Page 17 of Locke 2

He shrugged, and I glanced down at my watch. I had like seven minutes left and I was literally getting nowhere. “What did the lettuce say to the celery?”

“What?” he asked.

“Lettuce in.” I chuckled at that because it was a funny joke. But Dallis and Aurora weren’t laughing. Probably because it was more of a lettuce joke than celery. I cleared my throat. “I got more if you want?”

“What do you want?” he suddenly asked.

My smile fell. “What?”

“Ever since you talked to my mom, you keep coming to me. You never come to me.”

“Um…” I was startled for a moment. Were second graders this perceptive? Or was I just being so unbelievably obvious? I looked around, trying to catch any looks our way. Mostly, I was checking to see if Patsy was around, but she would never takerecess duty. I looked back at Dallis, and now he was pulling the celery sticks out from the ground and breaking them.

This was stupid, I suddenly realised. And really wrong. I shouldn’t be doing this, but I had to. I sighed and ran my hand down my face. “I’m sorry I’m bothering you, Dallis. Thing is…I heard you were Lenny’s friend, and that you were playing with him the day before he…moved.”

At the mention of Lenny’s name, Dallis’ eyes darted to mine as he froze. I looked at his expression closely. He almost looked…scared.

“I just miss him,” I said slowly. “I…was wondering if you missed him, too.”

He nodded once. “I miss him.”

“Yeah, I thought you would. We didn’t know he was moving. So…”

He went quiet for several moments, his eyes falling back down to the celery sticks in his hands. “She didn’t take him,” he whispered. “I keep telling everyone that.”

I stilled, feeling a bolt of shock run through my chest. My brows furrowed. “She didn’t take him?”

He shook his head, swallowing. “I keep telling everyone, but no one listens to me. Mom keeps telling me I’m wrong, but she didn’t take him. Someone else did.”

“Who?” I asked, unable to keep the eagerness out of my tone. God, I hoped I didn’t sound like Hal right now, but…goddammit, I wasn’t trying to mine my next news report.

Dallis pursed his lips. “You won’t believe me. Nobody does.”

“No, I will,” I said urgently. “I will, Dallis. Why do you think I went to his house? I’ll believe you. I promise.”

Dallis sighed, and I glanced back down at my watch. Three more minutes until the bell rang. I waited for him, but the seconds kept bleeding by, and he looked unsure of me. I chewed my lips, hesitantly asking, “He left but it wasn’t with his mother, is that what you’re saying?”

He nodded once, slowly, but his lips remained sealed.

“Do you know who took him?”

His breathing slowed as he contemplated my question, and then he nodded again, just once.

I leaned in closer. “Buddy, please tell me who you think took him.”

The clock was ticking. The damn bell was going to ring.

“It was a man,” he said. “We were playing tag…and this guy showed up. Suddenly Lenny stopped playing and ran up to him.”

“Do you know who this guy was?”

“No.”

I had to squeeze my fists to stop from shaking. “Do you remember what he looked like?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Dallis, please tell me what he looked like.”

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