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“Well, someone did!”
“Or she walked out the front door,” I suggest coolly.
Grant turns to me. His eyes narrow like I’ve betrayed him in some way. “I’d know if she walked out the front door.”
“If that were true, you’d also know who walked through the front door and took her.”
His face turns red and his hands are shaking. Suddenly, he pounds a fist into the wall. The drywall buckles and cracks. Piper yelps and jumps up to stop him, but I hold out an arm to keep her back.
“Where were you when she disappeared?” I ask.
Grant’s shoulders rise and fall with every breath, but he doesn’t turn to face me.
“No one blames you, Grant,” I add. “Mistakes happen. But it would help to find her if we had some idea of when she left.”
“I was right here,” Grant grits out, gesturing to the couch. It’s the story he’s repeated since we showed up. “I was in the living room.”
“You said you turned around and Olivia was gone and the front door was open,” Piper says. “So you would have seen who came or went.”
Grant spins around, his eyes wild. “I’m not lying.”
“No one said you were lying,” I say.
“She’s trying to trick me,” he spits, jabbing a quivering, accusatory finger at Piper. “She wants to write this up in her stupid folder and use it as a reason why we should be taken away.”
Piper drops the folder on the desk and holds up both hands. “I’m not writing anything down. I’m here off the clock and unofficially. I just want to help.”
Grant doesn’t look at all convinced. “I’ve been here all night. I didn’t leave. I never leave. I’m always here in the house.”
His words carry the weight of his responsibility. He’s a fifteen-year-old kid. He should be out doing stupid teenage shit with his friends. He should be talking to girls for the first time and playing video games.
He shouldn’t be raising two other children. Not when he’s still a child himself.
“Were you awake?” I ask.
The question seems to hit the teenager square in the chest. His breathing hitches like he might cry, but he swallows it down quickly. “Tiana didn’t sleep last night.”
“Babies can be exhausting,” Piper says softly. “Especially if you’re taking care of them all alone.”
Grant nods. “It was just me. I was up all night and then Olivia woke up early this morning, and… I never went to sleep last night. I guess tonight I… fell asleep.” He runs his hands through his hair, sending strands sticking straight out. “I don’t remember when I fell asleep. Olivia was watching a movie when I closed my eyes. When I opened them, she was gone. The door was open. I guess she walked out, but I don’t—I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t. Someone could have taken her.”
Piper steps forward. This time, I let her. She lays a hand on Grant’s shoulder and squeezes. “None of this is your fault, Grant. None of it, okay?”
“We have fifty men out looking for your sister right now,” I add.
He snaps his attention to me. “The police? You called the police?”
“No, we didn’t. They aren’t police.”
“They’re…friends,” Piper says. “Timofey called in some favors. They’ll find your sister.”
With the truth finally out, Grant sits down for the first time since we showed up. He drops down into the sagging, faded sofa and lowers his face in his hands.
He’s only fifteen, but the weight of the world is on his shoulders. It’s no wonder he’s cracking under the pressure.
“I’m going to go talk to your mom,” Piper says. “Does she know what is going on?”
Grant looks up for a second and shrugs. “I think so. I talked to her, but…I don’t know. She barely looked at me. She probably didn’t hear.”
