Taylor was silent for a second. He finally found his voice and spoke. "What...do you mean...that she's gone?"
"I mean that her family just up and left! Without telling anyone! In the middle of the night!" cried Phoebe.
"But...how is that possible?" asked Taylor, in shock. "Why would they do that?" He felt his eyes welling up with tears. He swallowed and then continued. "When did this happen?"
"Three weeks ago," Phoebe said.
"Three weeks!" he yelled.
"Yeah, I tried to find the number to reach you at, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Scott didn't know it either. We tried to get to you..."
Taylor was trembling. "But how...could they just leave? Tamara would never do that to me! Something must be terribly wrong!" he gasped.
"I know!" Phoebe answered. "That's why you have to come home, Taylor. I found some things in her house the day after she left that might help us know where she is. I think Tamara left them for us to find!"
"We've got to find her," Taylor said desperatly. "I can't just lose her! I'll try and come home right away!"
"Okay, good," Phoebe said. "Taylor, I'm so worried..."
"I know Phoebe, so am I. I'll try to fly in tommorrow. See you then."
"Bye." They hung up the phone. Taylor stared at the phone for a minute, not blinking. How could this happen? What made the family just move out in the middle of the night? He wiped the tears away from his eyes quickly and ran downstairs to find his parents.
He burst into the kitchen, where his mom was making dinner. "Mom! Dad! I've got to go to Tulsa tonight! It's an emergency!" he spat out.
"Whoa, calm down, Tay," said Walker. "What's the matter?"
"It's Tamara!" he sobbed. The whole story came rushing out and Taylor was in tears. Walker and Diana were in shock.
"The Souders!" Diana said in disbelief. "What could have possibly happened?"
"I don't know, that's the thing!" Taylor said. "That's why I have to go home tonight, Phoebe found some things in their house that might help us find them! Please!"
"Of course you may go home, Tay," said Diana. "But please honey, don't be gone for more than two days. If you haven't figured anything else out, you'll just have to contact the police."
"Okay Mom! I'll go pack," he said as he turned and ran out to his room.
Walker and Diana turned to look at each other. "I've been waiting for this to happen," Walker said darkly. "That Richard Souder was never any good."
"Walker!" scolded Diana. "Be quiet and go book Taylor on a flight!"
About three hours later, Taylor's plane landed in Tulsa. It was only about 7:00 that evening, so as soon as he got out of the airport, he hailed a cab and went to Phoebe's house. Scott was already over there when he arrived.
"Taylor!" Phoebe exclaimed when she opened the door. "I'm so glad you could come!" she said stuttering and then burst into tears. Taylor looked uneasy and gave her a hug, trying not to cry himself.
"Hey man," said Scott, once Phoebe had let go.
"Hey," Taylor replied. "So what did you find?" he asked, wasting no time.
Phoebe led them to her room. "It was in one of the drawers in Tamara's desk. There was nothing else in the whole house, only this little box," she said, pulling out a small cardboard box. "And this is what was in it. I think she's trying to tell us something." She held out the contents of the box.
The first item was a travel brochure for the Caymen Islands. The second clue was a newspaper clipping with the name Johnny Azkaban cut out. And the third object was a video of the movie Mafia!
"This is all there was," Phoebe explained.
"Well, this is easy," Taylor said. "They're in the Caymen Islands, and some Johnny Azkaban kidnapped them and he's from the Mafia."
"Yeah, but what would the Souder's have to do with the Mafia?" asked Phoebe.
"I don't know," Taylor thought. "What was Tamara's dad's job?"
"I'm not really sure," Phoebe answered. "Something with the government, that's all I ever knew."
"Maybe your parents know," Taylor suggested. "Let's go ask them."
They went downstairs to the living room and asked Phoebe's parents. "Something with the government," said Mr. Andrews. "Richard was never specific."
Taylor was disappointed. "He never said what part of the government he was with? Do you know where his office was?"
"Oh, yeah, it was in the Pracxter Building on 3rd and Vine in downtown Tulsa. We used to carpool to work," her dad said.
"Thanks!" said Taylor. "Let's go back to your room. I have an idea."
They went back upstairs and Taylor asked where the phone and phone book was.
"It's in the hall," Phoebe said. "Why?"
"I'm gonna call the building where he works and see if they can tell me anything," he explained.
He found the number for the office building and called it. When someone answered, he asked if they had a listing for a Mr. Richard Souder.
"You mean there isn't one?" he said into the phone. "Are you sure? Okay...thanks." He hung up the phone. "They've never heard of him. It's like he never existed."
Taylor looked at Scott and Phoebe. "You know what this means. I'm gonna have to go to the Caymen Islands myself and find her." chapter 50