Ashley didn’t speak, but put her hand on Lilly’s shoulder.
Drew stood and called McAlister Securities to see if they had any location on Cole. They promised the moment they did, they’d notify him.
“Record everything,” Drew ordered. “And have someone listening to the live feed until myself or someone from my family is with him and tells you to turn it off. I’m going to look for him. On foot.” He started for the back door.
“Wait for me,” Sam said. “I’m coming with you. Two sets of eyes are better than one.”
“I’m going to get some other units looking for him and then drive around,” Ollie said.
“I can’t just sit here and not do anything,” Ashley said. “I want to go with you.”
Drew didn’t object. “Someone needs to stay here in case he comes back on his own.”
“Are you alright on your own?” Ollie said to Lilly
Lilly nodded. She picked her purse up and pulled out a small, silver Colt forty-five. “I had it locked up since Cole moved in with us, but I took it out last night. I’ll be fine. I’ve been shooting guns longer than the two of you.”
Drew nodded as he motioned for Sam to follow him. “Let’s go find him.”
Cole wasn’t sure how long he sat crying like a little baby, but he knew he couldn’t stay in the bushes forever. He still had no idea where he was going. If he were older, he’d go join the Marines like Uncle Drew. That would take him far away from Edward and keep his family safe.
But he knew he wasn’t even close to being old enough for that. Not that Cole really wanted to be a Marine. He liked stories, to lose himself in an imaginary world where monsters had fangs and wings and only came out at night. Everyone knew the monster when they saw it, and they didn’t think little boys were lucky to have that monster living with them.
He hiked up the trail, avoiding the main road, keeping himself hidden from the people and traffic, until he seemed to run out of trees and bushes. At the big highway, cars flashed by in both directions. He stood by the corner and waited until the light changed, before crossing the street.
As he did, a red Buick screeched to a halt just inches from slamming into him.
“Hey kid, get out of the road!”
Wide eyed and shaking, Cole bolted across the intersection as fast as he could. Leaning on his horn, the driver continued to curse him out as Cole made it to the other side.
Cole rushed down the road, paying no attention to the street signs. He wouldn’t know where he was going anyway. He tried to ignore the weight of the backpack and the tightness in his chest from panic and exhaustion. Drained beyond belief, Cole stopped and hunched over, his hands on his knees as he panted and tried not to vomit all over the sidewalk.
As he slowly caught his breath, Cole glanced around, unsure of where he was. He’d only been in Ember Falls a little over a month and most of that time was spent at home. The street looked vaguely familiar, but Cole wasn’t sure where he’d seen it before. More importantly, he still had no idea where to go from here.
People were starting to look at him though. Straightening up, Cole tried not to look so lost and scared. He looked up and down the street as people went about their day. He was next to a bank with a drive thru teller, but it was closed because it was Sunday. Next door was a pizza place Cole thought might have been one they had ordered from once.
The people passing by were varied. A mother out shopping with her daughter, a man in a suit walking with a briefcase in hand, and a few teens standing and laughing together smoking cigarettes.
Cole glanced the other way and saw more of the same. People going about their day and places of business— some open, some closed. There were cars of different types coming down the street. In the distance was a city bus. Cole quickly scanned for the bus stop. It was just half a block down, giving him plenty of time to get there.
Running over, Cole realized he wasn’t alone. A woman with long, dark hair with strands of grey was also waiting. She wore unflattering jeans and a white and blue striped shirt and carried a large, white leather purse. She was aggressively chewing gum, which cracked and popped every few seconds. She glanced towards Cole, offered him a smile before her eyes returned to looking for the bus.
Not counting the school bus, Cole had only ridden on a bus once. When he and his mother first came to Ember Falls they rode a bus all the way into town, but that was a different color bus and it took them to a station where they and their meager possessions took a cab to Lilly’s house.
Cole’s mother wasn’t even certain Cole’s aunt still lived there, but it was the only place she could think of to start. When they arrived, both Aunt Ashley and Lilly seemed completely shocked to see them, but welcomed them into the house despite the late hour. They’d fussed over Cole who hadn’t known what to say, so he’d stayed quiet.
That night, after he’d been put into his new bed for the first time, his mother sat in the kitchen over coffee and spoke to Ashley and Lilly. It was the first time she was able to admit out loud some of the horrible things Edward Hunter said. Cole listened at the top of the stairs, hearing the gasps from Lilly, the bad words from Ashley. He wondered what they’d say if his mother had told them the rest. He could tell they knew there was more.
He could still recall the outrage in Ashley’s voice when she asked, “Did the bastard ever hurt Cole?”
His mother told them not more than a few bruises, but he’d seen plenty and been scared, confirming for Cole his mother had no idea what Edward Hunter was capable of.
None of them did.
Cole shook off the memory as the woman reached into her purse and pulled out a small, plastic card. Was that how you paid on a bus?
The woman smiled again as she snapped her gum. “You okay, kid?”
Cole forced a nod. “Do you know how much the bus is?”
The woman seemed to think for a moment. “Two dollars, sixty-five cents. You don’t have money?”
“No, I do.” Cole reached into the bag, pulled out a few of the twenties from the wad of cash his uncle had given him.
The woman gasped and leaned closer to Cole. “You’re kidding right? You can’t get on the bus and hand him a twenty. You need exact change if you don’t have one of these.” She held up her card. “And in actual change, not paper. Where are your parents?”
Cole started to panic. “They’re divorced and I’m going to see my Mom, but I left my card at home. I don’t want to call them because they’ll be mad. I keep forgetting it.”
The woman frowned. It was clear she was trying to decide if she believed Cole. “My name is Linda. What’s yours?”
Cole hesitated a moment. “Andrew, but people call me Drew.”
Linda nodded. “You’re not running away from home, are you Drew?”
Cole shook his head. He made sure to sound and act polite because adults trusted kids more if they were nice. “No ma’am. My father’s a cop and had to go to work today. So I’m going to go to my Mom. I just don’t want to get yelled at because if I call, one of them has to leave work early.”
Linda crossed her arms and pursed her lips for a moment. “You got any quarters or dimes?”
As Cole’s face burned red, he looked down in his bag, but knew he hadn’t bothered to take any change and Uncle Drew hadn’t given him any.
“Alright relax, kid,” Linda said as she cracked her gum. “I’ll take care of it. Just put that money away where nobody can see it. You know there are dangerous people out there.”
Cole nodded. “I hope I never meet any.”
Drew and Sam cut through the yard like the night before, only this time their weapons remained holstered. The first thing Drew did upon reaching the backyard of the empty house was try the door. It was locked, completely empty and he was fairly sure Cole wasn’t hiding inside. They went around to the front and he repeated the same process on the front door. It was also locked.
“He had to come out through the back,” Drew said as Sam came up on the f
ront porch with him. “Ollie and I were by the front door talking with two cops. He didn’t go by us and I would have seen him if he went out the back door and around to the front of the house. Unless he went in those few minutes after the officers left, but I think they stayed in their car out front for a few minutes.”
Sam looked down the block both ways. “You’re probably right. So which way did he go?”
As Drew tried to decide, he heard the yapping of a small dog. The lady they’d seen last night was passing by, walking her dog. She was dressed in a bright blue, velour sweat suit. Her gray hair was short and better combed. Her dog was a black pug that kept pulling towards Drew and Sam. The woman picked the dog up and eyed both Drew and Sam with suspicion.
“Ain’t nobody livin’ there,” she said.
Drew walked forward, keeping his hands by his sides and visible. “We know that. We’re looking for my nephew. He’s eight, almost nine. Light brown hair. Would have had a backpack with him. I don’t suppose you saw him?”
The elderly lady scowled, looking him up and down. “People seem to disappear on you. First that pretty girl you took to the dance, now your nephew. What you gonna do with him?”
Drew face started to burn. “Keep him safe from the bastard who killed his mother. Now did you see him or not?”
The woman’s cheeks turned pink. “I don’t like language like that.”
Drew started to open his mouth to use more language she wouldn’t like, but Sam stepped in. “Ma’am, please. I’m a police officer. Last night there was a break in and the boy is scared. We’re just trying to find him and bring him home.”
As the woman considered, the black pug wiggled around, yapping loudly. “Calm down Greta, calm down, you’re gonna fall.”
But the dog refused to stop moving and soon slipped from her grip. It landed on the dirt with a yelp that was more surprise than pain. It ran in a circle a few times and then lunged towards Drew.
Leaping up, its front paws landed on Drew’s lower leg. It continued to bark as its entire butt wiggled, begging for Drew to pet it.
Impatient with the delay, Drew scooped the puppy up and handed it to the elderly lady amid a flurry of licks from its tiny tongue. “We’ve got to go.”
Hazarding a guess, Drew started to head north. Sam fell in step beside him.
“You’re going the wrong way,” the lady called.
Both Drew and Sam stopped and spun around. Drew moved back towards the woman quickly. “What?”
The old woman sighed and pointed south. “Kid went that way. Fast as a bullet. Kept tripping as he looked behind him. I guess if Greta likes you, maybe you’re not out to hurt the kid, but I’ll tell the cops if I hear—”
Drew cut her off by kissing her cheek and scratching the dog’s neck. “Thank you.”
Both he and Sam hurried in that direction as the woman placed her hand on her cheek where Drew kissed her. “He didn’t stay on the road. He went down the trail into the trees.”
Drew called out a second thank you and led Sam off the road into the woods.
Linda used her card to pay the fare for both her and Cole, telling him once they sat at the back of the bus it was her good deed for the day. As they rode, Linda kept talking to him, pausing only to chew and snap her gum. She couldn’t help but notice how Cole, who she referred to as Drew, kept very quiet, answering mostly in nods and shakes of the head.
If he spoke, he kept his response to as few words as possible. She told Cole about her job working the morning shift at a local motel and how she first learned how to take the bus when she was about his age. Mostly, she talked about the love of her life, her new grandson, who was only five weeks old and cute as a button. Even though he mostly looked out the window, Linda was sure little ‘Drew’ was listening. He was very polite and thanked her sincerely for her assistance, but otherwise, just listened.
After about ten minutes, Linda worried if he wouldn’t prefer her to be quiet and was just too shy and polite to say so. She stopped talking for a moment as she reached into her purse and pulled out another stick of gum. Unwrapping it, she tossed it in her mouth and chewed; the gum snapping as she did. She was about to toss the wrapper in her purse when she spotted Cole glancing her way. She held up the wrapper. “I’d offer to share, but this is nicotine gum. It’s not healthy for kids. I’m trying to quit smoking and this is the only thing that makes it less than pure torture.”
Cole leaned forward, curious. “Is it really hard to quit smoking?”
Linda nodded, chewed, and snapped. “You better believe it. I’ve tried before, could never make it past two weeks. Hated it when my son started, but it’s hard to yell at him for doing something he’s seen me do my entire life. But his wife, Mindy, that’s my daughter in law; she hates cigarettes and made him quit before they got married. He was like me. He’d quit, go back, quit again, go back again. Took him over a year to get it to stick.”
Linda paused for a moment as she peered out the window while the bus came to a stop. Satisfied this wasn’t her stop, she snapped her gum and continued as if she’d never stopped.
“Now, I thought Mindy was being a little hard on my boy, but I know she loved him and just wanted what’s best. She told me, when we have kids, I don’t want them to see their daddy puffing away. I used to say, ‘well, when you give me a grandchild, I’ll give it a go.’ And wouldn’t you know it if she didn’t remember my saying it when she gave me the great news. I don’t blame her for not wanting it around the baby, but Lord is this the hardest thing ever. Still, I’ve managed to stay without ‘em since he was born. Cut down a lot over the pregnancy, which was hard enough, but quitting is even worse.” She shrugged. “So be smart and don’t ever start. Once you do, it’s crazy hard to stop.”
Cole remembered the first day Uncle Drew came into Lilly’s home. Cole’s allergies had been set off because he’d reeked of cigarette smoke, although the fact was he’d never actually seen his uncle smoke. “My Uncle Drew just quit. I’m allergic and it makes me sneeze.”
If Linda was surprised by Cole’s sudden talkative nature, she didn’t let it show. Instead she pursed her lips and nodded. “Good for him. I imagine he must be crabby as hell, but that’ll pass. So be patient if he gets angry a little easier than normal. He using gum too? Or the patch? That’s something like a band aid they stick on your arm to help with the cravings like the gum.”
Cole thought about it. He couldn’t recall ever seeing his uncle chew gum at all, although he did bring home three lollipops once, but he’d let Cole take one, then gave the others to Aunt Ash and Lilly. And Uncle Drew hadn’t yelled at him once. Just at Aunt Ashley, which Cole suspected had less to do with quitting and more to do with the fact Aunt Ash was always riding Uncle Drew.
“No,” Cole said with a shake of his head. “I don’t think he uses those. I did hear my Aunt talking about how he used something like a chilly chicken or something.”
Linda’s eyes widened in amusement as she snapped her gum again. “Did she maybe say, quit cold turkey?” Cole nodded, and she laughed. “Oh sweetie, that just means he just up and decided to stop. Bless his heart, I don’t know how. I guess knowing you were allergic was enough. I guess he must really love you then. Least he could do since your mamma named you after him.”
Cole smiled as Linda snapped her gum again.
“You sure you didn’t miss your stop?” Linda asked. “This line only has three more before it turns around. I’ve only got two more myself.”
Cole made a show of looking out the window and pretended as if he knew where he was supposed to get off. “No, I’m good. This is my stop now. Thank you again. And good luck with the quitting.”
Linda smiled as Cole went to the door. “You take care of yourself now, Drew.”
Cole waved goodbye as he got off the bus. He could still hear the snapping of her gum as he heard a familiar voice from behind him.
“Cole? What are you doing here, young man?”
Chapter 21
&nbs
p; A Code for Dummies
“You want to tell me what’s going on, Cole?” Rose Henry said. She stood with her arms crossed and one eyebrow arched. With all the poor boy had been through, she knew she shouldn’t be enjoying the look of wide eyed, open mouthed, caught with your hand in the cookie jar look, but she just couldn’t help herself.
They stood outside a strip mall that had a hardware store, pizza place, nail salon, and the Adirondack Diner.
She could practically see the steam coming out of Cole’s ears as he tried to figure out how to explain away his presence so far from home. He kept mumbling things like, “Well um…” and “I uh…” If it weren’t for the fact his family was probably worried sick, it might be adorable. Maybe someday, she’d be able to tell them all about this and see them laughing, but she had a feeling today wouldn’t be the day.
Still, Rose figured a few more moments of Cole squirming wouldn’t hurt anyone, and it might just help teach him a lesson. Besides, it was kinda fun.
Cole took a deep breath and finally gathered his thoughts. Just as he opened his mouth to try again, Rose held up her hand. “Just save it. Do you have any idea how worried your aunt and uncle are? It’s just lucky I was coming out of the restaurant and saw you.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. “Now, what’s your home number?”
“Um…” Cole looked around as if the answer would be floating in the air. “I uh… I don’t know.”
Rose scowled. “Now listen here, kiddo, don’t try and pull that on me. I can call my granddaughter and she’ll have you’re uncle’s telephone number. But then when I tell your family what happened, I’ll have to add the part in about how you pretended not to know. And don’t—” she took a step closer. “Even think about bolting. I may be old, but that don’t mean I’m slow. Now spill or I call Samantha.”
Cole’s eyes were full of wide eyed terror. He turned ghost white and trembled. For a moment, Rose was afraid she was really going to have to chase him and that wouldn’t end well for either of them.
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