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Jacob waved his hand. “It’s complicated, Mom. And I shouldn’t even have told you that—”

“But she should go to the authorities, Jacob. There are laws to protect—”

“It’s not that simple, Mom.”

Once again I felt that I was going down the wrong rabbit trail. “But, Jacob,” I tried,“what about drugs? Is there any drug use going on at that place? There was obviously a lot of alcohol consumption going on there. I didn’t imagine all those bottles. And you’re underage, Jacob. Daniel could get into serious trouble just for that.”

“It’s not Daniel,” insisted Jacob. “It’s his friends. They bring their crud over and want to party, and they get a little carried away sometimes. But I talked to Daniel, and he said he’s going to try to get things under control again.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t like it either. He wants his life to settle down. And he got a job, too.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“And he thinks he can get me on there too.”

“So you got fired?”

“Well, yeah. The manager is such a jerk. If you don’t show up for work—just once—that’s it.”

“But you think Daniel can get you a job?” I could hear the skepticism in my voice.

“Yeah, he said they’re short-handed.” Jacob poured himself a glass of milk. “I’m supposed to go in tonight to meet the owner.”

“What kind of job is it?”

“Just a gas station.” He shrugged. “But better than nothing, right? And Daniel said the owner can work it out so I can take classes during winter term. He likes having students working for him.”

I sighed, feeling a much-needed sense of relief. I just hoped it was the real thing. “Well, I guess that would be good.”

“I’m going to take a shower and clean up before I go over there to talk to him.”

I nodded. “Well, good luck.”

“Sorry about that scene over at Daniel’s, Mom.” Jacob smiled that charming smile again, and I had a hard time believing this was the same young man who had crawled out of that filthy pit just a couple of hours ago.

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “I just want to make sure you’re staying on track, Jacob. I want to do everything I can to help you.”

“I know that, Mom.” He smiled again. “And I appreciate it.”

“And I know you don’t understand it, but I wish you would stay away from Daniel’s place.”

“Mom.” His voice had the tone of warning in it. “I told you it’s not Daniel’s fault. He’s okay. And we’re trying to get the band together.”

I considered this. “But I didn’t see any music things, Jacob.”

“It’s in the garage, Mom.” He rolled his eyes. “You want me to take you over there and show you?”

“No, that’s not necessary. I just want you to be careful, okay?”

“I’m not a baby, Mom. I know how to take care of myself.” He rinsed out his glass. “And just so you’ll know, I plan to jam again tonight. So don’t be worried if I come in late.”

“Right.” I sighed and wondered exactly how a mother avoids worrying when her pushing-the-limits son comes home late.

It was around ten o’clock when I broke out a new novel that Sherry had given me. “To take your mind off things,” she had said. But I was barely through the first lighthearted chapter before I heard sirens blaring outside. I went and looked out the kitchen window to first see several police cars screaming down the street. These were followed by a fire truck and two ambulances, and it looked serious. I wondered where they were headed. Who was in trouble tonight? As I usually do when I hear sirens, I imagined it was Jacob. Perhaps a car wreck or a drug squabble that resulted in a shooting, or maybe someone’s meth lab had blown up. Oh, my imagination could go all kinds of places at times like this. I must’ve paced back and forth for thirty minutes, then I decided to turn on the eleven o’clock news and see if they had anything on it. It turned out to be a three-car pileup on the interstate just a mile away. By the descriptions of the cars I could tell Jacob wasn’t in it. That is, unless, he was riding with someone else.

It was after midnight by the time I went to bed, telling myself there was nothing I could do about any of this anyway. But instead of falling asleep,