The Long Haul

Chapter 9

The next day, Jay took Alex to school, secretly wanting to ensure she went there. She made him park a block away so he didn't "embarrass" her by letting others see him, but that didn't keep him from using his binoculars to make sure she went inside the front doors.

Seeing no reason to go back home, he headed into work early and wasn't surprised to see Erin was already there. She was an early riser most days while everyone else chose to come in late morning when they had an easy day of wrapping up paperwork.

Jay hadn't accomplished much so far as he was distracted again. His mind kept running through what he knew so far: Alex skipped school and lied, his dad hinted that she'd stolen money and she'd been squirmy when he brought up the topic, and his dad was an abusive asshole who had clearly taken it too far with Alex more than once judging by how she flinched when he raised his voice and yelled her full name. He knew a lot of information, but he was missing a few critical details that would make all the puzzle pieces fall into place. Each individual fact he knew was reason for concern and warranted action, but he made the conscious decision to wait for more clarity.

He tapped his pencil on the desk as he tried to figure out his next move. Thankfully, today was a slow day filled with paperwork as they hadn't been able to catch any new leads on their current major case. This allows for ample time for his mind to wander.

Finally, it hit him what his next angle was going to be. He pulled up Google and did a quick search to find the information he needed, which was rather easy. He compared the dates and grinned - yahtzee.

"So you going to let me in on what you're doing? You know, since I'm carrying your dead weight with all this paperwork," Erin commented as she walked up and leaned against his desk with folded arms.

Jay immediately minimized the browser and leaned back in his seat, looking up at her with his most innocent and sweet smile to distract her. Sadly, it didn't work. She rolled her eyes playfully before reaching for his mouse and pulling the website back up. "You're so sly, detective," she joked, leaning over to read the page. Jay ran a hand down his face, thankful that nobody else had come in yet. "Debate team?" she questioned after seeing that he'd pulled up the school extracurriculars schedule.

As there was no point in denying it, Jay nodded. "Alex said she joined the debate team."

"And?" she pried.

Not wanting to air his suspicions about his sister just yet, he played it close to the vest. "And...I think I'm going to go to her debate team meet tonight."

Erin nodded slowly. "Uh huh." She waited to see if he would elaborate more but he remained silent. "Well, great. She could use some support from her family I'm sure. Want company?"

"You want a date night at a high school debate meet?" he grinned playfully.

"Unless you got a better counter offer." She looked around the room and once she was certain it was clear, she leaned in close to his lips.

Jay could feel her breath on his - oh how she toyed with him and he had no complaints. "I'll go to the meet myself and bring take out over to your place after I drop Alex off."

She closed the distance between them and gave him a quick, passionate kiss before biting his bottom lip. Suddenly, they heard the gate door unlock, signaling someone was on their way up. Erin instantly moved away, throwing him a seductive wink as she made her want to her desk across from him. Jay had no choice but to swallow hard to force his desires down.

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Following Jay's stupid and controlling mandates, Alex pulled out her phone as she was walking down the sidewalk with her friends after school.

Debate team after school. Be home later, probably after dinner.

There. She satisfied his demands yet again, and now she could enjoy time with her friends freely.

"Nick, you got something strong at your place? I have a craving," Dustin announced as he rubbed his stomach and turned to look at the group of friends as he walked backwards.

"I got you," Nick replied with a head nod. "Parents restocked with some Grey Goose." And thankfully his parents never cared to ask questions when the vodka magically disappeared from their shelves.

"Nice, bro. You ladies in?" Dustin turned to the three girls.

They all shared looks and Maddie and Emma shrugged. "Why not?" Emma replied.

Alex was visibly more hesitant again and it didn't go unnoticed unfortunately.

"Alex, come on. You've been flaking out on us like every day," Dustin said.

"Yeah, you said your brother was cool or whatever," Maddie added.

Being put on the spot, Alex was feeling the heat as her insides started to boil from all the eyes on her. When you were a teenager, peer pressure was powerful, and the youngest Halstead was not immune to it.

She tried to shrug as nonchalantly as she could. "He is cool," she reassured them, and in all honesty, he hadn't come at her about anything yet or caught her in any lies, so it would be okay, right? "I'm in, guys." She just had to make sure it wore off before she got home.

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Alex had confirmed she was at debate team this evening, so it meant one of two things - Jay was about to find her in action giving a debate or he was about to catch her in a lie and add yet another piece to this wild puzzle. A large part of him was holding out hope that he would find her on the stage and he could put his fears to rest. That was the best outcome here.

As Jay walked the halls of his old high school, it brought back memories, not all of which were pleasant. His brother Will had been the more outgoing socialite back in the day and Jay was the reserved studious type who was known to get into trouble every now and then.

He shoved his hands in his coat pocket as he neared the open doors of the auditorium. The moment of truth - he was going to find Alex on the other side of those doors or he wasn't.

Standing along the back wall in the dark, Jay immediately scanned the entire room with tactical precision. The contents were pretty bare - teams of six spread across the large stage up front and less than 30 people, mostly parents, were scattered across the stadium seating. It took Jay mere seconds to realize...Alex wasn't here.