Page 221 of Finding Us

Garret doesn’t elaborate but I’m sure we’re thinking the same thing. The pieces all seem to point to the organization.

“It can’t be them, Garret. I can’t handle dealing with them again.”

“Whatever happened today, it doesn’t have anything to do with us. We have no connection to either one of those guys.” He holds my shoulders. “You sure nobody saw you there? Like absolutely sure?”

“I don’t know. But if they saw me, they would’ve done something, right?”

He brings me into his chest, holding me tightly in his arms.

He doesn’t answer my question, but he doesn’t need to. I know the answer. They would’ve killed me.

CHAPTERFIFTY-TWO

GARRET

I spent the past hour trying to calm Jade down. I think I’ve convinced her what she saw was a drug deal that didn’t go as planned. I told her the burglar who was dealing drugs probably had his boss hiding in the bushes and something went wrong with the deal and he shot the two guys. It’s not like this doesn’t happen and it’s possible that’s what she saw. And I think Jade believes that now. I just can’t convincemyselfof it.

After I calmed her down, Jade was tired from all the stress so we went in the bedroom and I laid down with her. Now she’s asleep so I get up and go in the living room to call my dad.

“Hey, I need to tell you something,” I say when he answers. “Can you talk?”

“Yes. What is it?”

“Shit, I probably shouldn’t say this over the phone. I wasn’t even thinking of that when I called you.”

“I’m on a secure line.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure if mine is secure.”

“They shouldn’t be tracing you anymore. Technically it’s against the rules. So go ahead.”

“Jade saw something today. Something she shouldn’t have seen.”

“Go on.”

“She went out a side exit on campus and it led to a parking lot where she saw two guys doing a drug deal. One of them was the burglar.”

“The one who robbed your neighbors?”

“Yeah. I guess they let him out of jail.”

“That’s not what my sources say.”

“Then your sources are shit because Jade’s sure it was him.”

“It’s possible they let him out last night or this morning. He must have got out on bail.”

“Who would pay his bail? I thought—”

“Just continue, Garret.”

“The burglar, the guy selling the drugs, got shot. And then the guybuyingthe drugs got shot and Jade doesn’t know who did it. She was hiding behind a building and she saw the guys fall to the ground but she didn’t hear any shots and she didn’t see who shot them. She tried to call the police but her phone couldn’t get a signal. She went back to campus and told one of the Camsburg cops that she heard some guys fighting and to check the parking lot. The cop made us go with him and when we got there, the bodies were gone.”

There’s silence on the other line.

“Dad, are you still there?”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “Yes.”

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