Page 13 of All He Sees
"You don't know?" Ken asked. "Don't you hang out with him?"
"He hangs out with all of us," the kid said. "If you don't have anything else to say, we're going to do our thing. Can we go now?"
"He's an asshole," said one of the other boys, who had hair that had been shaved on the sides and top to the scalp. "He's always causing trouble. He breaks into the skate park at night and starts setting up ramps, which just brings all the heat on us. Sometimes he steals stuff from our backpacks when we leave them alone. And I had a cop knock on my door the other day accusing me of graffiti, and we all know it was Dean.”
"Has he been around here today?" Nicky asked.
The boys looked around at each other. "No," one of them said. "I haven't seen him since yesterday."
"Can you tell us where we can find him?" Nicky asked.
"Doubt it," the boy with the shaved hair said. "He's always just skating around, stealing stuff and trying to hang out with us. But we don't want him around."
"Has he done anything to you guys?" Ken asked. "Is that why you don't want him hanging around?"
"He just bugs me," said the boy with the shaved head. "I don't like him. I know he just wants to be friends with us, but I don't need that shit. I'd kick him out of here if I could."
"We don't really like him either," the other said. "He's always in the way. He won't leave us alone. We're way older than him too, so he's annoying."
"Would you have a problem if we found him and had a talk with him?" Nicky asked.
"Do whatever you want," the boy said. "We don't want anything to do with that kid."
"Thank you for talking to us," Nicky said. "And if you see him around, could you let us know?"
"Yeah, no problem," the boy said.
With that, Nicky and Ken turned away, making their way back across the park. Nicky almost felt bad for Dean. It seemed like no one had his back--but then again, maybe it was deserved. But at the same time, he was just a kid. Nicky couldn't help but believe he wasn't a lost cause.
As Nicky and Ken were walking, Nicky heard a commotion behind them. She turned around, and that was when she saw it--a boy with black hair dashed out of a bush, carrying a skateboard as he darted across the grass. Dean Spanos.
He was getting away.
"Wait," Nicky called, narrowing her eyes as the boy ran forward. "Stop."
The boy slowed as he reached the fence that bordered the park, and looked behind him, spotting Nicky and Ken. He glanced to the side, as though assessing his options, then started running again, jumping over the fence.
Nicky had been in enough foot chases to know that she couldn't go over the fence. She might be able to get over if she were trained for it and had access to the right equipment, but either way, the drop on the other side was too high. Nicky waited for the boy to come down from the fence and then quickly scaled it herself.
The boy already had a little head start on her, and she knew she needed to catch him. She could run down an adult if she needed to, but it was much more difficult with a kid. He was small and fast, and as soon as his feet hit the pavement of the road, he threw down his skateboard and started riding.
"Stop, kid!" Nicky called. "Get back here."
The boy didn't comply. He weaved around the cars as he continued down the road, with Nicky following behind. The road pounded against her feet as she chased him, feeling like a fool that she, a grown FBI agent, had to exert herself chasing down some kid. But the skateboard gave him more speed than any twelve-year-old had any business having.
"He's trying to lose us," Ken called, following close behind Nicky.
Nicky's legs were getting tired, but she was fighting through it. She was going to catch this boy, no matter what it took. She didn't have enough information to pin her case on him yet, but she wasn't going to let him get away.
The boy darted up another street, and Nicky and Ken turned down it after him. It was a sunny, family neighborhood, and people watched in confusion as the three darted by. The boy's skateboard was clattering against the pavement, and Nicky knew that if the kid continued in this direction, he'd soon be out of her reach. She couldn't have that.
"Walker, let's split up," she said, huffing between breaths. "You keep on him."
Nicky had a plan. She darted onto someone's property, jumping a fence into their backyard. An elderly couple gasped, and Nicky flashed her badge as she ran by.
"FBI! Apologies!"
She jumped the fence onto the next street, then ran up it and took a corner. She could hear Dean's skateboard, so she darted through another property until she was on the same street again.
