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Zoe
“Again, I think we should go see Kendall,” Zoe said.
Jason didn’t answer her, and she looked to see if he had heard her. He was grinding his jaw. Finally, he said, “I’m sorry. I just don’t think he’d tell us anything.”
“I could try to beat it out of him,” Derek offered with a lackadaisical air as if he’d just suggested he could offer him tea.
Jason’s face registered a small panic. “I don’t think that’s the way Jesus wants us to do it.”
Zoe looked back at Derek in time to see him shrug. Then he looked out the window and started singing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
She didn’t want to beat Kendall up, but still she thought it was a good idea to go talk to him at least. And even if it wasn’t a good idea, what could it hurt? It would cost them time, sure, but not much. Trouble was, she didn’t know how to convince Jason. So she stopped trying. “What’s our next area?”
He showed her the map. “Pretty close to town this time. We’ll probably have to knock on some doors.”
Zoe looked at her phone. The battery was at seventeen percent. “I’d better plug in my phone then.” She would need to use it to show people Levi’s photo.
“Yeah, we all should make sure our phones are charged up because we’re going to need them for flashlights,” Jason said.
Derek stopped singing to say, “My phone battery never dies.” Then he started singing again.
They parked at an intersection on the edge of town and climbed back out into the rain. Zoe was running on fumes. Whether or not this searching took them all night, she still fully intended to skip school tomorrow. She realized that they might still not have found Levi by morning, and this thought scared her so much that she pushed it out of her mind. If he hadn’t been found by morning, she wouldn’t be sleeping in. She’d still be searching. She looked at her friends. She was pretty sure the same was true of them.
“I’ll take the backyards,” Derek said. “People don’t want to see me coming to their front doors.”
Zoe wasn’t sure if this would truly alarm anyone. He wasn’t that scary looking. But she’d also grown used to him.
“It’s probably not a good idea to get caught sneaking around in their backyards either,” Jason said, but Derek was already out of sight. Jason shook his head. “That guy.”
“If we’re just knocking on doors,” Zoe said, “we should split up. It’ll be faster.” In no way did she want to go knock on strangers’ doors alone, but she was in a hurry. She was positive he wasn’t in this area, and thought it was a waste of time. They needed to get back to searching where there were no people.
“Okay.” Jason sounded reluctant. “But stay in sight of each other.”
They started walking, but Emma didn’t move.
Jason stopped and looked back at her.
“Sorry, I really don’t want to be knocking on doors alone.”
“No prob,” Zoe said quickly. “Come with me, Emma. We’ll use your phone for his picture.”
Emma looked relieved.
“You take that side of the street.” Jason pointed with his chin. “I’ll stay over here.”
Great. Give me the side that has Derek sneaking around in backyards.
No one answered at the first house, though the girls allowed plenty of time. As they walked down the steps, they made eye contact with Jason. It appeared he’d had the same experience.
At the next house, it was obvious people were home. The driveway was full of cars, and she could hear a television. Yet no one would come to the door.
Awesome. This was going to be super helpful.
Someone did answer at the third house, and she politely looked at the photograph on Emma’s phone. Then she shook her head. Sorry, she hadn’t seen him.
At the fourth house, a woman called her whole family to the door to look at the picture, but no one recognized him. Then she asked if they needed any help looking.
Zoe blinked, surprised. “Yes, that would be great. We’re organizing out of New Beginnings Church. If you go there, they’ll assign you an official area to search.”
The woman turned her head and hollered. “Get your boots and raincoats on, everyone!” Then she looked back to Zoe. “New Beginnings Church? Never heard of it.”
“It’s the old abandoned church on Providence Ave.”
“Oh yeah? I thought that place was condemned.”
Zoe shook her head. “Not even close.”
