ran.
Inside the garage was dark. I’d been planning on changing out the lightbulb, but I hadn’t gotten to it yet, and the old bulb barely worked it was so dim.
“Get the door,” I ordered as I crossed the room to look in the corner next to Teddy’s toolbox. Nothing. There was an open area where my bike was usually parked and some open shelving that was mostly empty. The only thing left inside was the Chevelle.
I raced to it and looked inside, but he wasn’t there.
My heart pounded in my ears as I looked at the trunk. It had to be nearly ninety degrees in the garage. If he was in the trunk, it was what? Twenty degrees hotter? How many hours had it been since we got the call? Three?
“He’s not in there,” Draco said, shaking his head when he realized what I was focused on. “No way he grabbed the keys in time and was able to lock himself in the trunk. No fuckin’ way, Curt.”
If he wasn’t in the garage, he was gone. We’d checked everywhere. Kara and the women hadn’t found anything, and they’d been looking in yards for a while. If he’d run, he would’ve circled back around by now.
I looked down at my feet in weary frustration, tears throbbing behind my eyes. Goddamn it. Where was he?
The shadow of the Chevelle covered the toes of my boots. I looked up at the bulb hanging above me, to the open door where Aces and a few cops had congregated, and then back down at the floor.
The thin thread of hope made my palms sweat as I lowered myself to my knees, then my hands, then my belly. Turning my head, I looked under the Chevelle.
Wide brown eyes stared back at me.
“He’s here,” I choked out, staring at Finn. “I got him.”
“Thank Christ,” Draco blurted.
Movement and voices came from just outside as people spread the word, but I ignored it.
“Hey, pal,” I said softly to Finn. “You okay?”
He just stared.
“Draco, call Teddy and let her know, yeah?” I called out.
“I’m on it,” he replied.
“You been in here for a while,” I said, reaching out to wrap my hand around his forearm. He was lying on his belly, arm bent at the elbow, with his palm resting on the cement by his face. “You thirsty? Come on out.”
When I still got no response, I gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
“Come on out to me, Finn,” I urged. “Come on, buddy. I’ll take you to your mom.”
“He okay?” my dad asked from somewhere above me.
“Looks it,” I replied, keeping my eyes on Finn. “Can’t see much, though.”
Finn opened his mouth, then closed it again, moving it around before he spoke.
“I’m caught,” he rasped, his voice barely a whisper. “Something on my shorts. I can’t reach it.”
“That’s all right,” I assured him, my eyes starting to water. “We’ll fix it. I’ll get you out. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” he said blankly.
“He’s stuck,” I told my dad.
“I’ll get a jack,” my dad replied instantly. The sound of his boots thumped past me.
I looked around under the car. Finn was still wearing his basketball shorts. His legs were bare from the thigh down.