Chapter 57

When an entire week went by with no word from Archie at all, I called the house. When no one answered there, I called Dawn.

“Archie’s gone,” she said.

“Gone?” I braced myself on the corner of my desk, then sat, not by will, but as if shoved down from the words. “Gone where?”

“He decided to go live with his mother’s aunt down in Virginia. He’s going to a trade program there attached to the local high school. He’ll start in a couple weeks.”

“Oh. I tried Faye, she—2rdquo;

“She’s gone, too. Gone in the head. She quit her job here, you know?”

“I didn’t. Why didn’t you tell me any of this before now?”

“Why didn’t you ask before now?” Dawn shot back.

“I don’t know.”

“All Faye does is go to 14K—stupid name to call our old shop, by the way—then for food, and then home.erdquo;

“Because she misses Archie?”