The door opened and I jerked my head up. When I saw that it was only Kevin, I buried my head back in my hands. I couldn’t stop the fresh tears of despair that leaked from my eyes. A gentle hand rubbed my back softly.
“Well?” His hushed voice demanded.
“Nothing, AJ. Are you sure there isn’t anything you’re leaving out, El?” Kevin asked again.
“Ellie! What’s wrong? Where’s Nick?” Jenkins seemed to materialize by my side.
“I don’t know! The woman saw one of those boys running down the opposite hallway that you guys ran down and Nick took off after him. I ran after him, but when I got to the end of this hall, he was gone!” I cried, my heart racing.
“Maybe he went into one of these rooms?” Mac suggested, already dialing on his cell phone. “Did you hear any doors slam?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t hear anything. I just found his sweatshirt laying here. I kept yelling for him, but maybe he didn’t hear me.” I whispered, desperately.
“Honey, I think the whole hospital heard you.” Mac stated somberly.
I pressed my hand up against my forehead. Jenkins was moving swiftly down the hallway, shaking door handles and calling Nick. As each attempt failed, he cursed and finally slammed his closed fist against the last door. Seconds later more people started to fill the hall. They had phones, headsets and walkie talkies. By this point tears were streaming down my face, blurring my vision. Feeling very numb, I let Jenkins lead me back up to the waiting room.
“I don’t know, Kevin, there isn’t much to tell. It all happened so fast. One minute he was there, the next he was gone and the hall was full of people. We never should have gone down there.” I whispered. “I knew something was going to happen. I could feel it. I knew when Nick started chasing that kid that something was very wrong. I couldn’t catch him!” I choked out, clenching my fists.
AJ shot a look at Kevin. “Come here, El. Sshhh…This wasn’t your fault, okay?” He soothed, wrapping his arms around me.
I shook my head and pulled away. Letting people comfort me was never something I was good at. Especially now. AJ didn’t need to be comforting me, not when he had to be a lot more upset than I was.
“Ellie, don’t…” He urged, moving towards me again.
I held a hand up, as if to ward him off. “I’m fine. I’m fine.” I repeated, tilting my head back to try to stop the tears from falling.
Kevin managed to catch AJ’s eye and shook his head slightly.
The door opened and Howie stuck his head through the door. His eyes were red-rimmed, but he wasn’t crying. “El, the police want to ask you some more questions.”
I sighed. “I told them everything I knew.”
“I don’t know if now is a good time…” Kevin started.
“No,” I interrupted. “It’s just…it’s just really frustrating cause they keep asking me the same things over and over again. I want to tell them what they want to hear. I want to be able to give them whatever information they need to find Nick and I can’t!”
“I think they’re hoping that if you keep telling the story that you will remember something new.” Howie said softly.
I nodded and followed him out the door.
AJ glanced at Kevin. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” he whispered, his voice choking up.
“They’ll find him, Alex. Just try to keep it together, okay? We need to stay strong.” Kevin replied, his own voice threatening to betray him. For the past four hours he had been forcing himself to take his own advice. It was so hard to remain the strong one. He knew that if he lost it, the others would too. They depended on him to stay solid and strong.
Thankfully, Brian was still asleep. Kevin had no idea how to tell him and the more he thought about it, the more he decided that Brian didn’t need to know.
“Kevin, this isn’t going to keep working. You know we can’t keep this from him much longer!” AJ exclaimed, pacing back and forth. The pressure in the room was amazingly high.
“We can’t tell him either! Do you have any idea what this will do to him?!” Kevin replied, his voice harsher than he intended.
Howie shook his head. “AJ’s right. He’s been asking for him. I put him off for the last two hours. Everyone in this hospital is in a state of near-panic right now and he is going to figure out that something is very wrong. He probably already is!”
“What happens if he doesn’t turn up, Kevin? He’s been gone for almost eight hours!” AJ demanded.
“Don’t say that!” Kevin yelled, whipping around to face AJ. “Don’t you dare say that! He’ll turn up, he has to.” With that, he sank into the couch and completely broke down. “They have to find him,” he sobbed, his words muffled from behind his hands.
My mouth dropped open and tears stung my eyes. I’d stopped crying about an hour ago, thinking my tears were spent. But to see Kevin break down like this, it broke my heart. Instinctively, I wanted to run over to him and give him a tight hug, but I stayed curled up on the couch where I was.
“Kevin, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just scared. I’m sorry, man.” AJ whispered, also unnerved to see Kevin fall apart like that.
Before Kevin could reply, the door opened. Two officers stepped in. I recognized the older one as Banks. He’d been the one that asked me all the questions the first two times. “We have some news,” the other one stated.
Kevin stood up quickly, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “Have you found him?”
The officer shook his head. “No, but we did find of the kids.”
“And?!” AJ demanded.
“It seems that they were working with a man named Leon Marquez,” Banks started. There was a collective gasp in the room. AJ slammed his fist on the arm of the couch and swore. Banks raised an eyebrow. “His former employer told us that he was fired for harassing…”
“Us,” I said softly.
Kevin glanced at me, then back at Banks. “What did the kid say?”
“He told us that Leon approached him and his friend outside. Evidently, they were up here with their sisters, under protest. Leon asked them if they wanted to make some money. The kid said that Leon didn’t have a plan, but gave them each fifty bucks to walk around with him until he came up with something. Then he found out that you and Carter were going downstairs…”
“How the hell did he find that out?!” I interrupted when Banks gestured to me.
“We don’t know. The kid just said that Leon had them wait by the elevators and to somehow cause a scene to get Carter away from your two security guards.” The other officer admitted.
“Sonofabitch!” AJ yelled. “He said he was going to come back! When he cornered us in Brian’s room, he wanted me to get Nick. I didn’t do it and that obviously that pissed him off! This is my fault!”
“AJ…” Howie started.
“Don’t, Howie. Just…don’t.” AJ whispered, miserably.
“What does this mean, Officer?” Kevin asked, his voice amazingly calm.
“I won’t lie to you. This doesn’t look good, given the circumstances. The longer Carter is missing, the greater the chance we won’t get him back.” Banks said quietly.
“So what, you’re just going to give up?!” I cried, jumping up.
Banks raised his hands. “Of course not. I just want to be straight with you all.” He nodded to Kevin before leaving with his partner.
The room air was very thick. I looked at each of them in turn. AJ’s fists were still clenched and he was trying to keep from losing it. Howie’s normally cheerful expression was full of sorrow. Kevin’s jaw was tightly clenched. He started pacing, as had done before. He was struggling; it was very obvious.
“Kevin…” Howie began.
Kevin nodded. “We have to tell Brian.”
