Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Six

PRESENT TIME
JUNIOR YEAR
MONET'S CAFE
THIRD PERSON'S POV

Clay Jensen sat in Monet's cafe with Tony Padilla, thinking that maybe Tony could help him find Justin. He knew Imogen probably wouldn't want this, and that's why he was going to keep it a secret, but after seeing the postcard, he thinks that Justin wants to be found, that he wants to come back. He also believes that he would do anything to help his sister.

"Why the fuck would I know anything about how to find someone in the city?" Tony asked.

"I don't know, I mean. . your brothers. ." Clay trailed off with a shrug. "I just thought. .-" Tony cut him off.

". .-You thought what? You'd ask your brown friend for help nagivating the streets?" He said. Clay was completely taken back by his words as he shook his head.

"What? No. I mean, not entirely. I mean, is that racist? I'm not racist. ." Clay said, then he sighed as he looked up at Tony, speaking in a softer tone. "Am I racist?" He asked. Tony shook his head while sighing, the last thing he needed was Clay having an existential crisis.

"Okay, don't go into your Clay-hole. I'm not in the mood." Tony said, holding his hands up.

"Look, I know we haven't like. . talked much these past months, and it felt like this whole thing was going to be over, but it's not over." Clay said. Tony nodded his head, understanding where he was coming from.

"Okay, you want to find Justin. How do you know Justin wants to be found?" Tony asked.

"He reached out to my sister." Clay responded. That seemed to shock Tony, but he didn't show it in his face.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. He sent her a postcard, but she won't ever talk about Justin. . like his name is off-limits in the house, whatever she feels, it's so deep that she asked Jess to keep the postcard at her house." Clay said. Tony nodded his head, understanding that Imogen was in a different kind of pain when it came to Justin.

"She doesn't know that I want to find him, but if we find him, she'll have a witness. Then if my sister testifies against Bryce and Justin confirms her story, maybe that'll encourage Jessica to testify against Bryce too." Clay said.

"And then what? We just deliver him to Mrs. Baker so he can testify?" Tony asked in regards to Justin.

"Yeah, I mean. . that's the goal." Clay said.

"And is this what Imogen wants?" Tony asked.

"How many times did she ask us about Bryce? About tape nine? She would've gone after Bryce if the lawyers hadn't talked her out of it." Clay said. Tony sighed, but he still thought Clay needed to see how his sister felt about this, because he was thinking that Imogen wasn't ready to see Justin. . not yet.

"Yeah. Okay. I can talk to my probation officer. He deals with homeless kids and runaways and shit like that." Tony said. Clay nodded his head with a breath of relief.

"Yeah, see? I knew you'd have a way." Clay said.

"Oh?" Tony said, hinting back to the point he made earlier.

"I'm just saying."

•

The search for Justin was on. Together Tony and Clay had visited about five homeless shelters, now they were currently visiting their sixth, showing the man who was in charge, a picture of Justin. But he shook his head. "I don't recognize the face. You try the city shelters?" He asked.