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Sean
IT WAS EIGHT O’CLOCK in the morning and I was walking around downtown, mostly because I couldn’t sleep. Normally I slept in on my summers off from school, but not so much lately. I’d been wanting to get a summer job, but I couldn’t even bring myself to do that. All I could seem to do was think about Lila and the fact that she was gone.
The worst part about it all was that thoughts of her haunted me everywhere I went. When I was in the car, songs she liked came on the radio. At night I’d flick through the TV channels and stumble on some of her favorite shows. And as I walked down Main Street, I spotted a sign on a tree. It read: Missing Person: $5,000 Reward. Lila smiled back at me from her school photo. She was wearing a light pink blouse—the same light pink blouse she’d been wearing when we kissed for the first time.
Anger raced through my veins. I was angry that she was gone, angry at whoever had taken her (and I was convinced someone had taken her), but I was mostly angry at myself. If I had just left her alone that night, she never would have left that tent and nothing would have happened to her.
A week had gone by, and it felt like we were just as far away from answers as we had been the first day she’d gone missing. There had been a search party on day three, but it hadn’t turned up anything. The police claimed they were continuing to look for her, but so far they hadn’t turned up any leads.
I knew that, eventually, the cops were going to come back to question me. I knew I needed to come up with some sort of plan before then, but I was at a complete loss on what to do.
I wanted to sign onto Lila’s social media accounts to see if they could lead me in the right direction, but I knew her accounts were being monitored by the police. If she signed on, it could lead them to where she was. I also figured if there were any clues to be found there, the police would have uncovered them already.
That meant I was at a dead end on what to do, even though I knew I had to do something.
I’d completely withdrawn myself from our friends. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend time with them, it just felt weird to be around them knowing that my time could have been spent more productively. How could I just hang out with them and pretend everything was okay when my main focus should have been on getting Lila back?
As I turned a corner, my stomach rumbled. I realized that it had been a long time since I’d eaten anything.
I stepped into Frappe’s, a little coffee shop I’d never been to before. As I entered the café, the aroma of coffee and pastries filled the air. I ordered myself a cup of coffee and a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles.
As I headed to the back of the coffee shop and sat down at a table, I couldn’t help but notice a man who was seated a few tables over from me. The main reason he stood out to me was because of his attire. He was wearing a black suit and top hat. He looked like he belonged at a tea party with the Mad Hatter—or Abraham Lincoln, maybe—not at this small town coffee shop.
I took out a big bite of my donut and noticed out of the corner of my eye that the guy was walking over to me.
As he approached my table, he asked, “Are you Sean Martin?”
How did this guy know my name?
“Yeah, I’m Sean Martin. Who are you?”
“My name is Peter Jefferson. I need to speak to you.” There was an urgent look in his dark eyes.
“About what?” I asked. What could this stranger possibly have needed to speak to me about?
Peter’s eyes scanned the room nervously, as if he was afraid that someone was listening in on our conversation.
“I can’t tell you... not here. It isn’t safe.” He whipped out a notepad and scribbled something down on it. Tearing the paper from the notepad, he handed it to me. “I need you to meet me at this address.”
I glanced down at the address he’d written. 78 Luna Drive. “I don’t know what you’re trying to sell me, but I don’t want any.”
“I promise you, Sean, that I’m not trying to sell you anything.” Peter met my gaze. “I have information about your girlfriend—about Lila.”
My eyes widened. “What do you know?”
“I’ll tell you once you meet me at that location.”
I jolted up from my chair and grabbed him by the throat. “I’m not going to meet you. You’re going to tell me,” I growled at him. “Right now.”
“I don’t think you really want to do anything to harm me. It wouldn’t make sense to harm the one person who has information about your girlfriend’s whereabouts, now would it?” Amusement swirled in his eyes.
Loosening the death grip I had on him, I thought about it for a moment. As much as I wanted to choke the guy to death, I knew he was right.
It didn’t matter what information he had, I needed to hear it. Heck, it didn’t matter if he was Lila’s kidnapper. If there was even a chance that he could help lead me to her whereabouts and reunite us with each other again, I would go.
I let go of him. “When should I meet you?”
“How does tomorrow afternoon sound?” Peter asked.
“That works,” I agreed.
“Perfect.” A smile touched his lips. He turned away from me and began to head for the front door of the coffee shop, but then he turned to face me again. “And Sean? Don’t even think about calling the police.”