CHAPTER 39
Rebecca
No one was home at CJ’s house, or at least no one answered the doorbell. The lights were out, and no car was in the driveway.
Underneath the front porch awning, she listened. She didn’t hear a TV on inside.
If Devon were home, she imagined he wouldn’t go answering their door, not if he was using the house as a hideout.
She glanced at the houses on either side of CJ’s.
They looked empty, too. It would take a quick second for her to slip around back, check the windows.
If anyone saw her, she could explain. Maybe they could help, too.
Don’t be stupid, Rebecca. She knew full well this wasn’t the kind of neighborhood that took kindly to snooping.
But this was Devon. Devon mattered.
And it was a risk worth taking.
“Devon? You there?” she called, feeling silly. “It’s me. Becca.”
Nothing.
Quickly, she slipped around back, stood on her tiptoes in the rain to peer inside the windows. All the lights were out in both the rear rooms, and she even slipped inside the back screened porch, tapped at the sliding glass door. No one was home.
Back in the car, she checked her phone, saw a text from Millie. “Where did you go?”
She winced. “Family emergency. I’ll be back ASAP,” she typed out, hit send.
“Let me know if you need anything,” came Millie’s reply seconds later. “I’m here to help.”
A rush of gratitude swept over her for the second time that morning.
She cruised the neighborhood for a few minutes, racking her brain.
Where would an eleven-year-old kid go if he were trying to steer clear of his crazy uncle?
Devon was a resourceful kid, but he was still a kid.
Still, she’d seen him riding his bike all over town, even that one time way over by her office.
Josh and JJ said he’d joined them for fishing a couple times. He could be anywhere.
She swallowed, thinking of the dark expression on Uncle T’s face.
Or nowhere at all.
That was what niggled at her—what if Devon hadn’t gone anywhere? What if T were lying and Devon was at home hurt?
Or worse?
Her heart thudded.
Her cell phone rang in her hands, and she almost dropped it on the car floorboard. She eased to the side of the road, answered. It was Rev.
“Got anything?” she asked.
But there was no luck on his end, and Granny and Marla said CJ, Shenise, Gabby, and Mariana didn’t seem to know anything either, or else they were phenomenal actors.
“You keep looking, see what you can turn up,” Rev told her. “Maybe go to Harold’s, or that corner shop where he helps Mr. Allen. I’m heading to the police station to file a report, see if we can get a search going.”
She struggled to form the words. “I’ll meet you there soon. Rev … see if they can send a car to his house, too. Just in case.”
Rev seemed to understand what she’d left unsaid.
“Will do,” he said, voice somber. “Check in with me in a bit.”
Her mouth was bone dry as she made a right onto Aberville Highway and headed toward the corner shop.
Why hadn’t she followed Devon home that first night, when she first saw the bruise?
Why had she doubted, wondered, talked to Granny and Josh about it and not him?
She’d known something was going on at home, known it in her heart, even if her head hadn’t quite caught up.
What do they always say—hindsight is twenty/twenty?
Come on, Devon. Where are you?
She wished she could call Josh, wished more than anything they could go back to Saturday night, wished he was there by her side. He’d know what to do, or at least be able to help. But she couldn’t call him.
Now isn’t the time for games, Rebecca. She needed Josh’s help—for Devon’s sake, if nothing else. And lifting her chin, she picked up her phone and dialed.
Josh’s hello was cold, but she pushed past it.
“I need help.” She could hear her voice cracking, squeezed her eyes shut tight. No tears. You need to be strong for Devon.
“Are you okay?” Instantly, his voice changed. Instead of anger, she heard concern.
Relief flooded. “It’s Devon.” She filled him in.
“Where are you now?” Josh asked. In the background, she could hear what sounded like a chainsaw.
“Heading to town to check the places I know he goes regularly, then to the police station to meet Rev.”
“Let’s meet at the station in thirty.”
“No, no, it’s okay—”
“Becks, two heads are better than one. This isn’t a time for being polite. You know it as well as I do.”
“You’re right.” She let out a shaky breath. “Thanks.”
“We’ll find him.”
“I hope so, Josh.”
“Don’t let yourself think otherwise. See you soon.”
◆◆◆
She made the rounds quickly: the grocery, the pharmacy. The corner store, where Mr. Allen said he’d worked a couple hours Thursday evening. No one had seen him since.
“Oh, honey,” said Louanne at Harold’s Diner, one hand at her chest. Her eyes were wide. “Please tell me nothing’s happened to that sweet boy. Billy!” she called to the cook, who was flipping burgers behind the grill. “You seen our little Devon? You know, Miss Rebecca-here’s friend?”
“Sure haven’t,” Billy called back. “Why, is he missing?”
“No one’s seen him since Thursday.” Rebecca swallowed.
“And in this weather, too.” Louanne cast a look at the skies outside, which were dark, then seemed to take in Rebecca anew. “Gracious, you’re soaked!”
Rebecca gave a rueful smile. “Forgot my umbrella.”
“Lou, give her that rain jacket from behind the counter,” Billy called.
“I forgot about that! Here ya go, sugar.” Louanne ducked behind the counter, produced a red and white hooded rain jacket with the name “Harold’s” emblazoned in big white letters on the chest.
Rebecca slipped it on and buttoned it all the way up.
Louanne grinned at her. “Well, if that newspaper thing don’t work out, least you know you can sure fit in here.”
Rebecca giggled, then surprised herself by leaning over for a quick hug. Louanne hugged her back, patting her softly.
“It’ll be all right, sugar. The good Lord will keep an eye on that one. We’ll be praying. You let us know if they’re gonna organize some sort of search, all right?”
“Yeah, Louanne’s right—we’ll come search if it calls for that,” Billy said.
At the station, Rebecca answered Deputy Zane’s questions, feeling more than a little helpless as she stared back at the balding man with the kindly eyes and stubby fingers as she sat in one of the chairs in front of his small metal desk.
No, she hadn’t seen Devon since she’d dropped him off at school Thursday afternoon.
No, she hadn’t driven him home. He hadn’t wanted her to.
Yes, she’d accepted that. No, she didn’t know his family.
No, she didn’t know his interests beyond church and helping others and riding his bike. Some friend you are.
Marla and Granny had joined Rev by the time she came out of Deputy Zane’s office.
Granny took one look at her face and enveloped her in a hug, her skin soft and smooth and smelling like baby powder and daisies.
Josh walked in then, stood beside her without a word.
Rebecca saw Granny glance up at him, nod approvingly.
“Deputy Zane, think you can put the word out around town about a Dahlia-wide search for Devon Robinson?” Rev told the officer.
“Sure can,” Zane said. “But we better get rolling before the storm blows in. I think three hours tops.”
“On it,” Rev said.
“Here.” Josh slung a backpack from his shoulders, unzipped it to pull out four walkie-talkies. “Take one, pass the rest around.”
Zane nodded. “Good. Use channel five, and share what you find.”
Rev stood. “All righty, friends, time to spread the word: Dahlia’s searching for Devon!”
News spread quickly. Rebecca and Josh headed back to the diner to tell Louanne and Billy, who clearly had their finger on the pulse of Dahlia. By the time Rebecca and Josh walked into the Dahlia Weekly ten minutes later, Millie already knew and was telling Tiff and Dinah.
“I take it this is your family emergency?” Millie’s face was creased with worry.
“Yeah.” Rebecca swallowed. “Listen, let’s close up shop the rest of the day and see if we can help with the search. Tiff, can you cover it as a story? I’m too … close.”
Her voice caught on the last word, and Tiff’s eyes welled in sympathy.
“You got it, Boss.”
“My Granny’s heading back to the school to tell the other kids, see if they can help.
Rev Bryant’s organizing a town walk-through and has a couple members checking the hidey-holes in the fellowship hall, and his wife Marla’s going to the hospital to talk to Devon’s Memaw, see if she knows anything. ”
“I’ll hit the shops, ask around, spread the word to my counterparts over in the surrounding towns,” Dinah said.
“And I’ll hop on the phone to all the churches, then hit some of the kid hideouts I remember from my younger years,” Millie said, picking up the phone. “Maybe I’ll ask my grandson, see if he has a ten-year-old perspective.”
The fire scanner sounded with a warning about high gusts of wind, and Rebecca shivered. She hoped Devon wasn’t out in all this.
“Be safe,” she told her staff.
“We will,” Tiff said, shouldering her camera and grabbing a notebook and keys.
Rebecca turned to Josh. “Didn’t Devon go fishing a couple times with you and JJ? Maybe JJ has some ideas. Perhaps Devon shared some kid-to-kid information, something we wouldn’t think of.”
“That’s a good point,” Josh said. “I’ll call from the truck. He’s at my sister’s.”
Rebecca pulled up the hood on the Harold’s Diner rain jacket, grabbed her keys and phone.
“Actually, how do you feel about having JJ tag along with us?” she asked when they got in the truck.
Josh glanced uncertainly at the sky, which was growing ever darker, then gave a curt nod. “He’d want to help. I know he likes Devon a whole lot. They seemed to have a good time together fishing, guy bonding, even went off …”
Rebecca put a hand on his arm. “What?”
He put the truck in park, turned to Rebecca.
“Becks, when we were fishing, JJ and Devon went off somewhere, someplace JJ calls his secret fort. I didn’t follow, never had, always figured it’s good for kids to have secret places and such, but maybe …”
The thought hit them both at the same time.
Josh picked up the phone and shifted his truck into gear.
“Lissa?” he said into the phone. “Tell JJ to be ready. There’s a kid missing. Devon. I need JJ to show me his hiding place down by the river.”