Ali Cross

While the others focus on Damon’s TV appearance, Ali slips downstairs and logs into Outpost. His avatar goes to Gabe’s bunker and enters Q-U-B-U-Q into the keypad. The door opens. Inside is a room filled with boxes and containers. Ali clicks on each, maybe 100 in all, until one slides away to reveal a trapdoor. He climbs down a spiral staircase, opens a door, and steps into a beautiful apartment with fancy furniture and high-tech audio equipment.

On the floor lies a yellow envelope. Ali’s avatar picks it up: It contains a password that Ali must figure out. One of Ali’s texts to Gabe told him he had a new Facebook page, and the letter contains eight slightly different versions of that text. Ali has one chance to choose the right one. He finds the original from his old texts, compares it to the list, chooses the identical answer, and clicks on it. The letter opens up. It reads: “BE BACK HERE 2 A.M. TONIGHT SHARP” (167).

Ali sneaks back upstairs. Davidson comes from behind to beat Wake Forest by seven points. Damon finishes with 16. Nobody noticed Ali’s absence.

Just before 2:00am, Ali sneaks down to the basement, logs on to Outpost, re-enters Gabe’s bunker, and goes to the lower level. Another avatar, all in black, waits there. Ali puts on his headphones and hears Gabe’s voice.

He assures Ali that he’s OK. Ali says he understands that Gabe stole his laptop to install the screen-saver clue. Gabe says stealing the guns scared him, but he had no choice. He asks Ali to stop hunting for him and to keep this conversation a secret. Ali wants to know more, but instead, he hears Gabe talking to someone, and then a scuffle. Gabe’s avatar disappears.

Ali wrestles with whether to tell his dad about Gabe’s communication. He doesn’t want to lose his friend’s trust, so he keeps mum but continues searching for Gabe. He goes back to bed, where he writes up his notes about the Outpost conversation. His suspicions circle around Gabe’s father. Ali’s father says gut instincts are his best tools, and Ali’s instincts were right about Gabe, so maybe they’re right again now about Mr. Qualls.

Again, he sneaks downstairs, this time to use his mom’s computer. He’s breaking house rules left and right, but he’s on a tear: “No stopping me now” (179).

Bree’s laptop contains software that accesses restricted data about suspects. Using it, he quickly locates a William Dante Qualls, who’s done three prison stints, the most recent for aggravated robbery. He’s been married 14 years to Virginia Johnson Qualls and had two sons before her, Ramon and William Jr.

Ali decides he’ll visit the Qualls’ house again.

Tuesday evening, Ali’s suspension and grounding are complete, and he goes to the outdoor vigil for Gabe. His family also attends, along with Cedric, Ruby, Mateo, and Mrs. Sandoval; Reverend Sandoval presides. Ali hands out flyers; people hold candles and sing. Detective Sutter thanks everyone for being on the lookout for Gabe.

Ruby, Mateo, and Cedric feel pessimistic about Gabe’s chances. Ali wishes he could tell them about his chat with Gabe. Instead, he says he has a gut feeling that Gabe is alive.

Ali wonders if Gabe might be lurking nearby, watching. He scans the nearby buildings and windows but sees nothing. Gabe clearly is in control of the situation, and Ali “wasn’t even sure anymore if that was a good thing or a bad thing” (188).

On Saturday, Ali and Cedric go to the Qualls’ house. Cedric worries that Ali is getting carried away with the “detective thing,” but Ali assures him that he’ll be “no stupider than usual” (190).

He knocks on the door. Gabe’s mother answers. Ali says he’s a friend of Gabe; she says it’s sweet of him to visit. He asks to see Gabe’s room, and she lets him in. Inside, it’s too warm, and Ali removes his jacket. Cigarette butts overflow an ashtray; there’s a hole in the wall from a fist punch. Upstairs, Gabe’s room is small, with room only for a mattress and a rack of clothes. Printed images from Outpost adorn the walls.

Ali asks to see Gabe’s PlayStation, but Mrs. Qualls says Gabe took it with him. Ali realizes it must have been what loaded down Gabe’s backpack on the traffic-cam videos. Thus, the Qualls have known since the beginning that Gabe ran away. Detective Sutter must know it, too.

Ali glances out Gabe’s window. Across the street, Cedric is pointing frantically at the Qualls’ front door: Mr. Qualls has returned.

Qualls calls from downstairs, asking about Ali’s jacket. He’s upstairs in no time. He sees Ali and says, “Did I or did I not tell you to go home the last time, boy?” (197) He grabs Ali by the arm, drags him downstairs, and shoves him out the front door. Cedric runs forward, protesting. Qualls warns Ali not to return. Mrs. Qualls tries to give Ali his jacket, but her husband grabs it and throws it down the front steps.

Shaken but unharmed, Ali walks away with Cedric. He’s sure now that something’s amiss with Dante Qualls.

Detective Olayinka texts Alex, saying there’ve been more nearby burglaries. He’s at one now, and he asks Alex to drop by. Alex walks the short distance to a three-story brick house, its windows lit up with activity. Olayinka meets Alex outside and shows him an evidence bag. Inside is an ID card from Washington Latin Middle School. It belongs to Ali.

Alex wakes Ali and asks where he was on Saturday. Ali replies that he was with Cedric. Alex says Ali’s school ID was found at the sight of a burglary. Ali says his card is in his jacket. He runs downstairs, finds the jacket, and searches the pockets: His ID is gone.

He insists he didn’t rob anyone. Alex believes him but demands an explanation. Ali realizes that Dante Qualls must have obtained the ID from Ali’s jacket. Things begin to make sense, but the worst part is that “Mr. Qualls was trying to frame me for robbery” (205).

Ali and Alex go to Detective Olayinka’s office at police headquarters. In the huge lobby, a crowd of reporters tries to get quotes from them, but Ali only says, “No comment,” which gets a laugh. In the elevator, Ali’s father compliments him and says it must have been hard for him. Ali replies, “Easier than you think” (208): He knows the really hard part is just ahead.

Detective Sutter joins Olayinka in the interview room with Ali and his father. They ask Ali how his ID card appeared at a crime scene. He explains everything: His online chat with Gabe, the promise to keep it a secret, the visit to the Qualls, the opportunity for Mr. Qualls to steal his ID card, and his suspicions about the guy. He adds that he thinks Gabe is involved in the burglaries, but he doesn’t know why.

The interview wraps up quickly. As they leave, Ali remembers Gabe telling him to stop the search. He said it would be better “for both of us” (214). Now he understands: Mr. Qualls is a dangerous man.

On the way home, Alex scolds Ali for going to the Qualls alone. Ali says he brought Cedric; his dad says that simply put two kids in danger. Frustrated, Ali says the police aren’t trying very hard to find Gabe, and already he knows things they don’t. He starts to weep. Alex parks; he hugs his son, who cries it out. Alex says it’s OK to be frustrated. He admits that once he was so upset about a case, he punched a bathroom mirror at work and later broke into tears. Ali feels better knowing that even his famous dad sometimes weeps.

His father tells Ali to stop investigating: “We have one missing kid already. I will not take any chances on you becoming the next one” (218). Ali tends to go all in, which is good for a detective but scary in a young son. Ali promises to back off. Privately, though, he’s not sure he can.

In the evening, Ali plays Outpost with Ruby, Mateo, and Cedric. They fight off an attack from other players, then take an airfoil across a lake. On the way, Ali admits that he’d spoken to Gabe but kept it from them. He tries to explain, but, angry, each of them signs off. On his way out, Mateo shoots Ali’s avatar, knocking him out of the game.

Ali realizes that he made a mistake in keeping secrets from his team and the police, but he also made things worse by confessing. He doesn’t know what to do next, but, whatever it is, “I’d be doing it on my own” (223).

The trial begins in Washington DC Superior Court, next door to MPD headquarters. Alex has been in this court dozens of times but never in this much trouble.

Judge Felicity Lautner expects that the trial shouldn’t take more than a few days. Sitting across from Alex and his attorney, Deirdre Tennant, are the wife and daughter of comatose Stanley Yang. Seven women and five men make up the jury.

The first witness, a medical examiner, describes bruises on Yang that might have arisen from a struggle, but Tennant gets him to admit they also could have come from the fall. Yang’s wife, June, testifies that Alex was “aggressive” and later “rude and dismissive” after Mr. Yang fell (226). Alex recalls administering CPR to Yang and wonders if he was rude to her.

Prosecutor Robert Sheinken calls Alex to the stand. Alex describes his encounter with Stanley Yang, who became irate, pushed Alex, who stepped sideways, and Yang stumbled over the front steps. Alex tried to grab him, but it was too late. Sheinken asks if perhaps Alex pushed him, but Tennant objects that the prosecutor is speculating, and the question is struck.

Sheinken concludes by suggesting that Alex deliberately engaged in a hostile conversation with Yang, and then did nothing when the man fell. Alex says that wasn’t his intention, but the jury looks away when he glances at them.