DAVIS: We're going to find him.
This was my first rescue party.
Jeremy disappeared two hours ago, and Davis had gotten us all up out of bed to meet up at his apartment.
Billy was there first, or more likely, he was there when Davis got the call from Carter. I drove myself and Ben, but we didn't speak much on the way there.
Jackson came with Hank, and he looked pretty beaten up, but also, pretty determined.
Ritchie was trying to comfort Carter, and Eli was standing behind the couch they were sitting on in Davis' living room.
RITCHIE: Of course we're going to find him.
JACKSON: How did this happen? He doesn't even drink.
BILLY: Neither do I. I still got drugged.
BEN: But you weren't kidnapped.
HANK: That's because Jackson was with you.
JACKSON: I should have been with Jeremy.
CARTER: I was with him and it didn't matter.
ME: Stop. Nobody's to blame. We can't undo this. We just have to fix it.
I heard Ritchie clear his throat. We all turned to him.
RITCHIE: I might know something.
He took a phone out of his pocket.
RITCHIE: This was--
ME: Joey's phone.
RITCHIE: Right. Jeremy gave it to me. Well, he was going to toss it at the memorial, but I took it, and I only kept it because...uh...there was a message in it.
DAVIS: What kind of message?
RITCHIE: It was from Cal.
This made everybody stand up and start talking. Then Ritchie raised his hands and we all shut up immediately.
RITCHIE: It said...it said that whoever got the phone should stop looking for him.
ELI: For who?
RITCHIE: For Cal.
BILLY: Was Joey looking for Cal?
RITCHIE: You tell me. I just got here.
BEN: He might have been, and he just didn't say anything.
JACKSON: What does this have to do with my brother?
Ritchie popped open the phone and read the message aloud.
RITCHIE: 'If you don't stop looking for me, someone else will disappear.'
We were all shocked. Some of us sat back down.
ME: So Cal had something to do with this?
ELI: Cal was the one who drugged Joey?
HANK: That doesn't make any sense.
CARTER: Nothing makes sense.
Davis grabbed his coat.
DAVIS: It doesn't need to. If Cal knows where Jeremy is, we need to find Cal.
BEN: How? We've looked.
DAVIS: Please, Ben. We haven't looked. We barely cared. But now we need to care.
BILLY: Where can we look?
DAVIS: His house. The house of anyone who might know where he is. Family. Ex-boyfriends. If he's still in Rhode Island, he can't be that far away. We'll find him and we'll ask what that message means.
CARTER: I can print his facebook photo and take it to Tex the bartender. Maybe he'll recognize him.
JACKSON: Sounds like a plan.
We divided up who was going where and doing what. Ritchie and I were going to team up and go check out Cal's house.
On the way out, I heard Billy talking to Davis.
BILLY: It's just...you don't how you feel about someone until they're gone.
DAVIS: How do you feel?
I didn't need to hear the rest of that. We already lost Joey. I may not be crazy about Jeremy, but I wasn't going to lose anyone else, no matter who it was.
When Ritchie and I got in the car, he put his hand on mine before I could put the keys in the ignition.
RITCHIE: We don't need to go to Cal's house.
ME: Why not?
RITCHIE: Because I don't think Cal's the one responsible for Jeremy's disappearance.
ME: But the message--
RITCHIE: Here. Read what it really says.
He showed me the message on the phone.
'If you don't stop looking for me, Billy will make someone else disappear.'
ME: Jesus...
RITCHIE: So what are we going to do?
I had no idea.
None at all.
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