If You're Gone by Brittany Goodwin Read Free Book Online

young members, Brad Lee,” Pastor Allen spoke from behind the pulpit. “For reasons we do not yet know, he has not contacted his friends or family since Friday evening. If anyone comes in contact with Brad, please urge him to reach out to his family. We pray that this young man is not in any danger and that he will make smart decisions...”
    He kept talking, but I didn’t want to listen. It was becoming bigger than posters, bigger than unorganized search parties wandering through the ditch in my front yard, bigger than a pre-occupied Detective Padron offering less-than-encouraging words. Our pastor was standing in front of the entire congregation and asking for their help. The members of our church who didn’t even recognize Brad when he passed them in the sanctuary would now know him as the Missing Guy. The first-name last-name missing guy. What would be next? Assemblies in the schools, candlelight vigils on the steps of city hall? Please Lord, wake me up from this dream-this nightmare.
    ****
    My father received a phone call as we were leaving the service and we rushed home to meet Detective Padron who was waiting to speak with me. His squad car was already parked in our driveway when we arrived, with the driver’s side door open. He stepped out of the car as soon as we drove past, notebook in hand. Hurry Dad, we don’t want to waste this man’s precious time.
    Within minutes, I was seated on the couch in the living room between my parents while the detective sat across from us in a chair he had yanked from our dining room table. He was middle-aged, taller than my dad and a little pudgy around the edges. His thick neck led up to a head of spiky salt and pepper hair, which matched his gray eyes. He sat tall and rested his elbows on the wooden armrests, flicking a pen between his pointer and middle fingers.
    “Now, uh, Miss White…” Detective Padron spoke my name as though he wasn’t sure what I was actually called, looking down at his notebook and then back up at me.
    “It’s Lillian,” I told him. “It’s okay if you call me that.”
    I hoped for a moment that being on a first name basis would lighten his mood; perhaps then I wouldn’t feel like a witness taking the stand against a criminal. But he nodded and continued his interrogation as if Brad was just some fugitive on the run.
    “Lillian,” he repeated. “I understand you were with Brad Lee on the evening of May sixteenth, is that correct?”
    “Yes.” Am I supposed to elaborate?
    “And can you tell me when you last saw Brad?”
    “He dropped me off at my front door at 9:59 pm.”
    The detective gave me a questioning glance.
    “I remember it was that exact time because my curfew was ten o’clock and I was making sure I wasn’t late.” Do I sound like I’m sucking up? Trying to come across like a goody-goody church girl who never misses a curfew?
    “So the last time you saw Brad he was leaving your front porch at approximately 10:00 pm?” He stressed approximately as though he wasn’t buying my curfew line.
    “Yes.”
    “And that is the last time you saw him before he was reported missing?”
    “Yes.” No. I was suddenly afraid to correct myself and tell him about Brad’s visit to my window. Even with my parents sitting on either side of me, I was overcome with a wave of panic. If I correct myself now he won’t believe anything I say. But if I don’t tell him, he will never know the difference… right?
    “Did Brad give you any indication of where he was going after he left your house?”
    “He was going home.”
    “Brad wasn’t going to any graduation parties or other festivities that night?”
    Stop using his name with that tone!
    “No, he was invited to a graduation party at Jason Hamilton’s house but he didn’t want to go.” I glanced to my left to look at my dad, my eyes felt droopy and desperate like a hound dog. He gave me a quick nod then looked back at the Detective. I was on my own.
    “Do you have any reason to