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

think Brad would have wanted to harm himself?”
    “What? No,” I insisted, clearing my dry throat. “Not at all.”
    “To your knowledge, was Brad recently involved with any type of drugs or narcotics?” He held his pen to the paper, like it was his finger on the trigger of a gun, ready to fire.
    “No, sir.” I attempted to take a deep breath, but the air in our living room felt thick. “Brad is a good guy, he wasn’t doing anything like that...” I suddenly began rambling like a faucet of words turned on full blast. “And that’s why I just think something is really wrong. It’s not like him to not communicate with anyone, especially with me. If he was going anywhere besides home he would have told me, and he definitely wasn’t going to harm himself or to buy drugs or anything even remotely…”
    “Miss White,” Detective Padron interjected. “While I appreciate your desire to defend his character, his criminal record is telling us a different story.”
    Both of my parents shot me looks. Mom threw her hands over her mouth to hide her gasp.
    “His criminal record?” My dad asked before I could speak. His eyes were turned towards the detective but I knew the question was meant for me.
    “Yeah, Brad was involved in some harmless, childish pranks… but he never told me anything about…” I trailed off, unsure how to end the sentence. My breath was leaving my body again. This can't be happening .
    Detective Padron flipped a few pages back in his notebook. “I’m not at liberty to go into detail, but his juvenile record includes many crimes for which he was tried and found guilty. The most recent being November of…”
    I didn’t have to hear him finish. His last offense had occurred only days before our encounter in the snow. All Brad's stories about raiding refrigerators must have been a G-rated version of the past. I remembered what he said in front of the lake on Friday night, ‘You saved my life.’ But what did I save him from? A dry lump settled in the back of my throat as I rubbed his class ring between my fingers.
    “That was a long time ago,” I managed to say. “He’s changed a lot since then.”
    “I certainly understand that, during adolescence, youth go through various stages of rebellion. But my point in asking this is to understand his current state of mind. Frankly, at this time we have no reason to assume that Brad has met with foul play or danger of any type, however, a possible drug relapse may have altered his state of mind and caused him to want to leave. There is just nothing leading us to believe he left involuntarily.” A drug relapse?
    “But I’m telling you,” I insisted. “Brad doesn't do drugs. And he wouldn’t have just left voluntarily. He had a job lined up for the summer, he’s enrolled in the state college for the fall. We had made plans for the next day…” I was trailing off. It didn’t matter what I said; the detective wasn’t listening. Not to my words anyway.
    “Miss White, I’m not sure you understand…”
    “You need to talk to Lizard,” I spit out, cutting him off. “Sorry.”
    “I’m sorry, did you say Lizard ? Is this a classmate of Brad’s?” He put his pen back to the paper, ready to write.
    “Yes, uh, well no. He dropped out of school early in the year, now he has some car repair shop in an old barn off Highway Forty-one. Michael Lizardo, that’s his real name, was a friend of Brad’s before we were together. I haven’t seen him since graduation, but he was upset with Brad on Friday night about missing Jason’s party. I'm sure if you just talk to him…”
    “Ah yes, Michael Lizardo,” he said with a nod. “I’ve already spoken with him. In fact, he called the station to report that you have been harassing him.”
    I flew out of my seat. “ What? ”
    “Have you been calling him repeatedly in an attempt to get information about Brad’s whereabouts?”
    “No!” I shrieked. “I mean, well yes, I called him a few