Page 35 of Freeing Ruby

“Miguel, be careful!” she calls after me.

As I’m racing to the stairwell, Darren’s apartment door opens and he steps out into the hall. He’s in his pajamas, his hair mussed from sleep. He’s blinking against the bright hallway lights. “Did you hear that? What’s going on?”

“Ruby, lock your door!” I yell back at her, seeing that her door’s still open.

Darren looks genuinely worried. “Is Ruby okay?”

“Now, Ruby!” I don’t want Darren talking to her, and I can’t waste another second giving her instructions. I hear Ruby’s door close as I’m jogging down the staircase. I race out the back door into the parking lot just in time to see a figure dressed in a dark hoodie racing away from the building. I take off after him, determined to catch him this time.

He weaves through the cars as he heads for the park. I stay on his trail, gaining on him with each passing second. I lunge at him, taking him to the ground, and wrap my arms and legs around him, holding him immobile.

“What the fuck?” the guy yells as he fights my hold. He thrashes violently, trying to head-butt me. “Let me go, you moron.” He sounds young.

I roll us so that I’m sitting on him. After yanking the hood off his head, then a black knit cap, I stare down into a frightened teenage boy’s face. His brown eyes are huge, and he’s white as a ghost. He can’t be more than sixteen. “Who the fuck are you?” I demand.

He glares up at me as he struggles to break free.

I grab a fistful of his sweatshirt and shake him. “I asked you a question. Who are you?”

“Aaron,” he says, breathing hard.

“Why were you throwing rocks at that apartment window?”

“I don’t know!” he cries. “Some guy paid me fifty bucks to do it. He said it would be funny. It was supposed to be a prank.”

“What guy?”

“I don’t know. Just some dude. He’s old, like even older than you.”

“Describe him.”

“I didn’t really see much. It was dark out.”

“Was he dark or fair?”

“He was a white guy. That’s all I know.”

“Did he have dark hair or light?”

The kid shrugs. “I couldn’t tell. He was wearing a hat, and like I said, man, it was dark out.”

“When did he hire you?”

“Tonight. About an hour ago. I was walking down the street, and he called me over, gave me fifty bucks to throw rocks at a window.”

“Did he tell you exactly which window to hit?”

“Yeah. He told me to go to the back of the building, count over six windows from the left on the second floor. Hey, man, I’m sorry. He said it would be funny. You’re not gonna call the cops, are you?”

I let go of the kid’s shirt and stand. “Get up.”

He jumps to his feet and brushes off his clothes. “Look, I’m sorry, but it was fifty bucks, you know? That’s a lot of money.”

I pull one of my cards out of my back pocket and hand it to the kid. “If you see him again, you call me, all right? And if you ever throw a rock—or anything else for that matter—at that apartment, I will rip you a new one, you got it?”

“Yeah, man. I got it. Sheesh.”

“If there’s a next time, I’m callin’ the cops. Understand?”

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