Yet a Stranger (The First Quarto #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,8
easy on him. He’s the youngest. That’s the whole problem.”
Orlando sniffled, and Auggie found a tissue in his backpack and passed it over. After blowing his nose and wadding up the tissue in one hand, Orlando said, “Augs, I want you to find Cal.”
“Oh my God,” Billie said.
“I know you can do it, Augs. I know you can.”
“Orlando told us about you solving that murder last year.” Billie shrugged like she could have done it herself if she hadn’t been busy with something else. “But it’s not like this is your job or anything. I think it’s silly to ask someone like you. No offense.”
“I thought he wasn’t missing,” Auggie said. “Why do you care if I look?”
“Well, he’s not missing missing. He’s just not, you know, where anyone can find him.” She must have recognized some of what Auggie was thinking in his expression because she blushed slightly and said, “I mean, it’s not like we need the police or anything. Cal’s probably on a bender again. He’ll come back and clean up. That’s all.”
“On a bender?”
“Oh my God, you’re almost as bad as Orlando.”
“We’ll pay you,” Orlando said, snuffling into the back of his hand. “Two thousand dollars.”
“Jeez,” Billie said. She threw him a dirty look. “Mom and Dad are going to shit bricks, Orlando.”
“Butt out,” Orlando said. “Just go away, Billie.”
“He’s probably having his period,” Billie said with a smile for Auggie.
“Get out!”
Stretching as she rose, Billie said, “This is a waste of your time, Auggie. Cal will come back; he always does.” She tugged on the polo one more time, considering her boobs, and then she flashed a Miss America smile and headed out the door.
Auggie heard Ethan and Orlando’s door open, and then Ethan saying, like it was a magical coincidence, “Oh hey, you must be Orlando’s sister.”
Orlando groaned and covered his eyes again.
“My brother Fer would call Ethan a dripping dick with legs or something like that,” Auggie said.
Orlando gave a wet laugh. “I’m sorry, Augs. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“You didn’t bother me.” Auggie dragged out the other desk chair and sat. “Why are you so worried, but she’s not?”
“Because she’s a bitch.”
Auggie leaned back.
Wiping his face, Orlando said, “Ok, she’s right. Cal goes on benders. He’s got . . . he’s got problems. But he’s never been gone like this before. I mean, a day, tops. And we could find him because he was always somewhere in town—one of the bars he likes, with one of his dumb friends, that kind of thing.”
“Your family lives in Wahredua?”
“Just outside the city limits, so it’s technically just Dore County.”
“So you grew up here?”
“Oh yeah. Wahredua High.”
“Why didn’t I know that?”
“Well, we didn’t really talk about that kind of stuff last year.”
And Auggie was surprised to realize that Orlando was right: they hadn’t talked about that kind of stuff.
“You really think this is different?” Auggie said. “Serious, I mean?”
Orlando nodded. He was still trying to dry his cheeks.
“Don’t you think you should go to the cops?”
Blowing out a breath, Orlando nodded again. But he said, “Augs, it’s not just, you know, alcohol.”
“Oh.”
“So if they pick him up, I mean, he’d probably get charged with possession at the minimum. And he’s got a business. And my parents would honestly shit bricks, like, a whole stack of them. All they care about is what people think, and this would be awful.”
“We should still go to the police.”
“Augs, please. I will do whatever you want. I will—I will find a way to get you more money if that’s what it is. I’ll be your wingman. I’ll get you the hottest ass in town. I will do your homework for the rest of college.”
Auggie let a little grin break out. “I saw your Intro to World Literature paper last year, Orlando. ‘The symbolism of black is death.’ Four pages like that.”
A blush crept up behind the dark stubble, but after a moment, Orlando smiled. “Ok, smartass. Not all of us were getting private tutoring and boning sessions from the professor.”
“I wish that’s what I’d been getting,” Auggie said, and then both of them burst out laughing.
“Please, Augs,” Orlando said when the laughter faded. “Please.”
“Promise you won’t go anywhere near my homework.”
“Promise.”
“Promise you will not try to be my wingman.”
“Swear to God.”
“Promise you will never, ever, ever try to get me the hottest ass in town, which sounds a little rapey.”
Orlando rolled his eyes and put his hand over his heart. “Never, ever, ever.”