Page 109 of I Could Never
He turned, the pain in his eyes easing ever so slightly. “Hey.”
We fell into each other’s arms for a moment.
When he released me, he said, “The police told me not to get involved, but there’s no way I’m sitting around doing nothing while he’s out there somewhere. I’ve been searching the area on foot, but I think we should drive around now.”
“Let’s go,” I urged.
We jumped into Josh’s rental car and drove through the neighborhood. I held his hand the entire time, as if holding onto him was holding us both together. Scottiehadto be okay. But really, anything could have happened by now. Scottie had never even crossed the street by himself. I had to push the what-if thoughts from my mind.
I’d never seen Josh like this, so laser focused. As we drove slowly in silence, he balanced paying attention to the road with scouring the area for clues.
He suddenly pulled over. “I think we should park here and walk for a while.”
“Should we go in separate directions?”
Josh pondered that for a moment before he nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. Best use of time.” He exhaled. “But please be careful, Carly.”
He’d been smart and grabbed two flashlights from the house, since it was dark out now. We each took one and went in opposite directions, vowing to keep in contact via text.
After an hour of looking, the situation started to feel grim. I didn’t feel entirely safe wandering the dark rural roads alone, but I would’ve stayed out here all night if it meant finding Scottie.
I texted Josh.
Carly: Anything?
Josh: No. I can take you back to the house for the night, but I’m going to stay out.
Carly: I don’t want to go back. I want to keep looking.
Josh: Okay. Meet me back at the car?
Josh was holding a bag when I returned to the car.
“I bought some water and snacks,” he said, handing it to me. He leaned against the car with his head in his hands. “Do you pray, Carly?”
“Not enough, but I sure as hell have been today—under my breath pretty much constantly.”
He turned to me, his eyes red. “If he took a device with him, it’s gotta be running out of battery power by now.” He shook his head. “What the fuck? This wasn’t supposed to be the way things turned out. I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to him.”
“I know,” I muttered, rubbing his back. “We can’t lose him.”
After some tears and a quick moment of hysteria, we managed to pull ourselves together again. We continued combing the streets on foot with our flashlights until sunrise. My eyes felt so heavy, and Josh had bags under his. We must have looked like zombies.
Since we knew Scottie better than anyone, the cops had asked us to meet them at Wayne’s house this morning. They had a list of questions they wanted to ask.
An officer was waiting for us at the house when we arrived. We invited him in and set our phones to charge before sitting down with him.
“I take it you didn’t sleep last night?” he said to Josh.
“No, sir.”
“Well, I want to assure you we still have a full team out searching for Mr. Longo. But we hoped to get some information from you that can help us.”
We spent the next half hour telling them all about Scottie’s favorite things—his chicken, his apps, his reverse Elton John music. I wasn’t entirely sure how any of that was going to help them find him, especially since he wouldn’t have any of those things at this point. The thought of even one cop here at the house and not out there looking for him made me uneasy.
After the officer left, I tugged on Josh’s jacket. “Let’s go back out.”
“You sure you don’t need to sleep?”