Set You Free Read Online Free Page B

if she’s trying to read my mind. I open my mouth but am cut off before I can speak. “Call. Then I’ll explain.”
    My mom answers on the first ring.
    “Is Tom there?”
    “Lauren?” A hazy, sleepy voice. It had seemed as though she was about to be hit by a migraine before I left the house. Everything she did was slow and delicate.
    “Are you okay, Mom?”
    “I was just about to lie down,” she says.
    “Mom, is Tom there?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Can you check his room?” I hear her moving through the house, then knocking on Tom’s door, calling his name.
    “He’s not here.”
    “Okay,” I say. I shake my head no at Detective Evans.
    “Why are you looking for Tom? What’s going on?” my mother asks.
    “Tell your mom to sit tight,” Detective Evans says. “We’ll be right there.”
    “We’ll be right back, Mom,” I say.
    “What’s going on?” she asks. “What does Tom have to do with anything?”
    “I don’t know. We’ll be right there.” I hang up and hand the phone to Detective Evans.
    She starts right back in on me. “Did Tom ever babysit Benjamin with you?” She’s texting someone as she speaks.
    “No,” I say, then, “Well, not really. Sometimes he’d walk with us to the park or have ice cream. But he was never, like, officially there.”
    “Where does your brother hang out? Who are his friends?”
    I stop.
    Detective Evans takes another couple of steps, then turns back.
    “What is going on?” I ask.
    She pockets the phone. “Maybe nothing, Lauren.”
    “Then why all the questions about Tom?”
    She puts her sunglasses back on so I can see myself again. “He was seen in the vicinity of the Carters’ house last night.”
    “We do only live two blocks away.”
    “It’s more than that, Lauren. A neighbor saw him out in front of the Carters’ house around midnight.”
    “He could’ve been walking home,” I say.
    “He was across the street for more than twenty minutes. When the neighbor approached, your brother took off.”
    “How can you be sure it was Tom?”
    “The man took a picture with his cell phone. He just now showed the photo to Erin and Jack, and they identified Tom.”
    “But you said that Tom took off, right?”
    “He did. But we don’t know where he went afterward.”
    “He probably came home,” I say.
    “Did you see him last night?” she asks.
    I think of the hallway in my house and try to remember what it looked like when I stumbled in. Was Tom’s door open or closed? Were his shoes on the mat? I can’t remember. I don’t even know how I got home.
    “Maybe,” I say.
    “Let’s go to your place and take a look, okay?”
    And suddenly I have a hand on my back, pushing me forward. “What are you even saying? What could Tom possibly have to do with any of this? You can’t think Tom took Ben. Can you?”
    Her cell rings, and the hand disappears from my back. “Okay,” she says. “I’m en route to the suspect’s house. Can we keep the police presence down for the time being?” Listens again. “Thanks. Yes, I’ll report in as soon as we’re there.” She pockets her phone as we pass the Dairy Queen.
    “Suspect?” I say. “Do you mean Tom?”
    “Have you ever heard of the seventy-two-hour rule, Lauren?”
    “What?” I say. My head is pounding. My skin feels moist and electric. I’m getting really tired of the way Detective Evans feels the need to end all her sentences with Lauren .
    “If a missing child isn’t found within seventy-two hours, the likelihood he or she ever will be drops dramatically.”
    “You said suspect ,” I say. “You were talking about my brother and you used the word suspect .”
    “I did.”
    We move quickly and silently. I have a million questions I want to ask her, but I feel so ill and dazed that I simply follow along.

    “Tell me about your brother,” Detective Evans says as I slam the car door shut. She’s reading something on the in-car computer.
    “He would never hurt