“No way.” I shake my head, look down at the form, despair filling me. I don’t know anything about Kash, apart from his surname. Is that even real? “No.”
“Young people these days run away a lot. Bad family situation… no money.”
“He wouldn’t… He lives with me.”
With us.
The policeman doesn’t look impressed. “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he was in trouble? With drugs? Did he do drugs, Miss?”
I consider saying no, but what if it’s important? “Just weed.” I twist my hands together. “He gets panic attacks. It helps him.”
“Drugs are drugs, Miss.” He gives the boys the side-eye, probably making a note of the bruises and cuts on their faces, West’s scraped knuckles, Nate’s scabbed-over cut on the neck. “Maybe he got into trouble with his dealer and skipped town. Maybe he owes money and went into hiding.”
“Kash, owing money?” An incredulous laugh escapes me. “No way.”
But he had a stalker, my mind says. What if this is what happened? Someone went after him because he owed money?
No. That haunted look in his eyes, in his stance, was there from the start.
Yes. And he was already using when you met him.
Crap.
“Are you done with the form?” He tugs it away from me and I let the pen drop on the table. “This the phone number we can contact you at? Miss Carvajal?”
“Yes. So… you won’t do a thing?”
He sighs. “If you tell us the places he frequented, we can ask around. But he’s an adult, Miss Carvajal. He can go if he chooses. Without evidence to the contrary… not sure what we can do.” He squints at me. “Is he your boyfriend? Maybe you had a fight, and he left to let things cool down?”
“Look, mister.” Nate jabs a finger at the policeman, eyes narrowed. “Careful how you talk to h—”
“Nate, let’s get out of here.” West hauls him away so fast, Nate stumbles backward, finger still pointed at the police, his eyes widening. “Let’s get some fresh air. Syd, we’ll be right outside.”
The policeman watches them go with a frown. “Very protective of you, aren’t they? Family?”
“Yes, they are.” I’m angry, and not sure why. This isn’t the policeman’s fault. “And we didn’t fight.”
“Right…” He nods, places the form aside, and I have a feeling he won’t give this much time. He’s already made up his mind about what happened.
Lovers’ quarrel, or drug problems. Maybe both. It’s easy to build a story where Kash left town so he won’t face me over his financial, drug-related troubles.
But that’s not true…
Is it?
What a day.
I text Gigi to let her know I won’t be grabbing lunch with her today, as I’ll stay home instead. I wander inside the apartment and into Kash’s bedroom.
Standing by the window, looking around, I struggle against my fear, struggle to think rationally. Both Nate and West think Kash might have left on purpose, for whatever reason. The policeman thinks the same. I can’t believe that’s true, but if it were…
I mean, let’s say I could ever accept that Kash, my Kash, would pull such a dick move after being in our lives for more than a year, do something so out of character. What would his plan look like?
He’d take with him what was important to him.
We are important to him, my heart tells me, but I shush it. Rational, remember? Let’s go about it the logical way.
If he’d planned to leave, what would he take with him? Money. Personal items that have value to him. Personal data.