Page 56 of Come Find Me
“They think I sent it. That I know where Liam is. What happened to him. But I don’t.”
I nod. “I know.”
He looks up, his eyes meeting mine, our faces inches apart. “Do you believe me?” he asks, and it’s so open and pleading that I think I could ruin him with one word.
“Yes,” I say, without hesitation. It isn’t about evidence, or proof, or a balance of pros and cons. It’s simpler than that. It’s Nolan, and I believe him.
Most people see something, some evidence, and then they believe. But I think maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe you believe first, and then it changes you, so you can see what else is possible.
—
Nolan stays until midnight, talking at my kitchen table. He claims he’s rarely even been to the library. I used to go plenty, meeting up with study groups in the fall. Marco and Lydia used to head there after school sometimes, and I’d join them. College kids, home for the weekend, earbuds in to block out our noise. I don’t recall ever seeing Nolan there. The library is built into a slope and set up for privacy—books with reading areas on the main level, cubbies with computers, all arranged at angles around the downstairs.
It could’ve been anyone. They’re focusing on him because they were looking at him to begin with. But I also get a chill, realizing that someone nearby sent that picture. If not Nolan, then stillsomeone.
I haven’t realized how much time has passed until Joe comes out of his room and says, “I think it’s time to go. As long as everything’s okay.” He looks at Nolan then. “Iseverything okay?”
“Yes,” Nolan says, pushing back from the table. “Sorry. I’m sorry for intruding.”
“It’s all right. Get home safe.”
I walk him to the door and we linger in the doorway, like neither of us is sure what to do now, to break the moment. And also, Joe’s watching. So I just go with my gut and weave my arms around Nolan’s shoulders, pulling him close. I can feel the sigh that escapes when his arms circle me back.
“I can email you, when I get to school tomorrow,” he says.
“Okay.”
I watch him walk all the way to his car, and I watch until the car drives down to the end of the street, just to be sure of him.
—
When I close the door, I turn around, and Joe’s there, arms crossed over his chest.
“It was an emergency,” I say.
“I know, I could tell. But, Kennedy, I heard what he said—weren’t you both just at the library together?”
I look away, remembering the lie, and his face darkens.
“I need to know, Kennedy, how you know him. I need to know what’s going on. The trust has to work both ways here.”
I fidget with the braid running down my back. This isn’t how I was planning to explain this to him. But the panic is tightening something in my chest. Something’s happening, and we’re running out of time, and if I can’t trust Joe, then who do I really have left?
“We met because of something we both found,” I say.
“I’m not following.”
“There was a signal,” I say. “On Elliot’s satellite dish.”
Joe blinks slowly, trying to process. “What are you talking about?”
“The dish, pointing out at space. Here, wait.” I race to my room and fish through my backpack for the flash drive. It’s in my hand, extended toward Joe, as I walk toward him. He hasn’t moved from his spot in the hall. “Here. It’s all here. Last weekend, I pulled a signal. Only it’s coming through where no signal should be. I’ve been trying to see if I can replicate it.”
He stares at the flash drive in my hand but doesn’t take it. “Back up a second. You’ve been by thehouse?”
I push the flash drive at his chest again. “Joe, you’re not listening. There’s asignal.And Nolan’s been receiving it, too.”
He doesn’t answer. I wonder if he’s debating something. If he believes me. I hold the flash drive in my open palm, begging him to see.
