Evan's Addiction (61 page)

     “No. David wasn’t even there. She’s not with any of her gamer
buddies either. The only one I couldn’t get a hold of was that Tim guy.”

     He was silent for a moment. “Carrie’s getting worried. She says
it’s not like Shaw to ignore a text from her this long. The only thing I can
guess, and hope, is that her battery died.”

     My guts had already been twisted up in a fucking knot, and hearing
this only made it fifty times worse. “We can’t call the cops yet…Fuck!” I slammed
the heel of my hand on the wheel as a terrifying thought crossed my mind. “Do
you thing that ass Ford might have got his hands on her? I will kill the fucker
if he touched a hair on her head.”

     I gripped the steering wheel tightly as my damn imagination went
haywire. He’d been at the fucking courthouse with us and I’d let her walk away
by herself. She could have run into him while waiting for her cab. They would
have exchanged insults. The guy was extremely unstable; it probably wouldn’t
have taken much for him to lose it and drag her to a dark corner, closet,
bathroom, his car. He could have taken her anywhere. Oh god, he could be doing
anything to her.

     “Evan…Evan…hey, man, calm down.” Nic yelled through the line. “I
can hear your thoughts spiraling out of control from here. Don’t jump to
conclusions and give yourself an aorta infarction. Just get back here and we’ll
figure out some way to find her.”

     I took in a deep, shaky breath. “Okay, I’m about ten minutes out.”

     “See you then.”

     After hanging up I called Blake. “Hey, are you at the house?”

     “Yeah, why?”

     “Has Shaw shown up anytime tonight by chance?” It was a long shot
but I had to make sure.

     “No.” I could hear his confusion over the phone.

     “Do you have plans to go anywhere tonight?”

     “I’ve got a paper I need to finish so I didn’t make any plans.” 

     I sighed in relief. If he had made plans I would have asked him to
cancel, now I didn’t have to do that. “If Shaw does show up make sure to call
me right away. She’s MIA at the moment and not answering any of mine or
Carrie’s calls.”

     “Did you guys get bad news at the court house?” He asked, concern
in his tone.

     “No, Ford was convicted on all his charges. Shaw and I had a small
disagreement afterwards, but it wouldn’t stop her from answering Carrie’s
calls. Something’s off.”

     “Do you need me to do anything else besides sit here?”

     “Maybe call your sister. I haven’t tried her yet.” I answered,
appreciating his offer.

     “I’ll do that and get back to you directly if she’s heard from
her.” He assured me.

     “Thanks, Blake.”

     “No problem. Hope she shows up soon, buddy.”

     We disconnected and a couple minutes later I pulled into Shaw’s
apartment building. I raced up the steps and finding the door unlocked barged
in. I couldn’t stop myself from looking around hopefully, or catching Carrie’s
eye in expectation.

    “Anything?” I asked.

    My stomach bottomed when she shook her head and wrung her hands,
looking almost near to tears. Nic was hovering close in support, but I could
see he was just as worried. It was nearing ten o’clock and Shaw had been
missing for around five hours.  

     “You think Ford really might have done something to her?” Carrie
wrapped her arms around her waist. Nic added his arms.

     “Fuck, I don’t know.” Fear tightened my chest and I dragged my
hands through my hair. “I shouldn’t have let her walk away from me at the
courthouse by herself with that fucker there.” Clasping my fingers on top of my
head I tried to calm my thoughts so I could think. “Can you think of anyone
else she might be with, or a place she might go?”

     Carrie shook her head. “I already called everyone I could, and the
only place I could think she might go was the library, and she wasn’t there.”

     I unclasped my hands and strode into the kitchen to get a drink.
“The fact that David and Tim aren’t answering there phones or at home is making
me optimistic. She has to be with them. Outside my raging imagination it’s the
only thing that makes sense. They have to be together somewhere outside cell
reception.” I gulped down my water before turning to face them. “That has to be
it, right?”

     I stared at the both of them asking them with my eyes what I
should do, because I was a hair’s breath away from calling the police…or
hunting down Ford.

     Nic nodded. “That has to be what’s happening. If Shaw was upset it
makes sense that she went searching for David.”

     I blew out a breath that didn’t do anything for my knotted stomach
and nodded unconsciously. “Yeah, that’s what’s happening. And I’m going to kick
all their asses for not noticing that, and then I’m going to write a strongly
worded letter to the cell phone company for their shitty service.”

     Nic eyed me like I was losing my mind. “Yeah, you do that while we
watch a movie, and then make sure you eat something so you have the energy for
that ass-kicking.”

     I flipped him off for mocking me.  

     I wasn’t sure if I had an appetite right now, my stomach was too
coiled to recognize hunger, but time was all I had at the moment so I grabbed
the leftover Mongolian Carrie mentioned. More hours passed with no word from
Shaw or David and my anxiety reached epic proportions. I continued to text and
call on the hour leaving short messages that might have gotten pretty damn
terse, but they were just going to have to understand that I was fucking worried
and the words that I wrote were involuntary.

     I suddenly understood my mom’s mind-set those times she would
throw a hissy fit when I took my time returning her calls, and the messages she
would leave telling me the only reason I had for not calling her back better be
because I was lying in a ditch somewhere.

     The thought of Shaw hurt somewhere was like a vice around my heart.
The thought of living without her in my life…Fuck, I didn’t even want to think
about it.

     At some point I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I
knew I was waking up with gritty eyes and a crick in my neck, and light was
beaming in through the living room windows. Recollection and dread flooded over
me again and I scrambled for my phone. It had fallen in between my legs and I
snatched it up to see if I’d missed any calls.

     Nothing.

     Without thought I punched in Shaw’s number taking note that the
time was seven-twelve a.m.

     No answer.

     I clenched the phone forcing myself not to throw it. Where the
hell was she?

     David and Tim didn’t answer when I called them either.

     Shooting up from the chair I strode down the hallway to her
bedroom, but it was empty except for Rosie who meowed at me forlornly from the
bed. Fisting each side of the doorframe I bent my head as waves of helplessness
and other extreme emotions washed over me.

     Rosie jumped off the bed and twined herself around my legs. I
stared down at her blankly for a minute before bending down to pick her up.
Carrying her into the kitchen I ser her down by her food dish and filled it up
for her. She dug in without ceremony.  

      The next second I was striding out of the apartment, closing the
door carefully behind me so I wouldn’t wake Nic and Carrie who’d fallen asleep on
the couch. Like I was on autopilot I repeated my drive to David’s, and when I
made certain no one was there by circling the house and peering in all the
windows, I drove over to Tim’s. When that turned up nothing I slogged back to
my car in stressed dejection.

     I sat there for a moment and then slammed the palm of my hand
violently against the wheel several times.

    
Where the fuck was she!?

     I couldn’t sit around and wait, or drive around randomly any
longer. I had to do something. And the only option that came to mind, besides
calling the police, was to make a visit to Ford. Actually, both sounded good. I
had Ford’s address from when the lawyers investigated him in my briefcase and
after unearthing it I headed in that direction as I made a call to the police.

     When the call connected I asked for one of the two officers that
had arrested both Ford and I at the campus. I thought they would be more
open-minded to my concerns.

     “Officer DeLaney here.”

     “Officer DeLaney, this is Evan Michaels. You arrested me and
another guy a couple weeks ago for fighting on UVA’s campus. Do you remember
that?”

     I heard him huff through the phone. “Yeah, that arrest will live
in my mind for awhile. The guy was an ass and you played him like a violin. Has
he been bothering your girlfriend again?”

     I sped through traffic as I began to relay all the facts to him.
“I’m not sure. We had our court date yesterday and he was charged and given two
years probation. Afterwards we split ways and she planned to take a cab home
but she never made it, and now she’s been missing since four o’clock yesterday
afternoon. She’s not answering any of my calls or her best friends’ calls.”

     “How is she normally on returning calls?” He asked.

     “She wouldn’t ignore her roommates’ calls.”

     There was a slight pause. “What about yours?”

     If I told him about the disagreement he was going to blow this off
as a lover’s quarrel or some shit. “She did it once, before we were going out,
but she was super pissed at me. She hasn’t done it since and she’s not super
pissed at me.” Upset, but not pissed I was pretty certain.

     “You’ve tried all her other friends?” He questioned.

     “Yes. There’s only one person I haven’t been able to get a hold
of, but I can’t wait any longer for him to return my calls. She’s been missing
for almost seventeen hours after being in the vicinity of a guy who’d been harassing
her for years. I don’t like the coincidence.”

     I heard him draw in a deep breath and let it out. “You know all I
can do is go over there and ask questions.”

     He wasn’t going to like this. “Well, actually, I’m headed over
there right now, and it would be great if you could be there to back me up.”

     I hung up as the guy started vehemently protesting that idea. I
was certain he wouldn’t waste any time getting over to Ford’s residence now
though.

     It was almost eight o’clock; the time I normally showed up for
work, so I sent out a quick text to Dan telling him that something personal had
come up and wouldn’t be able to make it to work, but that I would call him as
soon as I could.

     The neighborhood Ford lived in wasn’t as affluent as the area I
grew up in, but it was definitely upper class, and I was just pulling up to his
address when my phone chimed. It was Nic.

     I answered it without delay. “Did she come home?”

     “No, I was calling hoping you’d found her since you weren’t here.”
He stated.

     I smacked my dash and jerked open my door. “No. I left to drive over
to David’s and Tim’s again.” I stormed up the walkway to the front door. “Nic,
I’ve called the cops to report her missing, and I told them my concerns about
Ford. I’m at his house right now and the cops on their way.”

     “Shit, you wait for them, Evan. Don’t you confront that asshole
yourself. You’re only going to get yourself arrested again.” Nic shouted.

     “The cops won’t get anything out of him” I bellowed. “All they’re
going to ask is if he’s seen her. That’s a fucking useless line of questioning.”

     “They will confirm what he did after leaving the courthouse, and
track his time-line after that. If you were thinking clearly you would know
that, Mr. Genius. Give them a chance. What use to Shaw are you in jail?”

     I paced the walkway in extreme agitation. I knew Nic was right. It
was a real possibility that I would go off on the asshole as soon as I saw his
face.

     “Fine, I’ll wait.” I gritted out.

     “Thank fucking shit.” He grunted in relief. “What’s the address? I’ll
head over to be there with you.”

     “I need you there in case she shows up.” I ordered.

     There was a small gap of silence before he spoke. “Carrie can stay
here. You need someone with you right now.” I could hear the sacrifice in his
tone at the thought of leaving his girlfriend alone when she was freaking out
about Shaw as well.

     Carrie’s voice carried from the background. “I’ll call Samantha.
She’ll come over.”

     “Give me the address.” Nic ordered.

     I did and he told me he was on his way before hanging up.

     I forced myself to back away from the house to pace the sidewalk.
My thoughts flashed back and forth between Shaw safe and sound with David, and
the horrendous notion that Ford really had done something to her. The only
reason I wasn’t storming that house was the hope that she was with David.
Ending up in jail for murder and then finding out Shaw was on a sabbatical with
David would suck monkey ass.

     The cops pulled up with a screech of their wheels and parked
behind my car. Officer DeLaney stepped out looking all sorts of relieved that I
was on the sidewalk and not burning down the house. His partner, Officer Case,
climbed out of the driver’s side looking aggravated.

     “Shit, you had me worried. I was expecting to drive up on a disturbance
from hell.” Officer Delaney hitched his belt higher and ambled toward me.

     “It’s been enormously difficult to not bring hell down on him.” I
stepped in behind them as they strode directly toward the front door.

     “I bet, but let us handle this.” Delaney rang the bell and then
knocked decisively on the door. Ford’s father answered in khaki’s and polo
shirt. He didn’t look pleased to see us. “Mr. Rainwright, I’m Officer DeLaney
and this is Officer Case; we need to talk to your son, Ford Rainwright.”