• Chapter Two
    Tuesday, July 7th, 2009. Strip Mall, downtown Manchester

    Del sits on the curb, her foot tapping to the music coming from her iPod. For about the thousandth time she checks the clock inside the glass-windowed jewelry store behind her. It says seven thirty. Seven thirty!!! Before she had wanted to wait and see if he’d show up, but this is ridiculous! It’s already starting to get dark! Again she goes through the questions she’s been asking herself for the passed hour and a half.
    Did he say six o’ clock tonight or tomorrow night? Did I come to the wrong jewelry store? Could he just be late? No, not this late…
    Del stands up and stretches her arms. Once again she looks at the clock. Seven thirty-two. Phoenix would be going crazy by now. Although, knowing Phoenix, she’s probably still reading that book and has no idea what time it is, Del thinks, slightly amused at the thought. Still, she needs to go.
    Reluctantly, Del picks up her back, throws it over her shoulder, and starts walking out of the parking lot. She doesn’t notice as a pen falls from her bag onto the pavement.
    Del is super disappointed and a little mad too; that’s just her nature. But she would soon be with her sister again and that would cheer her up. It always does.
    But Del is painfully unaware of the impending danger.

    The man sits in his car, waiting. His hands are on the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road in front of him. He’s enough into the shadows of the driveway that anyone walking on the sidewalk wouldn’t see him, but he can see them.
    His fingers tap impatiently on the steering wheel. He is usually a very patient man, but this close to the prize… and an hour and a half of waiting?! What does it take for this girl to realize he isn’t coming, that he stood her up?
    All of a sudden his whole body tenses. He sees her, just down the street a little, coming towards him on the same side of the road as he is.
    Perfect.
    His hand slides to the keys in the ignition of his bulky car. Usually he drives a slimmer, sleeker car. But tonight he decided on the big SUV. Better chance of hitting the girl.
    He watches with rapt attention as she gets closer, and he slowly starts to turn the key…

    Del walks at a normal pace, still disappointed. She can’t believe that she’s been stood up! That guy had sounded so sincere on the phone! Oh well, she’s sure there’ll be other calls…
    Slowly, Del looks up at the beautiful sky, it’s blue changing to red and orange as the sun starts to dip below the horizon. Better hurry, it’s already getting dark…
    The car in the driveway to her left doesn’t catch her attention. It’s just a normal beat up SUV, something you would see in this part of Manchester. Lost in her thoughts, she hardly even notices it…
    Until it roars to life.
    Even then Del doesn’t really pay attention to it, but she does look up… and sees the murderous vehicle hurtling toward her. At the last second she tries to dive out of the way, an impulse reaction that may actually save her life. But as the SUV lurches forward it rams into her, throwing her across the sidewalk and into the road.
    She lands oddly, sprawled out across the tar, hitting her head hard. She grimaces as her right leg fills with searing pain. But suddenly she can’t feel the pain. She can’t feel anything. Numbness spreads throughout her whole body, and black splotches start to seep into her vision.
    No, she thinks grimly, it can’t end like this. Del thinks she hears the SUV come to a stop, and it’s driver fly out. She expects a helping hand, someone to call 9-1-1, but that’s far from what she gets.
    Instead, a man grabs her by the collar and yells in her face, “WHERE IS IT?! WHERE’S THE RING?!”
    Too weak to respond, too weak to do anything; Del starts to black out. She can still hear the man yelling, but she can’t understand him. She thinks she recognizes the voice… yes. Graves sounds different when he’s yelling compared to when he talking on the phone…
    Suddenly there’s another sound, one that seems to shock the man. Is it… gunshots? The man leaps into the SUV and drives off, almost running over Del.
    She can see in the distance someone coming towards her… she thinks. Is it the man who shot at Graves? In that case she’d better get out of here.
    Del tries to get up, to run… anything! But she can’t move. The black spots in her vision are getting bigger and blacker and it’s getting harder to breathe. She can just barely see the stranger… and he’s getting closer. Her breaths shallow now, Del gets a glimpse of ginger hair and icy blue eyes.
    Then everything goes black.

    ***

    I lie on my stomach on a bench at the library, Raleigh asleep on the floor beneath me; Del and I got special permission from the head librarian to bring him in because we’re here so much. Pride and Prejudice rests on the bench in front of me, and I turn each page with delicate care.
    I try to smother a laugh at every quip from Mr. Bennet to his wife, and smile as I imagine Elisabeth and her four sisters. My heart skips a beat for the ever silent Mr. Darcy, and is warmed by the infatuated Mr. Bingley. After every sentence I’m reminded of why this is my favorite book.
    “Excuse me, miss…”
    I look up and see one of librarians standing over me.
    “Yes?” I ask.
    “I’m sorry, but it’s just about closing time. I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the librarian says in a kind, grandmotherly voice.
    “Oh! Is it eight o’ clock already? I’m so sorry, I had no idea!” I quickly apologize. But then I stop short. “Wait a minute,” I say, looking at the clock, “that can’t be right…”
    But the clock does indeed say eight o’ clock.
    “Is something wrong?” the librarian asks me.
    “Yeah… my sister was supposed to meet me here… And that was way before closing time.”
    I’m starting to get worried. But then again, that’s just my nature. But then again she was supposed to be here…
    “Do you think maybe your sister forgot? I’ll bet she’s probably home waiting for you right now,” the librarian says.
    I nod slowly. “Yeah… yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” I say not very convincingly as I pick up my bag and the book. “Thank you.”
    With that I leave, Raleigh trailing on next to me.
    All the way home I’m lost in my thoughts. Del should’ve been at the library, so why wasn’t she? Could she have really forgotten? No, that’s not possible. Or maybe it is… if she was really excited about selling the ring…
    But what if something happened to her? What if she got mugged or something? I knew I should’ve gone with her…
    Finally I force myself to stop. If I keep going like this I’ll drive myself nuts!
    When I get home Del will never hear the end of it, I think. Raleigh runs to keep up as I push my skateboard forward, eager to get home.

    “Del!” I yell as I walk through the door of the apartment. “Del, I’m so mad at you; where were you?!”
    But all I get back is silence. Raleigh barks, but still nothing happens.
    “Del?” I call. She must be here. She must not have heard me.
    But still, there’s no response.
    “Del!” I yell, running through the apartment. Raleigh follows behind me as I run through the TV room into the kitchen, take a quick peak at Mom and Dad’s room, then race into our room. The whole apartment is empty. In disbelief, I run back to the kitchen, looking for… well, I’m not really sure what I’m looking for.
    Suddenly I realize there’s a message on the answering machine! Del and I both have cheap cell phones that we’re only supposed to use for emergencies. It’s a slim chance, but it’s still a chance.
    But as I hit the ‘play’ button on the answering machine, the voice that comes out is Mom’s. Raleigh wags his tail lightly as he hears her voice.
    “Hey sweethearts, it’s Mom. Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be home later than usual. Hope you’re doing well, hugs and kisses.”
    She sounded tired. She must’ve been on her way to her second job. But then again she always sounds like that.
    Still feeling determined, I pick up the phone and start dialing. Thinking of Del and the emergency phones gave me an idea. But as the phone starts ringing, no one picks up. I wait for the phone to switch to voicemail but it doesn’t. It just keeps ringing.
    Eventually I hang up, sighing slowly as I sit down at the messy kitchen table, my head in my hands. I’m not really sure what’s going on, or what to do. I usually depend on Del for this sort of thing (you know, the emergency thing). Raleigh sits next to me and puts his head on my knee. I pat his head absent mindedly. I wish…
    Suddenly I hear the door open. My head shoots up and I lean back to look into the TV room. Raleigh pokes his head out to see who it is also. But once again we’re both disappointed as my dad walks into the apartment.
    “Hi Dad,” I say, trying to keep the worry and disappointment out of my voice. He turns slowly to me and nods. Then he takes a swig of the beer he’s holding and walks into the kitchen.
    “Hey Del,” he says as he walks by. I’m about to correct him when I smell the alcohol from his breath. I shrink back in disgust, wanting just to go to my room and shut the door, which is what I would do if Del was here. But she’s not. So I have to talk to him.
    “Dad, I’m not Del,” I say slowly.
    “Oh… that’s right you’re the other one,” he says, grabbing another beer from the fridge and walking back to the TV room.
    I sigh again and follow him, Raleigh by my side.
    “Dad, I need to talk to you,” I say slowly.
    “Well I don’t have time!” he snaps, switching on the TV.
    “Dad, I’m worried about Del; I think something happened to her. You see, we put some of Grandpa’s stuff on Craigslist, and then this guy called about a ring and he wanted to have it appraised at a jewelers but then Del had promised that we’d go to the library today so she made me go to the library while she brought the ring to the guy and she was going to meet me at the library but she never did and now I’m really worried about her!”
    Dad just keeps watching TV. “She’s probably fine, don’t worry about it.”
    “But Dad…”
    “I said she’s fine!” Dad yells, thus ending the conversation. I shrink back in fear, but still I hesitate, wanting to object. But I know it would get me nowhere.
    Reluctantly, I walk out of the TV room and back into my own room with Raleigh. I collapse onto the bed, feeling terrible. If only I had gone with Del, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened! Raleigh sits on the ground and licks my hand gently; I know he can tell I feel awful. But this time it doesn’t help.
    I roll over and the tears start coming out. By the time they stop I’m fast asleep.