Page 73 of ClickBack

“And the younger two?”

I try to separate the names from whatever I was dreaming. Dre. Kim. Someone I don’t know is in trouble.

“Is anybody hurt?”

That gets me awake. He is already standing, listening, one hand on the closet door.

“Send me the address. We’ll find him. Keep trying his phone.”

The closet light appears beneath the door. I turn toward it, waiting for him to come back and tell me what has happened. His next call is even quieter.

“Graves. Dre walked. Kim says he’s headed back to the house. The little ones got moved tonight.”

I catch only pieces after that. He needs shoes. He needs the address. Graves is coming up.

I close my eyes against the light when the closet opens. Jarrett picks something up from the dresser, crosses to the bed, and rests a hand around my ankle through the sheet. I shift toward him, expecting him to sit down.

A knock comes from the front of the apartment. His hand leaves me. Before I have decided whether to get up, he is at the door. I hear Graves ask where they are headed and Jarrett say he will explain on the way down. Then the door closes.

I sit up fully. The room is the same room I went to sleep in. His pillow has an impression in it, and the fan is still pointed toward my side of the bed. A few minutes ago, I was listening to him breathe.

I reach for my phone, then stop with it in my hand. He knows something I don’t. He is going to help, and I don’t want him trying to explain it while he drives.

For now, I put the phone beside me where I will hear it and leave the lamp on.

Chapter 13

Jarrett

Graves sees him first, walking fast with a backpack pulled high on one shoulder. I get the SUV to the curb two blocks from the address Kim sent. Graves is out before I put it in park.

“Dre.”

The boy stops, takes one look at him, and keeps going. I come around the hood while Graves catches up. Neither of us puts a hand on him.

“Where you headed?” Graves asks.

“You know where.”

“I know where your brother and sister are. I’m asking what you plan to do when you get there.”

“Get them.”

“And take them where?” I ask.

Dre turns on me. “I got people.”

“Who?”

He hikes the bag higher. The sole of one shoe has come loose at the toe, and he presses it against the pavement while he looks past us. He has walked farther than the few blocks we’ve been searching.

“They called me,” he says. “My sister was crying.”

Graves takes out his phone. “Let’s call her back.”

“They told her she couldn’t sleep in his room. She doesn’t like sleeping by herself.”

“Then we ask about that.”