I also could have died on the roof today, and I debate telling him about Creed coming to Tech’s house. Throwing a bottle and cutting my arm. Or the fact that he’s been coming back every year to harass the Mendez family.
But I don’t bring it up. I’ve tried to get my uncle’s help before and it always just seems to make things worse. He pays a visit, and then the Collective retaliates. A vicious circle.
“We were looking for Rum Runner Island,” I admit instead. His eyes widen at the mention. “Once we find it,” I continue, “we’re going to prove that what happened at the Starline Hotel wasn’t Gabriel’s fault. The truth will change things around here. And it’s about damn time.”
The sheriff’s jaw tightens. “You really think going after the Collective—the Augustus Resort,” he corrects, “is a good idea? Noa, their lawyers have lawyers. They have senators in their pockets. They are quite literally untouchable, and you think—”
This is exactly why I didn’t tell him about Creed. It’s like… he’s on their side more than ours. I shake my head, fighting back my frustration. I keep my voice steady, but the weight of everything sits on my shoulders.
“This is about your sheriff’s election?” I ask.
He scoffs, looking deeply offended. “Oh, don’t do that.” He points at me. “You know this isn’t about getting votes.”
“Then what is it about?” I snap. “Because you’re just watching the Collective cheat us out of our homes, our businesses—and you do nothing. And we’re up next. The Surf Shack is barely scraping by. I’m not going to let that happen,” I say stubbornly. “It was my mother’s dream, and I’m not letting them take it away from us!”
At the mention of my mother, silence fills the room. The sheriff’s eyes flicker to the window behind me, like he’s somewhere else. Somewhere far away.
“You think your mother’s dream was the Shack?” he asks, his voice low. “Or was it the family? Was the dream about being together?” When he looks at me again, I can see that he misses his sister. He misses Ellis. He misses me and the way things used to be around Cape Hope.
“In that case,” I say, the grief flooding in, “we’ve failed her on that front too. Our family is barely standing. Who’s going to leave us next?”
His gaze softens for a moment, but then the sheriff rubs roughly at his face. And there it is, the rift between us. The impasse. This is about my brother.
Because I can’t shake the fear that something happened to Ellis. I don’t believe he abandoned us, no matter how many people claim that he did. Whenever I tried to convince myself, I came back to the belief that my brother would never willingly leave us.
“He’s still out there,” I say quietly, expecting pushback. And right on cue, the sheriff sighs, deep and heavy.
“Ellis ran away, Noa,” he says simply. “He just left.”
“But how do you know?” I demand. My anger flashes again, desperate to be heard. “You didn’t even look for him!”
“Yes, I did,” he yells back. “I did,” he adds quieter. “But… after a while, your father told me to let him go. Ellis is nineteen—he had the right to walk away. Your dad said we should give him some peace.”
Let him go.The words echo in my head, banging against my temples.
“And you just gave up,” I murmur helplessly.
I can’t really blame the sheriff, though. Other than my gut, there’s no reason to think my brother did anything other than leave us. He took his money and his personal items. He even locked the door on the way out. I’m the only one who thinks otherwise.
I consider what Shawn told me on the boat today, about Felix. I’m not sure if this helps or hurts my theory, but at this point, I just need to know what really happened to Ellis.
“Did you hear about Felix Mancini?” I ask, bouncing my leg as I wait for his response. “I heard he’s missing.”
My uncle swallows hard, but keeps his eyes down as he begins to move around papers on his desk. “There has been some communication from the family, yes,” he says like I’m a random reporter. “At this time, it appears he’s run away.”
“That seems to happen a lot in your town.”
His eyes snap up to mine like he wants to fight about it, but instead, his lips purse together tightly as if he’s holding something back. He breathes slowly and then nods to me. “We are looking for Felix,” he says calmly.
“Do you think he’s with Ellis?” I ask, wanting him to feel the same.
My uncle shrugs like he hopes so. Which isn’t encouraging. He should know. He’s the damn sheriff.
We sit in silence for a moment, and then my uncle is back to business. He begins filling out a form with my name at the top, occasionally glancing up at me, his anger faded to sympathy. This is the first time we’ve spoken in months.
“You know,” he says. “You’re lucky that kid out there doesn’t want to press charges against you and your friends.”
“Yeah,” I say, watching him fill out the incident report. “It must be nice to not give a shit.”
