"The house where his sons live," the officer says.
"It's technically Joe's house," Danny says. "He might have stashed some money there or left something valuable behind. I'm guessing that's why he went there."
"So you're saying Joe Sanders was the one who attacked his son?"
"Yes," I blurt out. "It had to be him."
"I don't know why he did it, but yeah," Danny says. "I'm guessing he and Dean got in an argument and Joe attacked him."
"He almost killed him," the officer says. "Do you think that was his intent?"
Danny glances at me. "You should be able to answer that better than me. You've seen Joe's file, right? Why he went to prison?"
"I'm aware of his attack on his ex-wife, as well as the other women, but that doesn't prove he'd attack his own son."
"It may not prove it but it shows what he's capable of," Danny says, turning into the parking lot of the junior high. The lot is mostly empty, which seems odd since it's only one-thirty.
"We need to go," I tell the officer. "We're getting Dean's brother from school and then going back to the hospital."
“That’s fine but I might have more questions for both of you as we do our investigation. Can you give me your numbers?"
We rattle them off, then end the call.
"Where is everyone?" I ask Danny as we get out of the truck.
"Not sure," he says, walking up to the building. He tries the door but it's locked.
"Do they always lock the doors?" I ask Danny.
"Probably. With all the shit that happens at school these days, they lock them up like a prison."
"Then how are we going to get Jake?"
"Call him up."
As I'm getting my phone out, a woman walks out, wearing her coat and holding a stack of folders.
"Excuse me," I say, stopping her. "We need to talk to a student. Do we need to go check in at the office?"
"The office is closed," she says. "The students have all gone home. It was an early out day."
"When did they leave?" Dean asks.
"About a half hour ago," the woman says, continuing on to her car.
Danny walks back to me. "He must've gone home. Try calling his phone."
I call his number.
"You hear that?" Danny asks, going over to the bushes that line the parking lot.
"His phone went to voicemail."
"Call him again."
"I'll text him. He's more likely to answer a text."
"Just call him," Danny says, walking through the bushes.
