Back Before Dark by Tim Shoemaker

know what to say. But to him, it all came back to why did God let bad things happen to decent people? Like Gordy, who was probably dead. And Cooper, who was dying by degrees.
    Cooper pulled himself together without saying anything. Not that Lunk needed an explanation.
    Lunk had cried himself to sleep many nights when Dad was living at home. Before they moved to Rolling Meadows. The last time he cried was after his dad left for good.
    “Let’s go back down real slow,” Cooper said. “Check one more time. Then we’ll check the other lots.”
    Lunk nodded and let Coop take the lead. They rode down the ramps from one level to the next, scanning the parking spaces.
    Lunk’s mind drifted to the assembly at school, thinking about all the kids who raised their hands, who wanted to help. Would they have been as anxious to help if it had been Lunk who was missing? Would girls have huddled together, crying over Lunk like they had for Gordy? Would guys like Cooper break down at the thought of losing him? Not likely.
    No, they wouldn’t. In fact, some would be relieved. His mom would grieve, though. He was all she had. But beyond her, who would really care? Why did the decent ones have the worst things happen to them?
    They rounded another level, coasting down the ramp. No silver minivan. No clues to lead them to Gordy. “God,” Lunk whispered. “If you’re really out there and you really care, which I’m not so sure you do, how could you let this happen?” His throat burned.
    Lunk was going through the motions searching for Gordy. Looking for a van that didn’t exist. Not in Rolling Meadows, anyway. If the van was sitting in a parking lot someplace, it was more likely in Wisconsin or Indiana, depending on which way the kidnapper headed. If the van was in town, it would have been found by now. By the cops or Gordy’s dad.
    Yeah, Lunk was definitely involved in the search effort. But itwasn’t because he felt there was any real hope of finding Gordy. It was more about being a friend to Coop. Until Coop came to grips with reality. Until he accepted what Lunk already knew. Gordy was gone, and he was never coming back.
    Coop had the lead, and he pedaled down to the next level in the concrete parking garage. “We still have three or four more levels,” he said over his shoulder.
    Did he really believe it would make a difference? There could be twenty more levels, and they weren’t going to find that minivan. Lunk hung back a bike length or two. He wasn’t looking at the parked cars so much. He kept his eyes on Cooper.
    Cooper swiped at his cheeks. Knocking back tears, no doubt. Was he beginning to accept the truth? You wouldn’t know it by watching him. Coop stayed on high alert, looking from one side to the other as if he might see the silver minivan at any moment. Desperately searching for a trail leading somehow to Gordy. Like so many were doing. Coop’s dad. Gordy’s dad. Their entire families. The police. Hiro. Kids at school. All of them on a useless, hopeless quest.
    Now Lunk felt his eyes burning. If God was real, then he was no better than his own dad—hurting decent people. Cruel. “Why didn’t you take me, God?” He felt tears pooling. “You should have taken
me.
Less people would have cried.”

CHAPTER 16
    H iro sat at her desk and stared at her dad’s leather Chicago Police jacket hanging in the open closet. Her mom’s talk had
really
been about dying young. The fact that terrible things happen to decent people. Like her dad. And now something terrible had happened to Gordy.
    Her mom would be keeping a close eye on her—and that didn’t exactly work when it came to looking for Gordy. Hiro understood, but her mom didn’t understand that she
needed
to look for Gordy. This had nothing to do with trying to be a cop herself. Ever since her dad died, her mom had tried to discourage Hiro’s dreams of being a cop. Gordy was her friend, and Gordy was in trouble—so doing nothing to help wasn’t an