As the rest of the afternoon passed, I listened closely. I heard small padding footsteps, a rabbit or a skunk, but no one appeared. Once I thought I heard someone calling my name. It sounded a little like Telly, but I knew my head was only making that up. Playing a moronic game with itself by wishing for something that never existed. I’d been gone almost a full day, and no one was coming to look for me.

MAISY

Telly went to all the wrong spots in the woods. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The right spot was the bridge. Tadpoles didn’t matter when there was Carl and Girl and a fire and wieners and a magic deck of cards. My middle felt sick, but I couldn’t say nothing because Rowan made me swear. Gloria kept looking at me hard, even when Telly was hugging her. She knew I was keeping a big horrible secret.

I went outside and sat on the front porch. Chicken came out too and sat next to me. From the front step I could see a lot of the circle. I could see Aunt Erma’s house where Darrell and Shar lived. Mrs. Murtry lived right next door, but her car wasn’t there, so she was gone. At the very top was Mrs. Spooner’s house. She might be home or she might be at the library. I tried not to look at the woods. I counted to ten and then looked fast. That gave Rowan time to come out. I did it a bunch of times, but he wasn’t playing.

A brown car came into the circle and drove straight down to our driveway. The wheels were moving slow. I jumped up and went inside to the kitchen. “Someone’s out there,” I said.

“That was fast,” Telly said.

There were loud slams, and then I heard the screen door creak. Our happy, happy door was already open, but a person reached in and tapped on it anyway. “Hello? Anybody home?”

I peeked around the corner and saw two tall people standing there. One was a man with a gold badge stuck to his shirt and a shiny gun on his belt. The other man was wearing a blue tie with yellow bits. Not yellow like our door but moon yellow. Telly rushed past me to let them in. He had to tip his head back to see their faces.

“Detective Aiken. And this is Officer Cooper.” He shook Telly’s hand. “You’re having some trouble with your boy?”

“He took off.” Telly rubbed his face. “Seems.”