Page 84 of My Brother's Best Friend

“Maddie, what’s going on?” I asked, hopping off my bed and grabbing my keys.

“S-S-Spencer …”

My stomach dropped, and I sprinted out of my bedroom, down the stairs, and to my car without informing those stupid idiots about where I was headed. They didn’t deserve it. I slammed my door shut and started the car.

“What happened?” I asked, squealing out the driveway. “Where are you?”

“He took Oliver!” she sobbed. “He took him.”

“Where are you?” I repeated, heading in the direction of her house.

She had been on her way home to find Oliver, right?

“B-by the school.”

After speeding through nearly every Stop sign, I hit the brakes and parked the car when I saw flashing police lights. I grabbed my keys and sprinted to the scene, where Maddie paced on the phone with someone, bursting out into tears.

“Maddie!” I called.

She snapped her gaze to mine and ran over, throwing her arms around my shoulders and sobbing into the crook of my neck. “Alec”—she sniffled, snot everywhere—“h-h-he’s g-g-gone. He’s gone!”

“What happened?” I asked, glancing past her at the police checking out Oliver’s car.

It had been parked diagonally in the middle of the street with the car door wide open. Officers walked back and forth from their cars to the Oliver’s, chatting quietly with one another and shaking their heads.

“Oliver wasn’t home, so I drove around Redwood to find him. I s-saw his car p-parked here, and I got out to move it off the road. A-and he was nowhere to be found.” Tears streamed down her face, and she gripped my jacket in her fists. “Alec …”

“How do you know it was Spencer?”

“B-because he left a note,” she said. “I gave it to the police chief.”

A couple officers walked over to us. “Ma’am …”

“Yes,” Maddie said, picking her head up from my shoulder. “What’s wrong? How can?—”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like your brother has been kidnapped,” he started.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “He wouldn’t just park his car in the middle of the road.”

The other officer shook his head. “That’s what it seems like to us. We’re going to move it off the road and give you the keys, but there is nothing else we can do at the moment for you. We apologize?—”

“What the fuck do you mean?!” Maddie exclaimed. “You have the note that Spencer left!”

“Ma’am, you didn’t provide us with any note.”

“I gave it to your boss,” she said.

“He doesn’t have one,” the officer said, walking back to Oliver’s car.

“You can’t do this!” she screamed at the officers. “My brother has been taken by a psychotic piece of shit, and you’re just leaving?! Do your fucking job and help him! Find him! Stop being the dickhead Redwood officers you are and be useful for once!”

“Maddie,” I whispered, holding her back.

“How much did he pay you?” Maddie screamed.

“Maddie,” I scolded quietly, “stop it.”

“We all know you fuckers don’t do anything without getting pai?—”

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