“Padlock on the door, babe.” Daniel grabbed a small key from his pocket, and went to work on the lock. “Sam and I both have keys, but she could hardly have locked herselfin.”
Daniel threw open the door and we steppedinside.
Hardly any light penetrated the space, so I turned on my phone’s flashlight. One side of the shed was still full of junk—what appeared to be an iron bed frame, a couple of metal lockers that might be used to store tools or supplies, lamps, car parts, tarps, and even an old pair ofboots.
On the other side of the shed, though, it was clear someone had tried to make themselves at home. Another heavy tarp was spread along the dirt floor to create a kind of makeshift floor. Several sleeping bags were stacked to form a sleeping pallet, with a stuffed backpack for a pillow. There was even a large blue cooler with a frying pan and a coffee pot like Daniel’s perched ontop.
“Was shecookingout here?” Idemanded.
Theo wassilent.
“Theo, it’s done, okay? She’s not staying out here anymore. She shouldn’t have been out here in the first place, and you’re just lucky nothing badhappened.”
“She ate over here a lot, or just ate granola bars. But she’d cook occasionally,” he admitted. “If she was able to grab some groceries from theImperial.”
I frowned. “Why wouldn’t she be able to grabgroceries?”
“No, Jules,” Daniel said softly. “He doesn’t meanpurchasegroceries. He means to literally grabthem.”
“It’s not her fault!” Theo defended. “She didn’t have any money, and she wouldn’t let me give her any. She tried to find a job every damnday, but everyone wanted permission from her dad, and…” He sighed. “She was gonna pay everyone back once she was eighteen and gotwork.”
“Jesus,” I said, as the light finally dawned. “Samis the one who’s been going around stealing stuff?” The thief terrorizing O’Leary was a scared seventeen-year-old?
“She only took what she needed,” Theo said. “It seriously wasn’t even that much. And she didn’t take anything expensive, or try to sell any of it. And she stopped completely after Daniel,um…”
“Paid her,” Daniel said, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “OnThanksgiving.”
“Yeah,” Theo saidmiserably.
“Theo, what has she been doing all this time? Just hanging out here at thecabin?”
“No! She goes to school. She gets good grades. She hangs out in town, with me and with Rae. You’ve seen her! Her dad never leaves the fucking house. Like, ever. He’s unemployed and now his entire day is watching game shows and reruns, and he’s taking his bitterness out onher.”
“And that sounds terrible,” I agreed. “But has he been hurting her, or abusing her psychologically? Because it’s hard for me to see howthissituation is better.” I kicked ineffectively at the stuffedbackpack.
“Sometimes it seems like it’d be better to live life on your own terms,” Daniel said. “And once you realize you might have made a hasty decision, it’s hard to find your way back. Things that seem simple from the outside are not fucking simple.” He lifted both eyebrows atme.
I nodded slowly. “Okay, well, we need some more ideas,Theo.”
“I’m fresh out, bro. She’s not here, she’s not with Rae because Rae’s at work, she’s not at Daniel’s… Before the shed, she was camping out in a little tent, but Iknowshe’s not doing thattonight.”
Daniel and I exchanged a look and Daniel shrugged. “Yousureshe wouldn’t, Theo? Even if she was that freaked outtoday?”
Theohesitated.
“Do you know something else?” I tried to use my best older brother voice, the kind that hopefully compelled him to speak. “Theodore, if you haveinformation—”
“She texted me. Maybe an hour ago. Said she’d found a place to crash tonight and it was warm. I wondered if she’d found a way to heat the shed, but now I think it must be somebody’shouse.”
“So she’ssafe?”
Theo hesitated, then admitted in a rush, “I don’tknow! And her dad’s calling the police, or maybe he already has by now. I need to find her before they do, orelse—”
“Or elsewhat? Theo, what terrible thing is going to happen if her dad finds her? He’s going to make her wear a dress and go to college? Or is he being abusive?” I asked again. “Because those are two very different situations, tome.”
“No,” Theo admitted. “He’s never hurt her. She would have told me. This is just about him being a controllingasshole.”
“Okay. So wouldn’t it be better for her to be safe for the next couple months, even if it’s with a controlling asshole, than for her to be out on her own? Wouldn’t it be even better if we could get Mr. Henderson to agree to let her live at the house with you andMama?”
