Sitting in Mom’s car on the street outside Jade’s apartment building, I try Jack’s number again. This time he answers. “Hey,” he says, “what’s up?” In as few words as I can, I explain what’s happened. I tell him that I took Chase to pay his dealers, but my plan backfired and he took off instead. I finish by saying, “You’ve got to help me look for him.” There is a pause at the end of the line. No doubt he hears the panic in my voice, but there is the practical side to my request. “But it’s a school night. They won’t let me go out this late.” Jack’s bedroom is in the basement. “Sneak out,” I tell him. “I’ll be parked in front of the Watts’ house in fifteen minutes.” I hang up, not wanting to give him a chance to argue. Fifteen minutes later, Jack is where I asked him to be, sitting on the utility box in front of a hedge at the edge of his neighbor’s front yard. He gets in the front seat. “You know I’ll be forced to beat on you if my parents find about this.
