Page 37 of Stand By You
He put the phone in the top desk drawer and closed it, going back to work until he could go and check on the child himself later that night. Now that the Amber Alerts had started lettingthe public know that Travis was missing he had to be extra careful going to the house where they were keeping him.
But now he had the trouble of Wizard and Slick. The Amber Alert had shown their pictures, identifying them as men who’d been seen with Travis. Wizard had already been questioning the story he’d told to get them to grab the child at the zoo and now…well, he didn’t even want to think what they might be doing. Had they gone to the police and turned themselves in?
Surely they wouldn’t be that stupid.
He’d hired them because they were the perfect patsy, but still…
He wouldn’t go down alone. There was no way.
As soon asthe sun was setting, the food trucks began rolling into the business neighborhood and firing up their grills. The foot traffic kept the trucks in plenty of business in the evenings. Carlton closed up and slipped away, keeping an eye out for trouble as he headed for his car.
“I hope we haven’t waited too late,” Wizard said as they coasted down the hill on their bikes.
“You know Carlton always stays in his office working at night. That’s why we ran into him at the food trucks getting dinner,” Slick said.
“He better make this right for us,” Wizard said. “I’m not going down for that kid. We should have realized that Operation Child Recovery wasn’t a real thing. It was probably something he made up to get us to do this job for him.”
“I’m sure once he talks to the police on our behalf he can clear things up,” Slick assured him.
“And what if he won’t?” Wizard asked, stopping his bike at the corner. He walked it the rest of the way over to Carlton’s office. Slick did the same.
“We’ll cross that bridge if we get there,” Slick finally said.
Wizard tried the door, but it was locked. “He’s not here. I don’t like this. What if he’s seen those Amber Alerts and skipped town?”
“Damn.” Slick put down the kickstand and walked over to the nearest food truck. “Hey man, have you seen Carlton tonight?”
“You just missed him. He picked up a to go order and said he was headed home,” the guy said.
“Thanks,” Slick replied, turning back to Wizard. “Carlton grabbed his dinner and went home. He hasn’t left town. So why don’t we get grub and head back ourselves.”
“Okay. Okay,” Wizard said, putting down the kickstand and followed Slick to the food truck.
They ordered enough food for tonight and extra for later and headed back to their hide out. Once they were finished eating, Wizard said, “I’ve been thinking. I know we wanted to talk to Carlton, but the longer we wait the worse it’s going to be for us. We need to turn ourselves in.”
Slick spewed out his root beer. “Are you flippin’ crazy?”
“Maybe, but hear me out,” Wizard said. “I’ve been giving this some thought. That Amber Alert said we were men of interest. Not that we were wanted in the abduction of that kid.”
“So?” Slick grabbed a wad of napkins and cleaned up his face. “What’s your point?”
“It would be better for us if we go to the police and tell our side of things than if they were to find us on their own,” Wizard said.
Slick shook his head, fishing in his pocket for his vape pen. He uncapped it, pushed the button, and took a few drags off before he spoke. “I don’t know. It all seems risky to me.”
“It’s riskier trying to stay ahead of the police,” Wizard said, grabbing the pen from him and taking a drag before handing it back.
“Okay, say that we go and they don’t believe us and throw us in jail, then what?” Slick asked.
Wizard shrugged. “We call Carlton.”
“Why would he come bail us out? Especially if we just ratted him out to the police?” Slick countered.
“In your scenario they didn’t believe us, so why would they believe he was involved either?” Wizard said, accepting the pen again for another hit. “Dude, this stuff is primo. Better than the usual stuff we smoke.”
“Costs more too,” Slick said. “Let’s wait until tomorrow. I think we should stay here and enjoy this fine weed.”
Wizard took another drag off the pen and smiled wide. “Sweet.”
