As it turned out, it was past three o’clock when I finally dragged myself home to Fifth Street. A shower and a little something from the kitchen, and I’d be ready to go again. Maybe just an hour or two of nap time.
As I was getting out of the car, I saw Jannie’s long face. She was standing on the front porch, watching me come up the walk. Her features were still, and she didn’t move or speak when our eyes met.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I humped up the steps. “Something happened.”
“Yeah, Dad, it sure did. Damon’s run away.”
My head tilted back involuntarily. What? Maybe I was groggy and hadn’t heard Janelle right.
“Run away? What are you talking about? Where is he?”
“He left home five hours ago, and he hasn’t come back. Never told anybody where he was going. Nothing. Nana’s been going crazy.”
This didn’t compute. Not with Damon. It just wasn’t something he’d ordinarily do.
“Five hours? Jannie, what is going on? What am I missing here?”
Jannie stared hard at me. “The basketball coach from Cushing was here today—to talk to you. You missed the meeting. The prep-school coach from Massachusetts?”
“I know what Cushing is, Janelle,” I said.
Just then, Nana came out to the porch. Little Ali trailed a half step behind his grandmother. “I’ve spoken with his friends and the parents that I can reach. No one’s seen him,” Nana said.
I pulled out my phone. “I’ll call Sampson. We can—”
Nana cut me off. “I spoke to John already. He’s out searching the neighborhood.”
Just then, the phone in my hand buzzed. I hadn’t known that it had been ringing off the hook for hours. Sampson’s name came up on the caller ID.
“John?” I said into the receiver.
“Alex, I’ve got Damon.”
Chapter 74
“WHERE IS HE? Where are you?” I asked, paranoia blossoming inside my head. Kyle Craig had threatened my family. DCAK said he was watching us too.
“We’re over at Sojourner Truth. Day wandered around town, then he came up here to shoot some hoops. We had a talk. He’s ready to come home now. We’ll be back there in a few minutes.”
“No. I’ll come to you,” I said. I wasn’t sure why. I just felt it should be that way. I wanted to go to Damon, not the other way around.
“Can I come, Daddy?” Ali looked up at me, his small hands outstretched, curious brown eyes always ready for the next little adventure in his life.
“Not this time, pup. I’ll be back soon.”
“You always say that.”
“I do. And I always come back.” Eventually I do, anyway.
I drove over to the school, the same one Damon and Jannie had gone to, and Ali would be attending before I knew it.
Day and Sampson were playing one-on-one, pounding the school’s cracked pavement court. Damon still had on the khakis and nice blue dress shirt he’d probably worn for the meeting with the prep-school coach. A red-and-black necktie hung out of his back pocket. He scored easily on Sampson as I approached the court.
I laced my fingers into the chain-link fence. “Pretty nice move,” I said. “Of course, you only had to beat an old man to get to the hoop.”
Damon played it cool—cold, really—and didn’t even look my way.
Sampson bent and leaned on his knees, sweat dripping off his face, and not just because it was eighty degrees out. Damon was good, getting better too. Bigger and better, and a whole lot quicker than he ever was before. It struck me that I hadn’t seen him play ball in a long time.