“Yeah. Any idea what they’re looking for?”

  Grace’s stomach clenched. They weren’t supposed to talk about it. She had trusted Paige enough to talk, but she wasn’t sure she trusted someone she barely knew. “I have no idea. I haven’t even been interviewed yet.”

  “Me either. I’m set for tomorrow.”

  “I hope it goes well.”

  “You too.”

  Grace pulled up to the house with three cop cars still parked outside with lights and sirens off. They went straight to the front door, Kline a step or two behind her. Humbard hadn’t actually told them which one was in charge, but it seemed Kline was deferring to her. Once inside, Grace started in on her questions.

  She found the mother, a petite Latina, who had on a traditional garbed shirt. “Ma’am, I’m Detective Halling, and this is Detective Kline. We’re here from Missing Persons. Would you tell us a little about your son?”

  “Yes. He…I don’t know. Lucas is usually so grounded.” Her accent was very slight.

  “Do you think he ran away?”

  “I do. I really think that, but he’s at risk.”

  “At risk for?”

  “Seizures. If he doesn’t take his medicine, which he hates taking and he didn’t take it with him, he can have seizures.”

  “Then we better find him fast.” Grace glanced at Kline over her notepad and their gazes connected. They both knew what they were looking for. “Why do you think he ran away?”

  “I have no idea. I work every day of the week. I’m rarely home. He can fend for himself.” Tears slipped down her cheeks, which she wiped away quite angrily. “He’s so much like his father sometimes.”

  “How’s that, ma’am?” Grace swallowed, ready to absorb all pertinent information.

  “He gets caught up in the simplest things. I’m worried he left to go one place and what he’ll find is something else entirely.”

  “Where do you think he went?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe to someone’s house who he plays video games with? He doesn’t really have a lot of friends, so he plays video games all the time and earns money off it even. I don’t quite know how that works.”

  Grace wasn’t completely sure either, but she’d have to do some research into online video games. “What games has he been playing?”

  “Here.” She went over to the television and pulled out a couple cases, handing them over. “You can take them. After this, when you find him, he’s not playing any more for a long time.”

  Nodding, Grace shoved the cases under her arm as she continued to write. “Does Lucas have any friends he may have gone to?”

  “I’ve called all of them.”

  “Well, what are their names, and we’ll check them out, too.”

  She rattled off a list of about five or six other teenage boys. Grace let out a sigh. It was going to be a long night if she had to stop by all of these places just to see if the missing kid was there, with Kline in tow because they weren’t allowed to split up any longer. She had just wanted to get home and see Amya. So much for that.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us about Lucas? About why he might have run away? Was he having problems at school or with another student? Were there problems at home?” Grace’s gaze skimmed up to lock eyes with her, making sure she caught every small reaction.

  “No, no. He’s pretty settled. This is so out of the blue. I have no idea why he might have run away.”

  “All right.” Grace straightened her shoulders. She was not getting as much information from Lucas’ mom as she thought she might. She’d have to take a new tact. “What’s been going on in his life lately? You said he was earning money from gaming?”

  “Yeah, on some streaming service. He’s makes almost a thousand a month doing that.”

  “No shit!” Grace looked bewildered. “From playing video games?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Crazy.” Sending Kline a look, Kline shrugged. “Has he had any customer complaints? Or online bullying that might cause him to run away?”

  “No, not that he’s shared with me.”

  Grace sighed. “Okay, does he have a computer I can take to my tech people who can maybe find some things on it?”

  “Yes.” She led the way into Lucas’ room. Grace scrunched her nose as soon as she walked in, deciding that at least Peter’s room wasn’t quite that bad, though, she’d done her best to keep it that way with making him do regular cleanings of it. The stench was near overwhelming: body odor, stale and moldy food, and something she didn’t want to think about but she was pretty sure was teenage boy related.

  “Here it is. Sorry for the mess, I can never get him to clean.”

  “It’s fine.” Though it wasn’t. She hated it, but she had to do her job. Grace stood in front of the computer, a desktop rather than a laptop. She was going to have to pull everything apart to bring it in. Letting out a breath, she fiddled with the mouse to see if it was still on before turning it off and pulling wires.

  Kline finally spoke up. “Ma’am, did your son have a girlfriend or someone he may have been interested in and was dating? Someone he may have talked to daily outside of his friends?”

  “No.” She said the word firmly. “He’s not allowed to date.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. Like any seventeen-year-old boy was going to listen to that rule. She made sure to keep her face out of the line of sight of Lucas’ mom and let Kline take the next few questions, which proved to be almost as fruitless as Grace’s. She really wanted to ask how much time Lucas and his mom actually spent together, but she had a feeling it wasn’t all that much, and she was hoping his disappearance was mostly a problem of miscommunication.

  Standing up, Grace looked from Lucas’ mom to Kline. When Kline said nothing else, Grace sighed and took over the conversation again. “Do you think he may have left for something to do with his gaming?”

  “I…I don’t know. He’s never done something like this before.”

  And they were back to square one. “What school does he go to?”

  “He doesn’t.”

  “What?”

  “He dropped out just before Christmas, said he was bound to make enough money to support himself without high school, so he dropped out to play more games and raise his income.”

  “Got an entrepreneur on our hands, don’t we, Kline?”

  “Sounds like it.”

  “Which school did he go to?”

  “Central.”

  “I’ll check with them, just in case he didn’t show back up wanting to get his diploma again.” Grace nodded at Kline sharply. They would have to go there first if they didn’t want to miss most of the students and teachers. “What else does he do? Any places he likes to go?”

  “He goes to the movies a lot. He also does movie reviews online.”

  “Jesus, this kid is a genius if he can earn an income from playing video games and watching movies. Wish I had thought of it.” Grace chuckled. “All right, does he have a phone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you allow us to track it?”

  “Absolutely! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

  “Do you have a locate-me app on it?”

  She shook her head. “No, I always told him I was going to install one, but he’s not exactly a kid that just leaves, you know. So I didn’t do it.”

  Grace sighed. It would have been helpful and the easiest way to find him, assuming he still had his phone on him. “Okay. We’re going to take his computer and do some research on what he’s been up to online. Meanwhile, if you hear anything or think of anything, you call us, okay?”

  Handing over her card with her work cell phone on it, Grace made eye contact with the small woman. “We’ll do our best to find him.”

  “Thanks.”

  They wrapped up the rest of the conversation, took the computer and the games Grace had been handed and piled into her cruiser. “To the school?”

  “Yeah,” Kline answered. “I guess we should go there first.”

  Grace put the cruiser in drive and headed toward Central High School. It was going to be a long night unless Lucas randomly showed back up at the house. She’d have to find a minute to text Amya and let her know how late she’d be.

  Too Old for this Shit

  Grace had been out all night. Her muscles ached in places she didn’t remember she had. Her back hurt the worst from sitting in her cruiser with Kline most of the night as they tracked down wayward teenagers to interview and then stalked Lucas online to see if he was going to get on from anywhere. She was beat and her brain and eyes hurt.

  They had found nothing. For a kid that was constantly online, he had gone completely silent in the last twenty-four hours. Kline had managed to find his streaming. He’d talked about a new game releasing soon, so after a few quick searches, they figured out it was releasing in two days. They both figured he’d surface—if he truly ran away—right around then with the new game in hand.

  Groaning out her aching body, Grace pulled into her driveway and stared at the quiet house in front of her. It was about three in the morning. She had two hours before she normally woke up to go into the office, though she might sleep in an extra hour just because she could and needed it. Still, she wanted to find Lucas so she could go back to figuring out Joseph’s real name.

  She pressed the heel of her hand into the top of her thigh muscle and pushed down, sliding her hand until it reached her knee. She wasn’t made for sitting for long periods of time. But it had been nice to be in the office without Alonzo’s crew hanging over them.

  With one last breath, Grace got out of her car and headed for the front door. She unlocked it, nonplussed when not even the dogs stirred at her entry into the house. The first thing she did was head straight for the fridge and her orange juice, pouring herself the largest glass possible. She shut the fridge after putting the juice back and jumped about six feet in the air with a hand over her heart as she stared right into Amya’s sweet face.

  “Jesus, Amya.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “What the fuck do you want me to say when you scare the shit out of me?”

  Amya smirked. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Obviously.” Grace turned from scared to warm and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Amya’s shoulders and tugging her in for a long hug. It felt so good to have Amya back in her arms. It’d only been a week, but they rarely were apart for very long, often sneaking meals together when they could at work.

  When Grace moved to pull away, Amya stopped her by tightening her grasp on Grace’s back. Grace let the moment linger as much as Amya wanted it and buried her nose in Amya’s neck and her loose hair around her shoulders. Just breathing in her scent calmed and eased her stress of the day.

  Pressing a kiss to Amya’s hot skin, Grace sighed and relaxed completely. It was then she heard Amya draw in a shuddering breath, her shoulders incredibly tense. Grace pulled back and narrowed her gaze. She turned the light on above the stove and stared at her girlfriend’s face. Something was wrong. This wasn’t just an “I missed you” embrace. This was an “I don’t know what to do, help me” embrace.

  “What’s wrong?” Grace’s face set, her shoulders squared, and she was ready to fight anything they needed to fight.

  “You didn’t answer your phone.”

  Grace cocked her head to the side. She had not been expecting that response. Rolling her shoulders, she clenched her fists as she tried to work through what the real issue was. “I was at work. You only called once. What happened?”

  Amya sighed and flung her hands out in front of her. “I’ve been up all night.”

  Raising an eyebrow at her, Grace could have very much pointed out she had also been up all night and since she didn’t have the next day off like Amya, she really wanted to get some sleep, but she didn’t. She kept her mouth shut, her lips tight. “Okay. I’m sorry I wasn’t home earlier, but I was working on a case that got handed to me right at the end of the day.”

  “With Paige?” Amya sneered.

  “No.” Grace narrowed her eyes and resisted the urge to cross her arms in a defensive manner. “With Kline. But what difference would it make? It’s a case. It needed to be worked. What’s going on, really? Because I don’t think you’re mad at me about being at work.”

  “You’re right.” Amya grabbed Grace’s juice and drank a quarter of the cup before she turned on her heel and headed straight for the couch, falling into it much like Paige had done days before. “Peter picked me up at the airport.”

  “He was supposed to. We talked about that. I wasn’t able to get away from work if I wanted to be at the school this Friday. Humbard’s really cracking down on that, and with IAB in the office every day, I really couldn’t anyway.” Grace slid onto the couch next to Amya, her back straight and stiff as she waited for the shoe to drop, which it hadn’t yet.

  Amya nodded and drank even more juice. Grace was about to say something when Amya handed it over and rubbed her hands over her cheeks and eyes. She looked a mess, an adorable one, but a mess nonetheless. Whatever was going through her head must have really been bothering her. Grace was going to wait it out. If it kept Amya up all night, it must be something big.

  “He was an hour late.”

  “You’re kidding? I’m so sorry. You could have taken a ride-share or something instead of waiting for him.”

  “Can’t decide which would have been better,” Amya muttered.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, yeah, so Peter showed up to pick me up an hour late, but he was also so drunk it probably took him an hour to drive to the airport to begin with.”

  Grace’s jaw dropped. She had no idea what to say or how to respond. Her heart clenched hard, her stomach twisted, her palms got cold and clammy. Setting the drink onto the coffee table, Grace tried to bide her time and find some answer. She had suspected he might be drinking again, but having it shoved in her face was an entirely different issue. Guilt tore at her insides. She should have known, should have looked for it better. She should have put a stop to it.

  “I don’t even know what to say,” Grace finally answered.

  “I searched the entire house, and outside of the alcohol in our safe, which I know he hasn’t touched, I didn’t find any.”

  “None?” Grace turned, her eyes wide.

  Amya shook her head. “None at all.”

  “So…what now?” Grace asked. “I’ve been wondering for weeks now, to be honest. He can’t just mope around here day after day. He’s depressed. He needs to do something.”

  Amya sighed and leaned into Grace’s side. “It’s not that easy.”

  “I know. But…I hate seeing him like this.” Grace wrapped her arms around Amya’s shoulders and tugged her in tightly, dropping a kiss into her hair.

  “Me too.” Amya closed her eyes.

  They fell into a gentle silence, both of their minds whirring with thoughts of Peter and what they could possibly do to help him this time. Grace had been through all it before, but Amya hadn’t been too involved at the time, and even then, Peter had been willing to get sober. This time she wasn’t so sure he was ready for that.

  “We could tell him he has to go to AA meetings as a condition of staying here,” Grace suggested.

  “We could. But those meetings are kind of pointless if he’s not wanting to be there.”

  “Agreed. But what can we do?”

  “Other than not condone it and not give him opportunities for it? I don’t know. He’s lucky he didn’t get caught driving, but I kind of wish he had. I almost called it in myself when I saw him. I was livid.”

  “I imagine.” Grace stroked her hand over Amya’s soft hair. Yawning, she tried to keep her eyes open, but it was getting harder by the second.

  “We have to do something.”

  “But what?” Grace stifled a yawn again and dropped her hand to Amya’s waist, nuzzling her nose into the side of Amya’s head.

  Amya shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “We’ll figure it out when we’ve both slept. Come on. I’m beat, and I need sleep before I have to go back in.”

  “Yeah.” But Amya didn’t move.

  Giving in, Grace shifted on the couch and settled into the cushions more, dragging Amya with her. She pushed her shoes off with her toes and wrapped her legs around Amya’s. She ran her arms up and down Amya’s back and arms as she shifted until she was comfortable. Amya followed suit and then very nearly sat straight up but leaned over Grace’s prone form.

  Grace had wide eyes as she raised a brow at Amya, wondering what the hell they had forgotten that would get Amya in such a tizzy with no warning. Instead of saying anything, Amya bent down and pressed their lips together then pulled back grinning.

  “I realized I hadn’t kissed you in well over a week, and I had to remedy that.”

  Snorting, Grace grinned. “Then come remedy it again.”

  With her hand tangled in the back of Amya’s hair, she pulled her down for a much longer, much deeper kiss. She had missed this, and apparently Amya had as well. Lifting one of her legs, she rocked Amya impossibly closer and curved her hand around Amya’s hips and up to her waist, pulling her thin cotton shirt with her.

  Their tongues tangled as Amya moved on top of her. Grace reveled in Amya’s hot skin, finally feeling like she could take on the world. With Amya by her side, she knew they’d be able to help Peter figure out his own life, help him come to terms with his addiction—again. Together they could tackle anything.

  When Amya pulled back and grinned, putting their foreheads together, Grace grinned. She drew in a deep breath. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too. Now. Sleep.”

  “Yeah. We’re sleeping here, right?”

  “Oh yes. The bedroom is way too far away.”

  “Set an alarm on your phone. I’ve got to be up in a couple hours.”

  “Already done.”

  “Love you.” Grace was already yawning again. When Amya settled her weight into Grace, she closed her eyes and let sleep take over. So long as she had Amya in her arms, she knew the world would be right.