“He’s with his friends.”
“Still… That’s kind of young.”
“I don’t know what to say. I’m so scared that something terrible has happened.”
“Why don’t we get you home to be with your family?”
“I have an exam Wednesday and a paper due and?—”
“Will you be able to focus on anything as long as he’s missing?”
“No.”
“Email your professors. Tell them what’s going on and that you’re going home to DC to help look for your brother.”
“What if I can’t make up the exam and get the paper done before the end of the semester? My acceptance to Princeton is contingent on finishing the year here.”
“Maybe they’ll let you finish remotely. Worry about that when Ethan is home safe.”
“Right. Okay.”
“Let’s go pack what you need for a couple of days at home.”
Nate was by her side as she gathered clothes, toiletries, notes for the paper she’d been working on and other items needed to study for her last final exam at UVA.
Twenty minutes later, they were in his Mustang heading north.
“Thank you for this.”
“No problem.”
“Yes, it is. You just drove more than five hours yesterday, so it’s got to be the last thing you feel like doing today.”
“This’ll be much quicker, and don’t worry about it. I understand that you need to be with your family right now. Did you tell your mom you’re coming?”
“I will now.”
Brooke composed a text to Sam’s phone, hoping it would reach her mother. I decided to come home. Nate is bringing me. Will be there in about 2.5 hours.
“How much you want to bet he’ll be home when we get there?” Brooke asked.
“That’d be good.”
“I’ll smack him upside the head for messing with our time together.” She hoped against hope that he was there to be smacked when she arrived.
Brooke called her brother for the twentieth time since her mom had told her he was missing. Once again, the call went straight to voicemail, so she texted him—again.
Ethan… we’re worried sick about you. Please check in with one of us. Whatever is going on, we’ll handle it together. We love you.
“What do you know about his friends?” Nate asked.
“I knew his elementary school friends, but my mom says he’s hanging out with a new group since he’s been in middle school. She’s been trying to find out more about them, but he’s become secretive and sneaky.”
“All the more reason not to let him run around unsupervised.”
Brooke sighed. “Yeah, probably.”
“I don’t mean to be critical of your parents. It’s easy for me to say what I’d do when I don’t have an eleven-year-old begging me to go out with his friends.”
