Page 222 of Finding Us

“Do you think it’s them?”

“I’d have to look into it. If they were involved in this, they’d have to be somehow connected to the burglar. Or the other man. Does Jade know who the other man was?”

“No, but she thinks he might be a grad student. Dad, you’ve gotta find out what’s going on here. Jade’s freaking out and so am I.”

“Listen, Garret. This didn’t involve you or Jade so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

“But Jade saw what happened. So now itdoesinvolve us. If they saw her—”

“She wouldn’t be with you right now. She would’ve been taken care of at the scene.”

My chest tightens when I hear him say ‘taken care of’ because I know what that means. I’ve overheard my dad use those same words when talking about other people. People I don’t know. People who saw stuff they shouldn’t have and who my dad had to ‘take care of’ by order of the organization. I try to forget he does that stuff but then he says things like that and I’m forced to think about it.

“Garret, it’s quite possible that what Jade saw was simply a drug deal that didn’t go as planned. Maybe it involved gangs. Or organized crime. In either of those cases, it would make sense for the bodies to be taken and disposed of so that all evidence is destroyed.”

“I know, but you’ll still check on this, right? See if you can find anything out?”

“Yes. Of course. Try to get Jade to calm down. If whoever did this suspects Jade saw something, he might be watching her, and she’ll appear even more suspicious if she walks around looking fearful and anxious.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to her.”

“You know, it’s not too late to move back here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You and Jade might feel better living closer to home. You wouldn’t have to live in Connecticut. You could live in Boston. There are some excellent colleges there and you’d be much closer to—”

“Dad, no. We’re not moving. We just need to figure out what’s going on here. Like you said, maybe it’s not them. Maybe we’re just paranoid and making this into something it’s not.”

“Even so, I think you’d feel safer if you lived out here. You’ve never been this far from home before.”

“Yeah, I have. You sent me to boarding school in London.”

“That’s right.” His tone lightens. “You almost burned the place down. Cost me a fortune.”

“Sorry about that.” I laugh, then get serious again. “Dad, I’m not a kid anymore. I can’t run home whenever there’s a problem. I can handle being out here. And everything would be fine if I knew they weren’t going to bother us.”

“They won’t. I’ll make sure of it. Don’t worry about this. Just focus on school. And Jade. Let me worry about the rest.”

“I need to know if you find out anything.”

“Yes. I’ll keep you informed.”

“Okay. Call me soon.”

“I will. Goodbye, Garret.”

I feel a little better after talking to him. He’s right. There are a lot of bad people out there who have nothing to do with the organization. And they could’ve easily disposed of the bodies. Tossed them in the trunk of a car or the back of a van and been gone within a minute. As for the cell phone signal? They sell shit online to disrupt signals. Any criminal could access that equipment.

When Jade wakes up I tell her what my dad said. I tell her his theory that it could be a crime ring or other drug dealers and that he doubts it’s the organization. But it’s not completely true. I know my dad thinks there’s a strong possibility they’re involved, but he’s trying to downplay it until he knows for sure. He doesn’t want to worry me. And I don’t want to worry Jade. Like my dad said, she needs to play it cool and not act like she knows shit she shouldn’t know.

She seems more relaxed after we talk. But I’m not. I still don’t feel safe. I’m starting to think I never will.

The next few days I’m on high alert, paying extra attention to our surroundings and the people around us. But I don’t notice anything suspicious. Nobody seems to be following us and we haven’t had any strange phone calls or people hanging around our house or parked on our street.

The thing that concerns me is that I never heard anything on the news about those two guys being missing. Maybe nobody would care about the criminal, but the other guy? The grad student? I’m sure he has family or friends who are looking for him, but I didn’t hear anything about him on the news or on campus. There haven’t even been any missing person signs posted. It’s like the whole incident was covered up and people were silenced, which is exactly what the organization does.

But my dad did some investigating and he doesn’t think they’re involved. He didn’t tell me exactly what he did to find this out. I’m guessing he talked to some of the members and got information without actually saying why he needed it. He’s good at that. He can ask questions without the person realizing why he’s asking.

---