RYAN
I woke up the next morning feeling lighter and happier than I ever had. Philip and I were better than ever and I was getting ready to move in with a guy for the first time ever. I should have been more freaked out about that, but I wasn’t. Everything about us just felt... right. I didn’t care what anyone else thought. Or, the fact he used to be my professor, since the school still had him on probation—assholes. I was quickly falling for him.
That part did scare the hell out of me. I wasn’t used to showing feelings or even having strong feelings toward anyone other than my mother and sister, but Philip changed all that. I went to work that day walking on air. Everyone noticed my upbeat mood, and even though a couple of the muscle guys harassed me since the story broke, I didn’t let it phase me because I knew as soon as I got home from work Philip would be there to help me pack my shit in that shitty apartment.
The day went quickly and before I knew, it was lunch time. I grabbed my lunch and my phone. That was when my whole day went to hell fast. The number of missed calls from Philip and Daniel was staggering. I panicked and dialed Philip immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Abby, her foster brother was found on the side of the road bleeding from a head wound and she’s missing.” The strangled sound of his voice and the words had me collapsing on the concrete.
“I thought she had police protection?” I cried out still sitting on the floor with the wall as my only support.
“They have a shift change at the time Abby walks to school. I guess the new guys didn’t know to drive her.” The only reason I hadn’t taken the later shift to bring Abby to school had been the promise of a police presence around her.
“That’s the stupidest fucking time to have a shift change. The easiest time to get to her is when she’s not at home.” I was pissed that the police had made such a colossal mistake. They should have been watching her. I should have been watching her. The pang of regret hit me in an instant. Guilt ate at me as I thought about the little girl who held my heart. If I hadn’t been so reckless, she wouldn’t be in this situation. It was my fault, I’d allowed Candy’s spite to seep into Abby’s life and have her taken away from Philip.
“Ryan? Ryan, listen to me,” Philip yelled into the phone. “There is a man hunt going on. They’re looking for her everywhere there’s even an Amber alert. We’ll find her,” Philip said soothingly, but even Philip’s voice couldn’t calm me.
“I need to get out of here. I can’t stay here and work when I have no idea what’s going on with her. Can you meet me at my place, please?” I hated that I was crying. I didn’t want to let these assholes see me, but I hadn’t felt this helpless in a long time.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in ten. I want to go out and search for her.”
“Good. I’m going to explain things to my boss and hope he doesn’t fire me,” I said hanging up the phone. Regardless of what he said, I was leaving to go help find her. The TV in the office had a breaking news report on it. I watched as Abby’s face lit up the screen. It was a selfie I had taken of us at the park. I’d sent it to Philip, who must have given it to the police and the media.
“Oh my God, Ryan. That’s you. You know the little girl who was kidnapped?” The receptionist looked between me and the TV.
“Yeah, she’s my favorite person in the world. Is the boss in?” I asked trying to hold it together, but my voice cracked at the end.
“Yeah, oh you poor thing you’ve been through so much over the last couple months.” Death, blackmail, being outed to the entire world, my sister being attacked, and now this? I was holding on by a thin thread and I knew at any moment I could snap. I just hoped I was alone when I did. “Go on in, dear. I’m sure he’ll let you go so you can help with the search.”
“Thank you,” I said relieved and walked into the office. His eyes were glued to the TV screen.
“You know the missing girl.” It wasn’t a question. Seeing my face up there, he must have assumed I’d be coming to his office. Nodding my head, I looked over at a picture on his desk was of him, his wife, and two little girls. “I don’t know what I would do if one of my girls had ever gone missing.”
“So I can go help in the search?”
“Of course, let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
“Thank you.” I ran from the office and to my car. It wasn’t but a few minutes before I pulled into the parking lot outside my apartment and noticed a bunch of camera crews waiting. Ignoring the shouts and questions, I ran up to my apartment, and when I opened my door Philip was sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. I rushed to him, pulling him up in to my arms and letting the tears fall that I had tried to keep hidden until that moment. “What can we do?”
“There isn’t much we can do. They’re waiting for tips from people who might have seen her.”
“Fuck that, I don’t accept that. Let’s go to the police station and see what they say.” We walked out of the apartment and I stopped before the crowd of reporters, clearing my throat. “I want to make a statement. The little girl who you’ve seen in the photo was taken today by a man who abused her. We are asking for your help. Abby is the sweetest little girl in the world and doesn’t deserve this. If anyone has any information on her whereabouts, please call the police. We want her to come back unharmed. We would be forever grateful for any tips to her location.”
They all started talking at once. There was nothing else to say, so we pushed through the crowd to my car and drove us to the police station. I was beating myself up the whole way. Philip stared absently out of the window. There was an oppressive silence in the car.
The police station was alive with activity. There were people all over the place answering phones, and I noticed on the bottom of the TV screen there was a scrolling banner with a tip line number on it. I walked over to the officer at the desk. He looked tired and not like he wanted to be very helpful. “Excuse me? Who’s in charge of the Abby Reynolds case?”
“Detective Masters, but he’s extremely busy, kid, so unless you have a credible tip then I suggest you go home,” he grumbled.
“My name is Ryan. I’m in the photo you’ve been showing of her. I wanted to know if there was something I can do to help. I can’t just sit around waiting for you to find her. I need to do something.” My voice broke at the end. Philip rubbed my back to soothe me.
The man looked up and tried for fake sympathy. “Look, kid, there’s nothing you can do. Go home and we’ll call you if we find something.” Repeatedly calling me kid irked me.
“Let me man one of the tip lines, then. I can take the place of one of the officers and they can go out and search for her.” I pleaded with him, willing to do anything, even if it was something as stupid as getting the officers’ coffee. Whatever it took to keep my hands busy.
“I’ve got something,” one of the officers yelled. I didn’t even bother waiting for the man’s response. I ran to the desk. Philip was close behind me.
“Someone saw a man fitting Harold’s description heading north toward Emoryville. An old blue Honda Civic. They saw a little girl in the front seat who appeared to be crying.”
“Abby’s not old enough to sit in the front seat.” I had no idea why I just blurted that information. It was stupid. He kidnapped her and planned on hurting her. He didn’t care if she was old enough to sit up front.
“Get Emoryville PD on the phone. I want them searching for this car immediately.”
“My sister lives there, her neighbor is a cop,” I said absently. I grabbed my phone and dialed Court.
“Hey Ry, what’s up?” she sounded sad.
“Is your neighbor home? The cop, Derek?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, why?”
“My friend was kidnapped. Remember I told you about Abby while you were in the hospital? We got a tip the kidnapper was headed your way and I wanted to give Derek my number. Philip and I are leaving now but it will be awhile before we can get there.”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll call him right now. See you soon, little brother. I’ll call if Derek hears or knows anything.”
“Thanks Court, see you soon.”
The drive to Emoryville was a long one. I hated that drive but I hated it more then because it was two hours that I wasn’t helping look for Abby. A thought occurred to me and I felt like a complete asshole. “Any word on the foster brother?” I asked Philip. He kept his hand on my thigh the whole way, which was comforting. His touch always settled me.
“Their mother isn’t exactly speaking to me right now. She is upset and irrational and blames Abby for what happened to her son.”
“She what? How could she blame Abby for a psycho being after her?”
“I know, but like I said that’s her biological child who was hurt. She isn’t being rational.”
“If it’s anyone’s fault it’s her own damn fault for not listening when we said a sixteen-year-old kid wasn’t going to stop this guy,” I yelled hitting the steering wheel angrily.
“Calm down, Ryan. We’re no good to Abby injured in a car accident.”
“I know.” I glared out the windshield at the road ahead. We were almost there. I knew Derek would give me more information than they were giving me back home. I just needed to get there first. My foot itched to press harder on the gas, but I was already going ten miles over the speed limit. No matter how desperate I was to get to Abby, Philip was right. We were no good to her if we got in an accident.
The last half hour of the drive was grueling. Abby was never far from my mind. When I finally pulled into the police station parking lot, I breathed a heavy sigh.