Chapter 18

Sam shoved her books in her locker and didn't bother taking any out for her next class. If Morgan wasn't there, she wasn't staying. It didn't matter that Chris had dropped her off expecting her to be at school for the day.

She ignored the mass of students jostling their way down the hallway, bumping into her. She just wanted to find Morgan and make sure she was ok.

Sam got to math class and looked in the doorway. Most of the class was there. One last student shoved past her, sliding into a desk as the bell rang.

No Morgan.

Sam quickly retreated before the teacher saw her in the doorway. She didn't go back to her locker, didn't make any attempt at hiding where she was headed. To the door. Out the door.

Sam thought of Ezra, how easy it was to be with him, not have to explain herself to him. But he had a life. One that didn't include being her caretaker. Sam shoved her hands in her pocket and started walking. Anywhere but here sounded like a good destination.

She walked quickly, as if that would make it look like she knew what she was doing, where she was going.

She clenched her jaw against the feeling of failure that dogged her steps. But it didn't matter. She had failed. Failed Morgan. Let down Chris. As soon as Buck got his head on straight, he'd realize it, too. The small family Sam could claim as hers—Chris, Morgan, Buck—and she had failed all of them.

She should have made Morgan go to the cops. Told her she would be there with her every step of the way, but they needed to face this. Deal with what had happened to Morgan.

But then she thought back to that night. Morgan frantically stripping off her ripped and stained clothes, flinging them into the fireplace. Standing there exposed, shaking and crying and ready to break and all Sam could think of was doing whatever it took to keep Morgan from breaking. Taking care of her friend in the only way she knew.

And Morgan hadn't been the same since, but Sam had told herself it was just going to take time. Morgan skipping more classes than she attended hadn't seemed like that big a deal. Morgan alternating between dragging Sam to parties, to the bar, hadn't been much of a change in Morgan's usual routine. But the desperation she did it with should have been a warning to Sam. Morgan wasn't just pushing the envelope. She was trying to forget. To pretend she was fine.

Sam had let Morgan pretend.

Sam swallowed painfully. The lump in her throat made it hard to breathe. She scrubbed away the stupid tears that threatened. She shouldn't be crying. She wasn't the one who had been assaulted. She was the one who hadn't fixed it. She didn't deserve pity or sympathy.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Sam pulled it out. She didn't register the number. Just that it wasn't Chris, so she answered.

"I take it you're taking an unplanned vacation day from school?"

The lump lodged in her throat relaxed some. "And you're not at work?" she countered.

Ezra's smile came through in his words. "My work isn't exactly of a nine to five nature."

Sam felt her own smile form. It was better than crying.

"Your brother wasn't homicidal over your absence, I take it?" Ezra said.

"Oh, he was," Sam answered. "But he wanted to make sure I went to school before he killed me."

"And that plan went off without a hitch," Ezra said wryly.

"I went to school," Sam said. "I just left a little early."

"Miss Larabee, it's nine am."

Sam smiled. "It's five o'clock somewhere," she countered.

"Are you saying you'd like a drink?" Ezra asked.

A drink. A way to forget.

"Can I come pick you up?" Ezra asked.

Passing the day with someone who didn't know all the ways Sam had failed was all she needed. She told herself that would be enough to get her head back on straight.

Sam told him where she was.

She sat down on the curb to wait for Ezra.

#

Buck went into the high school. A school spirit banner hung over the main entrance. Buck wondered if Sam or Morgan attended pep rallies. He and Chris had. It was an obligation that came with being on the football team. Sam and Morgan weren't exactly the school spirit type, but up until this school year, they had both seemed willing enough to at least show up to games, even if Buck had his suspicions that it was more to heckle the athletes than to cheer for anyone.

Buck went into the main office and gave his name to the secretary.

"Ms. Travis will be with you shortly. Have a seat," the matronly woman said.

"You got called in, too?"

Buck looked over at the bench the secretary had motioned to. Relief had the tension in his shoulders easing some. He dropped onto the bench alongside Chris.

"Did she tell you what you were here for?" Buck asked, wondering if Mary Travis had given Chris any more information than she had given him.

"I can guess," Chris muttered.

"Yeah," Buck sighed. He rested his elbows on his thighs.

The secretary answered a phone call. The fax machine whirred out paper. Buck's leg jostled. He wished the principal would hurry up.

"This feels familiar," Chris said. A rare smile ghosted across his lips.

Buck couldn't hold back a snort of amusement. "You and me on the bench outside the principal's office?"

"That's pretty much the only thing I remember from high school."

"Didn't serve us any better than math class," Buck said.

"We got our act together," Chris said. "Enough to graduate."

"Barely," Buck said. He grinned at Chris, remembering the relief on their principal's face when he had been able to hand them their diplomas and show them the door.

He sobered, thinking of Morgan. Whatever was going on with their sisters, it was more serious than a few harmless pranks and distaste for algebra.

"She's not lost yet," Chris said.

Buck nodded without meeting his eyes. Morgan getting herself married off, emancipated by way of marriage, and refusing to come home sure felt lost.

The door to the principal's office opened and Mary Travis stood there. "Mr. Wilmington, I'm sorry I'm running late. I'll be right with you." She turned to Chris. "Mr. Larabee?" she motioned him to her office.

Chris shook his head. "Whatever's goin' on with Sam, it's about Morgan, too. You can talk to us both together."

Buck nodded his agreement.

Mary inclined her head, inviting them both in.

Buck went in, his palms sweating, something that had never happened when he was facing the principal in his own high school days. He took one of the chairs in front of her desk and wiped his palms on his jeans.

Chris' face was unreadable.

Mary gave them both a sympathetic smile. "Thank you for coming in."

Chris got to the point. "You have some idea of what's wrong with Sam and Morgan?"

Mary didn't flinch at his tone. The compassion in her eyes didn't dim. "I was hoping maybe you could give me some insight."

Buck flexed his hands, released them, tightened them again. Insight was the last thing he had.

"They've both been…spirited throughout their time here," Mary said.

Buck snorted. Spirited was an understatement. Sam and Morgan had managed to swap out the cheerleading captain's shampoo with permanent dye. That little stunt had cost him and Chris nearly a thousand dollars. Buck had no idea salon treatments could be that expensive. But the green hue had faded from the girl's face after a few facials. And once Buck met the girl and her parents, he couldn't really blame Morgan and Sam for wanting to take her down a peg.

"But they've maintained their grades, had regular attendance, and have been well-liked by their teachers."

"Until now," Chris said starkly.

Mary nodded. "Morgan hasn't attended a full day of classes in the last three months."

"What?" Buck asked.

"Sam's attendance started dropping off shortly after that."

Chris grimaced.

"Three months? Skipping school every day?" Buck couldn't wrap his brain around that.

"I sent letters," Mary said.

Buck exchanged a look with Chris. Letters that had clearly been intercepted before either of them had read them.

"I'm really worried about Morgan," Mary said.

Having someone say it out loud freed something in Buck's chest. He wasn't completely on his own with his fears.

Mary looked to Chris. "Sam's attendance tends to mirror Morgan's. She'll go to a class or two, maybe even all of them. But if Morgan's missing, Sam leaves shortly after."

Guilt for what Morgan was doing to Sam trickled in. "Sorry, buddy," he said to Chris.

Chris ignored him and his eyes drilled into Mary. "And the school just lets her leave?"

Mary lifted her chin slightly. "This is a high school, not a prison."

"Where are they now?" Chris asked. "Get them in here."

Mary's lips thinned. "They've opted not to attend school today."

Chris cursed and Buck rubbed a hand against his forehead.

"I haven't been able to figure out what changed," Mary said, not reacting to Chris' harsh words. "But I did notice Morgan has a new friend."

"That Tanner kid?" Buck asked.

Mary nodded.

"He trouble?" Buck asked. It felt good to have a target for his frustration. Someone to blame. "She fell in with him and started missing class?"

Mary frowned slightly. "I wouldn't say that."

"But he's trouble, right?" Buck needed her to say it. Just say he needed to get Morgan away from this kid and then everything would be fine.

"I don't think he is," Mary said. "But he's not someone I would have expected to see Morgan with."

"Well she married him!" Buck exploded. "So you're gonna be seein' her with him!"
That got a reaction from Mary. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. Her lips parted, but she didn't say anything.

"You got something you want to say to us?" Chris asked. "Or did you just call us in here to let us know the girls need parents? Because their parents are dead, we're what they're stuck with."

Again that look of compassion on Mary's face. Buck thought he might have done better in high school if she had been principal instead. "I called you here to see how I can support you."

Buck fell back against the backrest of his chair. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't that.

"I know how difficult it can be a single parent, I can't imagine the difficulty of doing it as an older brother. I want to know what the school can do to help you."

"You have any suggestions?" Chris asked. It was the first hint that Chris was as lost as Buck was.

Mary took two business cards and slid them across the desk to the men. "Our school psychologist. Dr. Jackson. He's well-respected and has been helpful for a lot of our students."

"A shrink," Buck said. He saw the scowl on Chris' face. He remembered well the way Chris had dragged Sam to a therapist after Sarah had died. Sam had scared him—scared them all—after they lost Sarah and Adam. But she had got better. Mostly.

"They'd have to show up to school to see him," Chris commented dryly.

"They would," Mary said. "But maybe it would be helpful for them to talk with him."

Buck knew they were about ten steps past a shrink helping. But it was better than nothing. And he wouldn't tell Mary he had his own plan. And it involved finding where Morgan was shacking up with this Vin character and dragging her home by whatever means necessary.

Chris shoved the card in his pocket and Buck knew it wasn't going to get a second glance.

"Thanks for your time," Chris said, his tone implying just what a waste of time their meeting had been.

"Please call me if there's anything I can help with," Mary said, standing.

Buck added his thanks and left the office with Chris.

"We're going to start by finding them, right?" Buck asked under his breath as they walked out of the school office.

"Them and the low lifes they're shacking up with," Chris muttered.

Buck swung his head over to Chris. "Sam?"

"She was out with some fool all night. Stayed at his place."

Buck didn't want to think about Sam falling in with some loser the way Morgan had. Finding her half undressed and with Ezra in a motel had been bad enough. He couldn't imagine how much worse it could get.

#