Page 135 of Sterling Stone

But Trudy stands just outside his bedroom with her phone to her ear.

When I reach Simon’s bedroom, the bed is unmade, and I scan the space for clues. Anything that says he’s just hiding.

Only, the backpack he keeps near his bed is gone, and his favorite gym shoes which are normally tossed near the sack are also missing.

“I’ll head out,” I warn Trudy, running my hand down her robe-covered arm as some form of reassurance. He couldn’t have gotten far. I hope. “I’ll see if he’s along the road somewhere.”

My thoughts race to every bad scenario.

Trudy’s voice trembles as she speaks into phone, nearly deaf to my muttering around her.

“Judd, Simon is missing.”

44

[Stone]

“Stone, Simon is missing.” The moment I hear Taxi’s voice, relief hits me, until her words register.

My instincts immediately kick in. “Tell me what happened?”

As I pace my kitchen, drinking my final cup of coffee, prepared to start another long day, thinking I’ll be alone again at the end of it, I listen as Taxi explains how Jolene woke her up, discovering that Simon was gone.

His room empty. All the typical places checked. Bathroom, Kitchen. Yard.

Being that his backpack, favorite shoes, and a light jacket were also gone, my gut didn’t like what it told me.

“He’s run away,” I state. Foul play couldn’t be ruled out, but it couldn’t be ruled in yet either.

“When did you last see him?” I ask, doubling back on details.

“Trudy had seen him around nine when he went to bed.”

“What about Jolene?”

“Same.”

“And you?”

Taxi is quiet a moment. “After school. I picked him up and dropped him off at Trudy’s before I came to your house.”

My house. Where we spent the early evening in my bed, and then she left.

I clear my throat. “Okay. Did anything unusual happen last night? An argument with him? Something to upset him?”

A long pause fills the phone. “Taxi?”

“Another argument. Jolene and I were fighting.”

I don’t want to think about the two of them sparring again. More disagreements. More to upset Taxi about her stay in Sterling Falls.

“What were you⁠—”

“Simon,” she whispers, cutting me off. “Oh God, Simon. He must have heard us.”

I pause, confused. “Simon heard you fighting? Or the fight was about Simon?”

“Both,” Taxi says, her voice struggling. “Jolene. She . . . And I . . . And then Trudy.”