The snow fence flickered like an old film as clumps of sage and bitterbrush rolled past them on either side.
“Is that true?”The question escaped before Tean could reconsider it.“What you said about what was done to these people—about Kai and Rydel and Zeb.I know it—” He paused.His face was hot.“I know I don’t know, I guess.Or I don’t want to know.But I thought—” And then he couldn’t finish.
Jem didn’t say anything for a while.And then he said, “I don’t know how much it happens.But it happens a lot.”
Tean shook his head.“That’s awful.It makes me feel so…so small for letting my dad drive me crazy.There are children out there who are being hurt in real ways.Horrible ways.My gosh, when I think about what Scott told us about Dale and Kai.”
Jem shifted his hands on the wheel.He resettled himself in the seat.And then he did it again, like he couldn’t quite get comfortable.
“It’s not just abuse, either,” Tean said.“Is it?Because it’s kids who are neglected.Kids who don’t feel loved.They never have anyone at home.Nobody takes care of them.”
“This is a bummer,” Jem said.“Put the space wolves back on.”
For a moment, Tean wasn’t sure he’d heard right.It was such an un-Jem thing to say.And while the tone was light, almost playful, at the same time…it wasn’t.Because there was something under it.
“I’m sorry,” Tean said.
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have been dwelling on it.”
Jem didn’t say anything.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Tean said.“And I should have considered that maybe you didn’t want to talk about this—”
“Why would I not want to talk about it?”Jem said.But he turned on the radio.“It’s fine.I’m fine.We can talk about it if you want.”He turned up the music.Classic rock, although Tean couldn’t name the band or the song.He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.In snatches, Tean caught the faint hint of his humming.
And that, too, was strange.So strange, in fact, that Tean turned his gaze out the windshield, and they drove in silence.
The sun was overhead by the time they reached the ranch.The first sign they were getting close was the creek or the stream—some sort of running water.Tean couldn’t actually see the water itself, but a line of cottonwoods followed a meandering line north, and he remembered the trees—uncommon in the dry basin—from the YouTube videos.Then the barbed wire began, and strung along the fencing at intervals were No Trespassing signs and Private Property and Posted: Trespassers Will Be Shot.A quarter of an hour later, they reached the gate.
It was a tube gate, and the red paint was flaking.It ran across a cattle guard, and the ditch below was choked with winterkill.A chain with a padlock secured the gate.
“Well,” Jem said, voice bright, “looks like we’re climbing again.”
Tean nodded.
“Unless you brought bolt cutters?”Jem asked and then he laughed.
“No,” Tean said.On the other side of the gate, a dirt road ran into the line of cottonwoods.If any of the buildings from the videos were still standing, they were behind that screen of trees.And if Scott was right and Kai and the others were hiding here, they were hidden back there.They might even be watching Tean and Jem right then.“Do you think they know we’re here?”
“If they’re in there,” Jem said, “it’d be hard not to.I haven’t seen a car in almost half an hour, and they must have heard us coming.”
Tean nodded.The wind was picking up.It rippled through the cottonwoods and made the sage tremble.Dust whipped up from hardpack, and then the wind changed, and the cloud snapped sideways like someone had jerked on an invisible string.
“So,” Jem said, and some of that glittering edge dropped from his voice, and he sounded more like the real Jem, “the question is: do we still go in there?”
“I think we have to.”
“This is when it’d be really nice to have the police do their jobs.”
“Yes.Well.They took the tip when I called.I suppose we could leave it at that.”
“Oh yeah,” Jem said.“I’m sure this is a top priority for them.Meanwhile, these fuckos just keep doing whatever they want, which includes—for some reason—wanting to kill Amy.”
Tean unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door.
The cold was like something he’d forgotten, and the wind felt like it was pulling him out of the car.It whistled across the open floor of the basin and then tangled in the trees, sending the branches thrashing, the remnants of last year’s leaves hissing as they tried to pull free.Tean could smell water in the air, and the vegetable rot of the winterkill in the ditch, and then, like he’d put a razor in his mouth, juniper.He turned, trying to spot it; it must be nearby.
