Page 89 of The Five Year Lie

“What?”My blood stops circulating. “Where? When?”

Buzz looks up at me with solemn eyes. Then he raises his short arm and points in the direction of my mother’s house. “On the screen. In the kitchen.”

My pulse throbs at my throat. “Thesameman? When was this?”

“It was soon.” He yawns.

Chills climb up my neck, and I close the laptop with a snap. Then I reach down and stash it on the floor. “Come here, baby.” I shut off the bedside lamp and flatten myself onto the bed. “Let’s have a nap before it’s time to get up for school.”

He plops down on my pillow, rolling immediately onto his side and snugging his little butt up against me.

But my eyes are wired open, my heart thudding. Why would my uncle have Drew’s photo on his laptop? Maybe he recognized the doorbell text my mother got. She’s probably been nattering about it all week.

If that’s the case, though, then he lied to her about recognizing Drew. He said he didn’t know who it was.

Unless he’s uncertain. I recognized Drew in that photo immediately. But my visual memory bank of Drew has a lot more to go on than Ray’s would.

And when did Buzz see this photo?Soonmakes no sense, but little kids aren’t good with time. At all. Even if Buzz had saidyesterdayora long time ago, it could mean anything.

Buzz lets out a sleepy sigh, and the sound turns my heart rate down, as if on a dial. I close my eyes and try to match my breathing to his. There are few things more relaxing than a sleepy four-year-old in turtle pajamas.

But my mind still churns.

29

FIVE YEARS AGO, AUGUST

The week after he’s seen the video, Drew isn’t great company.

He takes Ariel to a movie the next Friday night and spends much of it deep inside his own rage. They eat dinner at a loud seafood restaurant, and he does his best to keep up his end of the conversation.

She doesn’t seem to mind that he’s quiet and moody. If anything, she holds him a little tighter while they make love.

But he can feel himself slipping away from her already. Some of the distance is his own distraction, and some of it is him pulling back intentionally.

He needs to finish his mission. Amina and Ernie are waiting for justice.

The following weekend, Ariel heads to Boston for a big art fair with her friend Larri, and he is almost relieved. On Friday night he kisses her goodbye in the stairwell of Chime Co. and watches her walk away.

On Saturday, he spends the day as Jay Marker, renting a car with his real driver’s license and heading north on the highway. When he gets to the Lowden exit, he feels Ernie’s absence in the pit of his stomach.

The streets are the same. Butnothingis the same.

He finds Omar working a kids’ summer day camp at the same youth center where Ernie pushed teenaged Jay to take a job.

“You got any news?” Omar asks immediately when he spots Jay at the fence.

“What, no greeting? What would Ernie say?”

Omar rolls his eyes in his skinny face. “Hey, Jay, how’s it hanging?”

That isn’t much better, but he lets it slide. “I’m well. And I have a couple questions for you. When are you done here?”

“Gimme half an hour. You can shoot with us.” He hooks a thumb toward the net. “If your leg can take it.”

Well, now hehasto shoot hoops, just to prove that he can. And it works pretty well, possibly because all the other players are four feet tall and he doesn’t have to do a lot of pivoting on his prosthetic.

“Old man’s still got it!” Omar calls when he sinks a three-pointer.