All the Colors of the Dark — Chapter 61

61

It took a month of cutting school and riding the buses, placing notices on boards in far-flung towns and calling every hospital in the state of Missouri for Chief Nix to show up at his house. A little before eight, Patch opened the door and the big cop pushed past him and walked into the kitchen, opened a bag from Lacey’s Diner and set a couple of cinnamon muffins on the table. Placed a second bag down and nodded toward it.

Patch peered inside, saw his old copy of Playboy and raised an eyebrow.

Nix raised his own in reply.

Nix sat.

Patch sat.

“Eat.”

Patch ate.

“Harkness worked a late call, headed back in long after we closed up.

Said he saw you cleaning the station.” Nix took a large bite.

“Bullshit. I’m not old enough to work.”

The linoleum torn at each corner, rutted around the stove and curling like butter. A stopped clock hung beside a calendar from a year past as if his

mother had simply pressed pause.

“You look tired,” Nix said.

“You can’t find her.”

“I also can’t stop Social Services. School called me because I told them

to keep an eye out.”

“I’ll go to school.”

Nix took a bite of a muffin and did not speak again until he had swallowed. “How’s your friend?”

Patch wore his tired entirely. “She’s okay, like everyone is okay.”

“Don’t get many friends like that. The kind that would do most anything for you.”

“I don’t need friends. I need cops to do their jobs.”

Nix stared at him, like he did not recognize the boy that had returned.

“You and your life. I don’t work another case again and you’ll keep me

busy enough.”

“Find Grace.”

“I talked to the state cops again. You were in total darkness for a long time. The strain that puts on your mind. Your body. You know what a

mirage is?”

“Fuck you, Chief Nix.”

“Your mind conjures something to keep you moving forward. It places salvation where there is none. You should speak with Dr. Tooms.”

“He can’t help me.”

“He’s the best man I know. He’s—”

Patch cut in, “She’s real. She’s a girl lost. It’s your job to make her safe.

To make sure she’s not hurting. To make sure she lives a life.”

“This needs to end before you get yourself in a world of trouble.”

“Tell me she’s okay.”

“I can’t do that.”

Patch met his eye. “If she’s not okay, then it’s not the end.”

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