Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

neck. Checked his cell phone for the time. School started in an hour and a half. The cops would probably be waiting at the school for him to show up so they could arrest him. When he didn’t show up, they’d come back here.
    He couldn’t wait on Matt’s all-clear any longer. He forced himself to stand up, then looked around for a toilet. Damn, but if the shelter didn’t have one. He found it in the back corner behind a curtain – a camping toilet that looked brand new. Mitch would have thought of this . His oldest brother had a plan for everything.
    When he came out, Kimberly was giving him the evil eye. He removed the tape from her mouth, careful to keep his fingers away from her teeth.
    ‘Water.’ She was croaky again and he felt a little bad that he’d made her go without water all night. He gave her a few sips, then pulled the blanket off her.
    ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’
    ‘I need to go too. Really bad.’
    Cole hesitated. ‘I’m not untying your hands.’
    She gave him a weary look. ‘I weigh a hundred five pounds, probably less since your asshole brother’s been starving me to death. You’re what, like two hundred? Like I can be a threat to you.’
    One-sixty-five actually, but hearing he looked bigger was nice for his ego. ‘I don’t know . . .’
    She huffed angrily. ‘Come on, kid. Use your brain. I can’t take you. Let me pee and then tie me back up if you want. I just want to get to my sister.’
    Cole didn’t want her sister to die. And she couldn’t take him. She was too tiny. ‘Okay, fine. But when you’re done, I tie you back up.’
    ‘Whatever.’
    He untied her, taking care to stay away from her feet. ‘Hurry up.’ He watched her limp to the toilet, dragging her hurt leg behind her. His brother had done that to her. He still didn’t believe it.
    Mitch, what the hell are you doing? And where are you? For that matter, where was Matt? It wasn’t like Matt to just not show up.
    This was really bad. He’d taken a stolen gun to school. Stolen from a cop, if Kimberly was telling the truth. If it gets traced back to me  . . . The cops would never believe he wasn’t part of whatever Mitch had going. Whatever the hell that was.
    I am so tired of this family . I wish I were adopted .
    Kimberly came out of the toilet, her limp more pronounced. ‘I need to re-bandage my leg. It started bleeding again while I was in there.’
    ‘Fine, just hurry.’
    She hobbled back to the bed and grabbed the roll of gauze that sat on the floor beside it. She started to unbutton her jeans, then stopped, glaring. ‘Do you mind?’
    Rolling his eyes, he turned his back. He needed to get out of here and to the bus station. He’d call Rico in Miami and tell him he’d be a little late, and—
    Cole groaned, the pain in his head worse than anything he’d ever felt. He sat up, the room doing a slow spin that left him nauseated. The bitch . She’d hit him with something. He blinked hard until the room came back into focus. A fire extinguisher lay on the floor on its side and Cole vaguely remembered seeing it on the wall by the toilet.
    I’m a stupid idiot . He staggered to his feet, wondering how long he’d been out. He patted his pockets for his cell to check the time – and found his pockets empty. She’d cleaned him out. And stolen his backpack.
    He ran for the stairs and sighed with relief when he got to the garage. The van was still here. She had to be on foot and she couldn’t go far with her leg messed up. He thought of the little room in the basement. Her sister was probably in there.
    He looked around the garage for a weapon, because a hundred-five-pounds or not, the girl was fucking dangerous. I shouldn’t have listened to a word she said .
    Weapon, weapon, what can I use? He scanned the shelves, everything neat as a pin, the way Mitch demanded. Shovel. I’ll use a shovel . He ran to the wall where all the garden tools were arranged on a pegboard.
    The big empty space where the shovel had been registered in his mind a second before he heard the grunt behind him, then felt the second blow crash into his head. He turned, his legs weak and the room spinning. He felt himself falling, his knees cracking as they hit the concrete floor.
    The sight of the shovel coming at his face was the last thing he saw before everything went dark.
    Wheeling, West Virginia, Thursday, December 5, 6.00 A.M.
    Joseph inhaled deeply as he came awake in stages.
    Peaches . Warm body curled