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I needed her to tell me whatever she knew. I had so much respect for her, and I didn’t want to go the Sha route, but at this point I needed to know where the nigga was.

“He called me.”

My entire body tensed.

“When?”

“A few days ago, but Tahari, he didn’t say anything.”

“What you mean he didn’t say anything?”

“It was a number I didn’t recognize. I almost didn’t answer because I’ve been getting strange calls ever since the FBI came here, but something told me to pick up.” She rubbed her palms together in her lap. “I said hello a few times, but nobody answered. Then I heard someone breathing.”

“How you know it was him?”

Her eyes lifted to mine.

“Because I know my son.”

There wasn’t an ounce of uncertainty in her voice. I nodded because there wasn’t any reason for me to question her. If anybody could recognize that nigga from the sound of him breathing through a phone, it would be the woman who gave birth to him.

“Okay, after you heard the breathing, what happened?”

“I said his name. I asked if it was him, then I told him to please talk to me.” Her voice lowered. “Then…he hung up.”

“He ain’t say one word?”

“Not one.”

“Did you call back?”

“Immediately, but it went straight to voicemail. I tried again later, and the number wasn’t working anymore.”

I leaned back in the chair and rubbed a hand over my mouth. For weeks, I hadn’t been able to confirm shit about Ghost. Now, unless something had happened since that call, I knew the nigga was alive. And this was me taking a leap of faith by following what Ms. Gia knew in her heart. Shit, it could have been anybody on the other line, but she was so sure that it was her son. So, because I didn’t have any more leads, I was about to take her word for it. He was somewhere breathing, thinking, and apparently missing his mother enough to risk contacting her even if he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Did you hear anything in the background?”

“No.”

“Cars? People talking? Music? Anything?”

She shook her head rapidly back and forth.

“I’ve tried to remember. I’ve replayed those few seconds in my head repeatedly, wondering if there was something I missed, but I was too focused on getting him to say something.”

I nodded. There was no point pressing her about something she couldn’t change.

“You think he’ll call again?”

“I hope he does.”

The answer came so quickly that I looked at her. For all the anger I had with Ghost, Ms. Gia was still his mama. She had spent the last three weeks not knowing where her son was or whether he was okay. That silent phone call probably gave her the first decent breath she had taken since he disappeared. I sat there for a few seconds before asking the only question that mattered to me.

“Where would he go?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know you don’t know where he is. I’m asking where you think he would go if he really needed to disappear.”