Help! This is Ali. I’m locked in Gabe and Ramon’s storage unit at a place called RE-STORE, near 6th and K by the highway. They’re gone and I don’t know where they are, but I need someone to come let me out. Is anyone there? I don’t have a phone. Please come ASAP!!!!! And call my dad, too!
I included Dad’s phone number, but I wasn’t fooling myself. It was pretty late, and I didn’t think anyone was going to see this until morning, at least. Even then, maybe not until later, since it was a school night.
I couldn’t think about it too much. I’d done what I could.
The only thing left to do now was wait—and hope that Ramon Qualls didn’t come back too soon.
I DON’T KNOW how much time went by. It was maybe an hour. Maybe two. I kept getting scared, and then calming down. Then getting scared again.
I started screaming again, but without much hope. No one could—
BANG!
What was that? A gunshot? I dove down onto Gabe’s sleeping bag.
“Ali!”
It was Dad’s voice, and I practically exploded with relief. Or melted. Or both.
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” I was tripping on stuff just to get to the front. I didn’t care. Then I was banging on the door. “I’m here! I’m here!”
“Hang on a second,” he said.
“You have to cut the lock!” I yelled. “It’s near the ground.”
“No, we got this,” Dad said.
Faster than I was expecting, I heard a rattle outside, and then Dad threw open the door. He was hugging me as fast as I was hugging him, and behind that, I could see Gabe standing there.
“Yo,” he said. “I don’t know what you want to say to me, but I’m really sorry. I just—”
Gabe didn’t get any further than that. I was already hugging him next, and I didn’t care what he thought about that.
“Thanks for not giving up on me,” he said before I let go.
“I thought you wanted me to,” I said, and stepped back.
“So did I. Until now,” he said.
“Good thing I don’t listen,” I told him, and we both grinned, maybe because we were both trying not to cry.
“But listen, man,” Gabe told me. “I never, ever should have gone into your house like that. It was way out of line.”
“It’s okay,” I said. It really was.
“My pops was out of control,” he kept going. “He told me we were going to lose the house if I didn’t help out, and even when I told him that didn’t mean I had to go crash with Ramon, he wasn’t hearing it. Basically, I could stay home and get a beatdown when he felt like it, or I could get in the game.”
“I know you didn’t have a choice,” I said. “I get it. It’s really okay, Gabe. I promise.”
Gabe wasn’t even listening. The words were just kind of pouring out of him—which is something I could relate to. Sometimes you just have to say what you have to say, no matter what.
“You’re like my only real friend, Ali, and I get it if you tell me we’re done, after this. I think some of your family’s stuff is still in here, but a lot of it got sold. I’ll pay you back if I can—”
“Gabe!” I said. “Seriously, man. Don’t worry about any of that. What I want to know is what just happened.” I looked at Gabe, then Dad, then Gabe again. “How did you… I mean… why are you both here?”
“Cedric called my cell,” Dad told me. “And a patrol officer nabbed Ramon Qualls when he was trying to steal a truck. It took a bit to get it sorted out, but Gabe brought me right to this unit.”
That seemed like a pretty quick version of a longer story, but I just wanted to get out of there. I’d dig for details later. I could see two more patrol cars pulling into the parking lot through the gate and stopping next to Dad’s car.
“Can we go?” I asked. “Please?”
“Of course,” Dad said.
“Can Gabe come with us?” I asked.
“As far as his house,” Dad told me. “His mom’s expecting us.”
“What about Ramon?” I asked as we walked to the car.
“Ramon’s in custody,” Dad said. “He’ll be facing quite a few charges, I’m afraid.”
Gabe was pretty quiet. I’m guessing the whole thing felt pretty complicated for him.
“I guess that means it’s just me and my mom again,” he said. “That’s good. I guess.”
“Nah. Not just you and your mom,” I said, and even let him take the front seat when we got to Dad’s car. “You got us, Gabe. You’ve always got us. Clear?”
Gabe just nodded at that. He wasn’t ever very big with words to begin with. But I think he got where I was coming from. And if I had anything to say about it, he wasn’t ever going to have another reason to leave home again.
LATER THAT SAME morning, everyone in the family but Damon was at court for Dad’s verdict. After everything that had happened, Dad and Bree both thought I should stay home with Nana. But that was before Nana and I both put a big absolutely not on that one.
Yeah, it had been a long, hard night, to say the least. But there was no way in the world I was going to be skipping Dad’s verdict. And with Nana on my side, that was pretty much that.
I wore a tie, and Jannie dressed up, too. The suspense couldn’t have been higher, while we sat there in chairs on the other side of the barrier from the defense table.
“Whatever happens, guys, we’re going to be okay,” Dad told us.
We all nodded like we knew that was true, but I wasn’t so sure. I hadn’t gotten a second of sleep, and even so, I was as wide awake as I could be.
Correction—when that judge walked into the courtroom and the jury started filing in, too, I got just a little more hyped. It was hard sitting still, not saying anything, and just waiting to hear what happened next.
“Would the defendant rise, please?” Judge Lautner asked. Dad and Ms. Tennant stood up. I thought we should, too, but Bree and Nana stayed in their seats, so I followed their lead. Jannie took my hand on one side, and I grabbed Nana’s on the other.
“Madam foreman, have you reached a verdict?” she asked a lady in the first jury seat.
“We have, your honor.”
The lady handed a piece of paper to the bailiff, who passed it over to the judge, before she read it and then turned back to the jury again.
“And how do you find?” the judge asked.
The lady stood up and read from another sheet in her hand. “In the matter of District of Columbia vs. Cross, we, the jury, find the defendant…”
It seemed like time stopped for a fraction of a second. My stomach squirmed.
“… not guilty,” the forewoman said.
I think all the air rushed out of me at once. Then back in, as I took a huge breath. I knew my dad was a good person. I didn’t need a judge and jury to tell me that. But still, I’ve never been so relieved in my life.
Nana had her arms around me now, and Jannie, too. Bree was hugging Dad, and then the whole bunch of us. For a second, I couldn’t even see anything, and all I could hear was a little bit of crying. The happy kind.
“Very well,” Judge Lautner said. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, thank you for your service. Dr. Cross, might I just add that as far as I can tell from my own research, this has been an unfortunate detour in an exemplary career. I thank you for your service to this community as well. You are free to go.”
Then she banged her gavel once. And just like that, it was over.
WHEN WE GOT outside, there was more press than I’d seen in one place since this whole thing started. I saw cameras, and people with tape recorders, and a whole bunch of news vans with their towers up, parked out on Indiana Avenue.
“Here we go,” Dad said, as we came down the steps and they all rushed toward us. “I’ll keep it quick,” he added.
I was so used to Dad no-commenting his way through this stuff, I was surprised he wanted to say anything at all. But I guess that’s what usually happens after the trial.
He stood his gr
ound this time, and let everyone come to him, until we were basically surrounded.
“How are you feeling, Alex?” someone asked.
“Tired,” Dad said, and a few people laughed.
“Do you think justice was served, Detective Cross?” another reporter jumped in.
“In that I told the truth during my trial? Yes,” Dad said.
“Meanwhile, reports of police brutality are up more than twenty percent,” someone else said. “Do you think civilians have a good reason to be afraid of the police?”
For that one, Dad took his time. He waited until everyone had stopped clamoring, too.
“I think some civilians have good cause to be afraid of some police,” he said. “There have been too many reports of unnecessary violence by officers in this country. That can’t be ignored, and it shouldn’t be. All I can do, as an officer of the law, is uphold my duties and responsibilities to keep our community as safe as I possibly can. I also know that people will think and say whatever they want about my case after this verdict. But I am pleased with the outcome of this trial, and I hope the Yang family can find some peace as they wait for Mr. Yang to recover.”
“What’s next, Alex?”
“I’m looking forward to getting back to work,” Dad said. “I’ll also be launching a GoFundMe campaign for Stanley Yang’s family, if they’ll accept it, to help them through this difficult time.”
That was news to me, but it seemed like a great idea.
“Does that mean you still feel guilty, Alex?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Dad said. “It just means I’m human. Today, I can start to put my life back together. But Stanley Yang is still in that hospital bed. And the one thing we can all agree on is that the Yang family deserves our prayers, as well as any help we can offer them.”
I’ve always been proud of Dad, but it felt like my chest filled up with helium just then. I probably had a big dumb smile on my face, too.
There was another round of questions after that, but Dad handed those off to Ms. Tennant so we could get out of there. Then, as we all headed to the car, it was like none of us had anything to say. Everyone was just quiet, which is pretty unusual for my family. Much less for me.
But meanwhile, inside my head, it was as noisy as ever. I was thinking about everything that had happened. And about Gabe. And my friends. And about Dad, too.
Mostly about Dad.
I don’t know if I’ll ever measure up to who he is, but I do know that someday I want to be as much like my father as I can. I want to go to Johns Hopkins like he did. I want to go to the police academy. And most of all, I want to be a real detective, just like him.
Which is a tall order, if you know anything about Alex Cross.
The fact is, I’m pretty small for my age. I don’t know if I’ll ever be as big as Dad, much less that strong, or brave. And I still have a whole lot to learn. Maybe I’ll be as smart as him one day, and maybe I won’t. I guess time will tell.
But meanwhile, I realized, there is one thing I don’t have to wait for, or grow up for, or even change to make happen.
I don’t have to wait to become a detective.
Because, see, I already am one.
James Patterson received the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community from the National Book Foundation. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Max Einstein, Middle School, I Funny, and Jacky Ha-Ha, and his books have sold more than 385 million copies worldwide. A tireless champion of the power of books and reading, Patterson created a children’s book imprint, JIMMY Patterson Books, whose mission is simple: “We want every kid who finishes a JIMMY Book to say, ‘PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER BOOK.’” He has donated more than three million books to students and soldiers, and funds more than four hundred Teacher and Writer Education Scholarships at twenty-one colleges and universities. He has also donated millions of dollars to independent bookstores and school libraries. Patterson invests proceeds from the sales of JIMMY Patterson Books in pro-reading initiatives.
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