Page 56 of Go the Long Way

"Hmm?" Jakob mumbled, groggily fumbling around for his phone to see who possibly could be texting him at this hour.

He stared at it bleary-eyed for a moment before his sleep-fogged brain woke up enough to register Ethan's name as the sender. He thumbed it open quickly, navigating to the secure app they'd been using before hitting the little phone icon to call.

"Everything okay?" he croaked out in a sleep-roughened voice barely half a second after he'd heard the line connect.

"No.Jakob, I — They — " came Ethan's deep rumble over the connection. Usually so calm and sure, now Ethan sounded strangely… panicky.

"Take a breath," Jakob told him, suddenly wide awake and worried as he sat up in bed. "You hurt?"

"No, I — No," came Ethan's reply, and Jakob felt the sudden sharp spike of worry that'd lodged in his chest ease slightly. "I'm not hurt. But… Someone's been in myhouse,Jakob."

"What?" Jakob hissed, his mind still trying to catch up, sure he couldn't have heard what he did.

"The school board went all afternoon and into the evening," Ethan said, which — wasn't any kind of answer at all.

He could hear Ethan taking a ragged breath. Could imagine the way he’d reach a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, just as he always did when he was nervous.

"Most of them — theyknowme. A lot of them have kids that have been students in my classes over the years. They just officially replied back to me a couple hours ago, but… It was just like I'd been warned," Ethan continued; still sounding shaky, his voice rough. "Got personal texts from most of them. All saying how sorry they are; how they went to bat for me. But in the end… They're sticking to their policy.

"Shit," Jakob breathed out.

"Yeah," Ethan agreed with a sigh. "I mean, I guess I can't really blame them, but… They asked for me to step back until this blows over, and I — Sure. What else am I going to say to that, right? But… I — I went for a run after. Clear my head. Don't know how long I was out, just… felt good to just — justrun, y'know? To not have to think about any of this bullshit. But when I got back…"

Ethan trailed off, sounding lost and confused. The tone of his voice, the late-night call, the bitterly familiar feeling of sleep-fogged helplessness now swirling in the pit of Jakob's belly…

It all dredged up old and ugly memories ofothermidnight phone calls, from the time when they were kids. From the days when —

"You sure someone was there?" Jakob asked, dragging himself forcefully into the present once more. He hated how strange and powerless he felt sitting there in his bed, listening to the stress in Ethan's voice. "They take anything?"

"No. At least, I don't think they did. TV, laptop — all the stuff that’s remotely valuable, it's all still here. But… someone definitely tried to log in on my computer. My papers are scattered all over my kitchen, and someone's broken into my filing cabinet and gone through my documents. I don't even know what else. Jakob, I — I don't know what todo," Ethan said, his voice sounding small and scared.

Jakob scrubbed at his face.

His first instinct — drummed into him after years of television PSAs and D.A.R.E. programs in school and the frankly mind-boggling amount of police dramas on TV — was to tell his friend to call the cops. Which was utterly ridiculous because both of them knew there was every likelihood that itwasa cop — a very specific cop — who had just been snooping through Ethan's house.

Very,veryillegally, sure. But — who would stop him? If Ethan called the police now…

They'd come in. Dust for fingerprints no cop would be dumb enough to have left. Probably have themselves a good, longlegalpoke through Ethan's belongings. Same as had just been done, really. But this time it would be at Ethan's express — and fully admissible in a court of law — invitation.

In fact…

There was every likelihood that whoever had been in Ethan's house would be among those who'd show up to the call.

Fuck.

"Police still watching your house? Could they have witnessed it? Maybe take a photo of them sitting outside, prove they'd have to have seensomething. Maybe get the dashcam footage…" Jakob trailed off, knowing it was a long shot.

Ethan's sudden bark of laughter had a worryingly sharp note to it. "My chaperones seemed to have fucked off who knows where sometime during my run. There's — "

There was a loudcrash—

…the sound of glass breaking…

A muffled "Fuck!" coming as if from a distance through the phone —

…a loud bang and clatter, as if it had been dropped…

"Ethan?!"Jakob shouted into his phone.

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