Jo [COMPLETED]

H

Three hours, eighty-three calls, and no improvement. Most of the people they called barely even remembered reading the article. The others didn't even know that the subject of the article was coming to light. Alec practically gave up halfway through the calls and settled on playing with a yo-yo he found lying around on the floor of the living room. Ali was looking up names and finding phone numbers, sometimes reading the names out loud to see if Alec recognized them.

"This guy has a really cool name," she said. "It's Ross Hawke, with an e at the end."

Alec pretended to recognize the name for a second. "That was my middle school history teacher!" he burst out. "I think he had a pet eagle, though. Didn't really suit him."

Ali sent him a flat look. "You know you're not funny, right?"

"Psh," he scoffed, "I'm hilarious."

"Come on, get serious about this! You've been trying to solve this thing for, what, a month? Sit your ass down and help me look at names." Ali shifted a little and patted the space next to her. "We're going to have Christmas Eve dinner and I'm in charge of getting pretty plastic plates and other table decorations."

Alec purses his lips and begrudgingly flopped onto the couch. "So, what are we up to?"

"We're up to Ashley Martin, but I highly doubt it's her. Even you said it has to be someone close enough to know all the information, so I was thinking that you should skim through the list instead of calling everyone on it."

Alec bit the inside of his cheek uncertainly. "I don't know if any names will pop up, though. It's not like I knew every person close to my dad." Alec felt sorry for himself at that moment. The life he had with his father was so warped and distant that he didn't even know the basics. What did Jo like to do during his spare time? What was his favorite food? He knew none of it.

"We might as well try."

The thought of wasting their time calling every single person on the list inevitably caused Alec to agree. Little did he know this would be his big break. They skimmed through the list, stopping a total of two times before Alec found the name he was looking for. It was a very familiar name--familiar enough to ignite a spark in Alec's memory.

"Jason Finkelstein," Alec read aloud. Where had he heard the name before? "I think that was my dad's friend or band member or something."

Ali opened a new tab and typed the name into the Google search bar. A bunch of different Jason Finkelsteins appeared on the first page, but the top choice was their hit. Jason Aron Finkelstein, sound and tech producer of WYATT and then Jo during his solo career. Alec vaguely remembered the man, thinking long and hard as to where he had seen the guy before. Alec stared at the photo before he remembered exactly when he met Jason.

"He knew about me and my mom," Alec breathed out. "He came to my seventh birthday in place of my dad." Alec turned back to the previous tab and dialed the number.

"This number is no longer in service, please--"

He hung up without bothering to listen to what else the machine had to say.

Already taking command, Ali looked through Jason's profiles and found the number without much difficulty. It was a Minnesota number. Alec opened another Google tab: what time is it in Minnesota? He cursed when Google spit back 2:03 a.m. It wasn't a good time to call and Alec couldn't think of any other time he would have the courage to call. With Ali next to him, he felt a certain strength that allowed him to do actions he usually wouldn't do.

Like call the damn guy.

"Whatever," Ali said, "we'll call later. Let's just get ready and go to buy the stuff for the party."