When Aaron woke up on Saturday morning, something strange was going on. He heard too many voices talking upstairs. They sounded upset or worried. He glanced across the room, where Spencer slept sprawled on top of his covers. Aaron made his own bed quietly and got dressed. Then, he sneaked upstairs. He was sure that no one would tell him what was really happening because they thought he was just a kid, but if he listened in, he could know what was really going on. So he stayed on the stairs, out of sight, and touched the pictures in their new frames from Penelope. Emily, Penelope, Dave and Carolyn were all in the kitchen, talking about Derek.
"You said to that cop that he has a history of being…of adults using him…on the streets, right?" Penelope was saying. She sounded worried. "JJ says that the same man in the gray Chevy approached her recently. She said he tried to touch her. The scumbag said she would regret fighting back. She's sure that somehow, Derek found out about it and that he went with the guy to protect her. You said the man in Derek's court case was arrested, but do you know how many there were?" she pressed.
"Penelope's right," Dave mused. "It could be a ring. There might be a hierarchy of leadership. If Derek was good for business, it may have relocated to be closer to him. They may have done this to get him back."
"I'm calling the cops back," Emily said. Her voice sounded stressed. Like she might start crying. She never sounded like that the whole time Aaron knew her.
He thought hard but Aaron couldn't make sense of what they were saying. Something about Derek and rings and protecting JJ. He finished climbing the stairs and walked over to Emily like everything was normal. He put his arms around her.
"Is JJ okay?" he asked.
"Yes. JJ's fine. Derek didn't come home last night, though. So, Penelope, Dave, Carolyn and I are trying to find him. Did he say anything to you lately?" she asked, brushing Aaron's hair out of his face.
Aaron shrugged. "He was just mad a lot. He kept saying he hated it here and you wouldn't give him money he needed for stuff. He was just being selfish, I think."
Emily closed her eyes. "He was trying to convince himself to go back to the life…"
"To what life?" Aaron asked, serious. Whatever life it was, it couldn't be good. When Emily didn't answer, he decided to help however he could. "I can take care of Spencer if you have to work on finding Derek. I can make us breakfast and I'll even play knights with him…even though I don't like knights."
"Thanks, buddy. I'll get you guys breakfast and then if you would play with Spencer for a while that would be a big help," she said, kissing his forehead.
Aaron darted back downstairs before Emily could say anything else.
"Spencer, wake up. Derek didn't come back last night after the football game, so we have to be really good," Aaron insisted. "No fighting. No bothering the adults. They have to find him. So, if you have a question or if you need something, tell me. Not them."
Spencer rubbed his eyes. "What?" he croaked. He was sleeping on his pet pillow.
"Derek's gone," Aaron repeated. "So, I'm in charge today, okay? Emily and the adults have to find Derek. So if you need something, come to me."
"What if you need something?" Spencer asked, blinking and reaching for his glasses.
"Then I'll ask JJ."
Spencer had breakfast, and played with Aaron for two hours. They made compromises and got along better than usual. They didn't want to distract the grown ups from finding Derek. When Spencer thought of Derek gone, his insides felt tight and heavy. He felt like crying. Derek was his first real friend. What if something really wrong happened to him? What if they could never see him again? And the worst thought of all… What if the government had taken Derek away?
When Aaron was busy going pee, Spencer slipped away into Derek's room. It was a pigsty. That's what Emily said because that meant a really big mess. There were clothes and baseball stuff all over. On the floor in all the mess was Derek's bike lock. Spencer felt around his neck. The key was still there on an old shoelace. A few days ago, Derek gave it to him.
"Here, kid," he'd said. "You might need this someday."
Spencer wondered if today was someday. Then he got to work, jamming the key wherever it might fit. Not the bike lock. It wasn't a house key, but smaller. Spencer thought it might belong to one of Aaron's GI Joes. None of Spencer's knights had keys either. He thought back to a long time ago. He'd been in here, working on Derek's homework with him. Spencer had felt sick. He had thrown up all over the map. Derek had said some curses and said something else, too… His eyes locked on the small, white trash can with the grocery bag liner. Spencer didn't think, he just turned it over.
Even if Derek hadn't left clues, maybe the government had.
There was gum and old food wrappers and tags from new clothes. Used tissues and at the very bottom…there was JJ's diary. It had a tiny lock.
Derek confided in Spencer that he'd taken it out of revenge for the stuff of Derek's that she had stolen from him. He unlocked the book with kittens in dress up hats on the cover. Each page had a date. Spencer thought that was not adequate space to document all that happened in one day. No wonder JJ hadn't written in it. Spencer thought a second. Then he started flipping pages to today's date.
Blank.
But there had been some writing on an earlier page.
He scanned back until he saw the page dated September 18th. Spencer took in the numbers and knew immediately he was looking at a code. The writing was hurried and Derek had pressed very hard on the last part of it. Like it was important. Spencer searched Derek's desk drawer for a pencil and set to work. Soon, the odd collection of numbers was translated. Beneath the numbers, Spencer had written their letter equivalent in shaky five-year-old letters.
19-16-5-14-3-5-18. 9-6 25-15-21 6-9-14-4 20-8-9-19.
20-15-4-1-25'19 1-14 15-18-1-14-7-5 4-1-25.
2-15-2 4-25-12-1-14'19 23-1-20-3-8-9-14-7.
20-5-12-12 5-13-9-12-25 9 14-5-5-4 8-5-18 14-15-20 20-15 12-15-15-11 6-15-18 13-5.
SPENCER. IF YOU FIND THIS.
TODAY'S AN ORANGE DAY.
BOB DYLAN'S WATCHING.
TELL EMILY I NEED HER NOT TO LOOK FOR ME.
Beneath that, there was a strange string of letters and numbers both. Spencer squinted. He didn't know what they meant. Beside the letters were Derek's handprints. Above the letters and numbers Spencer couldn't translate was the state name: Virginia. Below them, the words KIDS FIRST. There were a lot of combinations of letters and numbers.
His heart raced. He felt tears come in his eyes. Why had Derek left this for him? He didn't know what the last part went. That plus orange danger, plus Bob Dylan meant it was very dangerous. He tried to breathe and think about what he should do. Aaron said go to him. But Aaron was only nine. JJ would be a better choice. So he walked upstairs with the journal tucked under his shirt. All the grown ups were busy. Penelope was typing on the laptop. Dave was on the phone. Emily was trying to look like she wasn't crying.
Spencer heard the door to his and Aaron's room close when he went upstairs. Aaron thought he was so sneaky. Waiting until Spencer was distracted to shut him out and get private time. That wasn't very kind. But Spencer couldn't worry about that. He had to find someone who could help. Someone who wasn't Aaron, and wasn't a grown up. Someone like JJ.
He walked into her room and shook her awake. It was almost 11:00 in the morning anyway. She should be up by now.
"JJ. Get up. I really need you. I don't know who else to tell…" he begged, trying to stay strong and not hurt himself or anything else.
"What?" she groaned. JJ looked like she had been crying, too. Spencer figured out quickly that she must have been at the football game with Derek last night. Maybe she thought it was her fault he didn't get home.
He took the diary out from under his shirt.
"That's mine! How do you have it?" she exclaimed, looking really mad.
"I'll explain later. Look at this," Spencer explained, flipping open the book. "It's a secret code and I broke it. See, down here?" he pointed to the letters. He sounded worried and his words felt like they were choking him.
"What does he mean, orange day and Bob Dylan?" JJ wondered.
"It means he's in danger and people are spying on whatever he says," Spencer whispered. "He says he doesn't want Emily to look for him, but the middle part's not dark like rest. And I don't know what these are…" he confided.
JJ squinted.
"Spencer, these are license plate numbers," she said, remembering that the car had a personalized plate. She remembered the tiny red handprints, and they made her sick now. "We need to get these to Emily," she said, rushing to the kitchen.
Derek had been gone longer than twelve hours. Emily hadn't slept. Aaron was always near her, like an extra appendage. He made her coffee and fed Sergio and made himself Ramen for lunch, though he hated it. Emily didn't know what to do. Her son was gone and there was nothing she could do. No one was looking for him. Even the knowledge that JJ had been approached by a suspicious man was not relevant because no actual crime had been committed. He had not actually touched her. There was nothing to confirm that Derek had been kidnapped. By all accounts, he had approached strange cars willingly and had a history of running away.
Emily wept. They were at a dead end and something inside - call it a mother's intuition - knew that Derek hadn't run away. Something told her he had been taken. Emily poured over his records. She contacted Jason Gideon to see if he had any additional information on the man who had Derek after his parents died.
So far, there was no return phone call. If Emily's memory served, Jason was extremely passionate about his job, but also extremely disorganized. It might take years for him to sift through the mountains of paperwork on his desk.
Penelope still typed furiously, trying to find information that might lead them to where Derek was. Carolyn was still on the phone. Dave had gone back out searching, this time, with a thermos of coffee and new notes.
"Emily…I think we need to give this to you…" JJ said softly and pushed the journal into her hands.
Derek stared. He knew better than to try anything. He knew better than anyone what would happen if he tried to escape. The drugs made him feel like he was swimming. He tried to fight the lies off. But Ace knew so much about his family. He knew about Emily, JJ, Aaron and Spencer. He knew about Penelope. About Dave and Carolyn. He even knew about Nathaniel, Cary and little Matthew in Vermont. He knew so many details about their lives. When they went to school, where they worked, when they were home.
This time, instead of telling Derek that he had no family and that no one loved him, this new Ace said that if Derek tried to escape, he would kill all of Derek's family. He would start with JJ and end with Emily and he would make Derek watch every one of them.
For that reason, Derek stayed. That reason and the fact that he couldn't move. The drugs made everything heavy and compliant. The men came. The women came. Derek lost count of how many there were. He was very good, he told them. He would give them whatever they wanted. He could be whoever they wanted. Sometimes there were several in one day. Sometimes, they called him boys' names. Sometimes, they just called him sweetie, or baby. But they never called him Derek.
Twelve or however many hours later and Derek was a shadow. A vague memory. This room was real. This pain was real. The faces that came and went were real.
He hoped to God someone was coming.
He hoped to God they stayed away.
A/N: Oh, holy cow, you guys! Look at the family being all awesome! I hope they get Derek back soon! In other news, you guys are crazy-awesome! 200 reviews? I have never had a story with such a response. Thank you all so much.
