To Jesse, all of it felt less like protection than being swallowed.
He identified both men.
He later learned that the man he had seen fall was a federal informant helping build a racketeering case against Vale’s organization.
Detective Briggs was not assigned to Jesse’s missing-person case, but he had friends who were.
That was why no one came to our parents with answers.
That was why Jesse’s car was left where it was.
That was why certain leads disappeared, why the search circled uselessly, why every official person seemed both concerned and strangely blind.
“For the first few weeks, they told me I’d go home once arrests were made,” Jesse said. “I believed them. I asked every day.”
“What changed?”
“Vale vanished before they could pick him up. Briggs kept working for almost another month before they had enough to arrest him without exposing me too early. People connected to them started looking for ‘the kid from the parking lot.’ Nolan’s garage was broken into. Our house was watched.”
