“She’s got friends coming over. She’ll be fine. Plus, she gets a big blowout party tomorrow.”
“True.”
The barn is quiet, eerie. They saddle up two quarter horses and lead them out. Kendall unpacks her backpack and leaves it inside the barn, loads the saddlebags with the goods, and then mounts. They head off on a path toward the woods at a brisk walk, quiet at first. It smells crisp and piney.
After a while Kendall’s mind starts running circles around her, about the desk and Nico. Trying to forget about all of that, she asks, “Remember when you were in my driveway?”
“Yeah.”
“You told me the next day that you were feeling bad about something so you were out for a walk. What was going on?”
“Oh.” Jacián seems surprised by the question. “Um. . yeah. No big deal.”
“Come on. What?”
“Well, it’s been kind of hard moving here. I think it was the full moon or something that had me downI’m fine.”
“You’re so tough.” She rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, maybe.”
Kendall shrugs. “Let me guess. You left your girlfriend back in Arizona, you hate the outdoors, miss the city, are forced to spend your last year of high school with a bunch of strangers and to do all kinds of crap work involving animal dung, for a grandfather you barely know. You leave your big city high school soccer team behind for a rinky-dink cowboy half team full of hicks, and then the season gets canceled because one too many players disappear without a trace. How’m I doing?”
Jacián smiles in spite of himself. “You’re pretty much batting a thousand so far.”
“And then you have no chance at a scholarship because you can’t show a scout your amazing moves.”
“True. .”
“You make it sound like there’s more.”
“Well, there’s being accused of kidnapping upon first moving to an all-white town.”
“It’s not all white. Old Mr. Greenwood is pure Blackfeet Tribe, according to Eli. There are others of different races. Travis’s mom is Cambodian.”
“All right, whatever. That part’s over.”
“Plus, nobody thinks you did anything now. They were happy to pin the blame on Nico just as soon as he was unable to speak for himself.”
Jacián is quiet for a moment. The horses lean forward as they ascend a small hill. “I don’t think he did anything.”
“It’s weird, though, right?”
“Yeah. What do you think happened?”
Kendall thinks about the desk. About how strange Nico acted. About how she felt like she was in a trance yesterday when she sat there. About the coincidence of Nico and Tiffany both sitting at that desk, and about how Nico’s car was at school when he disappeared.
“Kendall? You okay?”
Kendall glances at him. “If I tell you something weird, will you think I’m. . like. . weird?”
“Probably.” He smiles to let her know he’s teasing.
“You know Tiffany Quinn, the girl who disappeared in May? Both she and Nico had the same desk.”
Jacián is quiet.
“It’s just a coincidence. I mean, who would even know that except for stupid OCD me.”
“Yeah,” Jacián says slowly. “That is a weird coincidence.” He looks at Kendall, eyebrows furrowed.
Thinking. But he says nothing more.
“You think I’m weird.”
“You are weird. But that’s not a bad thing.”
They travel onward to a huge open field, cattle roaming wild. “Are these some of yours?” Kendall asks.
Jacián rides close to check the brand. “Looks that way.”
“Who gets to round them up when winter hits?”
“My parents. Me. Maybe Marlena if she’s allowed on a quad again soon.”
“Does Hector ride still?”
“Not four-wheelers. But horses? Sure. He’ll never give that up.”
“I haven’t seen him on a horse in a while. How’s his health?”
“He’s just taking it easy. Finally semiretired, now that my parents are here. He spends a lot of time with old Mr. Greenwood.”
Kendall thinks. “He said they’ve been friends since they were teenagers.”
Jacián nods. “They both got sent to the same reform school.”
“What?” Kendall pulls up on her horse. “Are you serious?”
“Totally serious. He told me the other day.”
“Around here?”
“Not far. Just a few miles away. There’s an overgrown gravel driveway if you take the viaduct all the way around north to nowhere. You’d miss it if you didn’t know it was there. When we were out searching for Nico,” he says, “we got near to the back end of the reform school’s property, which is actually a lot closer to the ranch as the crow flies but totally inaccessible. The school got shut down a long time ago.
Abandoned. It’s all completely overgrown now. Grandfather didn’t want to go anywhere near it.”