“Something like that,” he replies. “I can’t speak for everyone, but not all of us pretend we’re home when we close our eyes.”

“Where do you go?” I can’t think of anywhere else in this world I would rather be than home right now.

He clears his throat. “I’m supposed to be in Forest Oaks.”

“That’s pretty far away. What’s there?” I don’t know exactly, but I’d guess it’s about three hundred miles north of us.

“My dad was from Forest Oaks, but he moved here after meeting my mom on vacation one year. They split five years ago.”

“Did he move back there?”

Theo drops his gaze to the floor and shrugs. “He didn’t actually tell us where he was going, but I assume so.”

“I’m sorry, Theo. Are you going to try and find him?”

“Nah. It’s a big place, and he was from south of Forest Oaks, so I’ll avoid that part like the plague, but it’s the only other place I know.”

“Do you live with your mom?”

“Yeah. When she’s sober enough to remember she has two kids.”

I don’t really know what to say about that. His home life seems harder than any person’s should be. “You have a sibling?”

“Older brother; he left last year.”

“Where did he go?”

“East Coast. He checks in occasionally, but he has a pretty good thing going on with some chick he met and a job as a delivery driver. I want that. Not to be a delivery driver—I haven’t had a chance to get my license yet—but I mean, a chance, a future.”

He scratches his jaw and leans forward, resting one arm on his knee. “I’ve applied to every mechanic I could find in North Forest Oaks, asking if they’re hiring.”

No one is looking for Theo because they think he left.

I give him a smile. “I’m sure you’ll get a job somewhere, Theo. When we get out of here, you’ll have the life you want.”

“What life do you want?” he asks.

My life isn’t bad now, although it’s a little boring. But I don’t want to tell Theo that I have two super-loving parents who work really hard to give me the best life they can; not after he shared his abandonment by his dad and neglect by his mom.

“I want to be in the city, and I know this doesn’t sound probable, but I want to be a detective, finding murderers.”

I’ve already found three.

Theo’s half smile grows. “If that’s what you want to do, Piper, you should go for it. There’s no reason why you can’t.”

“Thanks, Theo.”

“Theo to the waiting room,” a voice I don’t recognize booms through the speaker above us.