Going Nowhere Fast

30. The Runaround

I drove to Brian's house while Billie's mom drove to the church to search for Billie. It was Sunday, so we weren't sure where to head to first. It seemed that Billie was just extremely prone to being kidnapped at that point, but I knew this would be worse than the other times because Brian could really fuck him up on a way that they wouldn't be able to fix with surgery.

I was so incredibly worried when I knocked at the door and no one answered. It only took a few minutes for my car to reach the church parking lot, making me equally as mortified to see it completely empty besides Mrs. Stephen's Toyota.

I got out of my car only to see Billie's mom walking back towards me, her hands on her head in distress.

"It's locked!" she cried, "There's no one here," she looked around once more, "C'mon, Scarlet, were going to the police station. Something feels very wrong. When I called, they said he wasn't gone long enough to be considered a missing person."

I just nodded and hopped back into my Jeep.

I took a deep breath to try to calm my steadily rising heartbeat. I kept thinking that he was going to be okay. I kept thinking about the time we had spent together and how it didn't feel like enough. When I was with him, the time just seemed to fly by and I didn't want it to end.

He had to be okay.

I pulled in behind Mrs. Stephens at the police station. We ran inside to meet all eyes on us. They knew who we were and by the angry looks on their faces, they didn't want to deal with either of us any longer.

"What's the matter Mary?" one of the older cops finally spoke up.

"My son is missing!"

"How long has he been gone," one of younger, douchier looking cop said with a smirk on his face.

"Listen!" I shouted, "He sent me a weird text saying he was going to New Jersey like two hours after we made plans. We called his uncle and he didn't know anything about that and he wouldn't just disappear like that on his own," I said trying as best I could to make them believe how serious it was.

"He disappeared before," the same cop said with a shrug.

Mary started speaking up again but I just stood there, frozen.

What if he just gave up?

I didn't know that much about depression, but it seemed like it could've been bad enough for it to actually happen. It would make sense that he didn't feed Karen before, or clean his room. Accidental or not I accepted it there that he might have died by his own hand. I didn't want to put the same horror into his mom's head but I needed to say it.

"I think he might be dead."

Tears were rolling down my face.

---

I was sitting down at one of the officer's desks next to Mary. I knew what I said had upset her but I knew how Billie did on his own a little to well to think that he would make it. It was heart-wrenchingly sad but I knew deep down that it was true. He had disaster coming at him from every angle, especially on the inside.

Mary was talking to the older cop and telling him everything she could think of that would be helpful and I was adding extra details and we heard a muffled shouting from a room in the corner of the police office.

That's when I noticed a pastor and a woman sitting next to each other in the most obscured corner of the room.

Was Brian here?

"I think Brian took him. Where is he?" I asked the officer, blatantly interrupting him.

"Uh.. Yeah," Officer Whateverthefuck shyly stammered, "We have him in for questioning."

"How long have you been questioning him for?" I asked with increasing anxiety.

"He's been here since noon," he said with a look that made it clear he wasn't going to say anything else.

I looked down at my watch, it was almost eight.

"You need to ask Brian if he knows where Billie is!" I pleaded.

"Now what makes you think Brian's being here has anything to do with Billie's disappearing? Do you have any kind of evidence?" He was growing angry with me I could tell.

"Listen," I said sounding frustrated, "The kid is missing. That means we don't know where he is and we think he's in danger. The only person who wants to hurt him is literally over there. He is here because you are investigating an incident where the same person assaulted Billie, who is missing. I don't know a lot about being a detective, I'm seventeen. But, I do know that when you're looking for someone who hurt someone else, you should probably start with who wants that person hurt. But, oh, I don't know, I'm not a cop."

Mary's jaw dropped as I crossed my arms. The officer looked at us as he stood up and held up his index finger indicating one second. He awkwardly glided across the room to another cop who was standing outside of the interrogation room with a clipboard. We watched as they chatted and occasionally looked back at us.

Suddenly, the interrogation room door opened up and the interrogation officer walked out and met up with the other two standing outside. They briefly said some words to them and the interrogation officer quickly walked over to us. He was a bit older than most of the other cops but he had a sharp look to him. Hell, he'd probably intimidate me if he really tried.

He finally approached us as he bent down a little to speak with us, "Ma'am," he looked at Mary, "don't you worry. I knew this boy was hiding something from the moment I walked into that room. I just couldn't get what it was but how he's acting lines up perfectly with someone who is harboring a fugitive. I'm going to have his parents try to talk some sense into him before I start getting really tough on him."

I couldn't help but smile, partially because I knew were going to find him and partially because I knew Brian was finally going to get his ass handed to him by the legal justice system.

He looked softly at both of us and said, "Don't worry. I've been doing this for thirty-nine years. I'm confident we found your boy."

We watched as he led who I now knew were Brian's parents into the interrogation room. They were in there for about fifteen minutes before their pleading time was over. Brian was only sixteen after all. The cop simply nodded before heading back into the room.

We could only hear a bunch of yelling followed by some really loud crying.

Another officer came running out of the room.

"Alright. Let's go!" was all I could make out as about ten police officers started running out the door.

"We're following you. C'mon Scarlet," she said, looking more determined than ever. "I want my face to be one of the first ones he sees when he's rescued."

---

As I raced down the road in my Jeep following Mary's Toyota behind a parade of cops, I noticed that we were heading in the direction of the church. I didn't know what kind of condition Billie would be in but I was sure he could use help as soon as possible.

I took a deep breath.

It had been a while since I could feel like everything was going to be okay, and with Brian behind bars, it felt like everything was finally going to calm down.

I sacrificed a lot for Billie. I had only known him for such a short time, but I couldn't imagine going back to a life without him.

It was such a weird string of events that brought me into his life but I honestly believed that if I wasn't there for him through all of it, he wouldn't have still been there.

There were many times where it was stressful to be around him.

He just needed a lot of help, and I knew I couldn't be what he needed at times but he never expected anything from me in the first place.

He was alone when I met him. I sort of was too.

My life was so boring before. Stalking Earl was the first time I actually did one of the crazy adventurous things I've always dreamt about doing just for the fun of it. Running away was the second, but I don't think I would have been able to do it alone.

I was so thankful that we found him. I just needed him to be okay.