wouldn’t folow. Peter knew it was about Libby.
“What? You found her? Where is she?” His eyes grew wide with excitement.
“It’s a long story.” It hurt to see his enthusiasm.
“Tel me,” he said, eager for news.
Karen glanced around. Adam and Garrett watched from their places on stage. Crew members littered the arena securing equipment and completing final security checks.
“I’m sorry.” She tried to hide her regret as this was not the news she’d hoped to give.
“What? What’d you find out?” Peter demanded.
“We tried to find her, but she’s gone, honey. I’m so sorry.”
“What do you mean gone? Gone where?” Peter’s confusion broke her heart. He was too young to feel such disappointment.
“We don’t know,” she tried to soothe him with words. “The authorities arrested her aunt for seling drugs. The authorities couldn’t locate Libby’s father and so they placed her in foster care.” She watched him closely. For once his brothers stayed silent.
Not a sound echoed in the arena as the crew looked on.
“How could they do that to her?” He shoved his hands through his hair and locked his fingers above his head, turning away to hide the anguish in his eyes.
“She tried to cal you.”
He turned back to her, hoping for better news, as he fought back emotions.
“Several times.” She fumbled with some crumpled slips of paper. “The front office took these. They’re dated a couple days after her aunt was arrested.” Everyone in the arena witnessed his pain. If only she could have told him in private. “We caled the number, Peter. It belonged to a pay phone at a mal in Milwaukee.” As the bad news continued, Peter stood paralyzed. His eyes became glassy as he fought back tears, each piece of information worse. She could see the heavy weight of her words bear down on him.
“Libby must have waited for hours. The last message said she was sorry.” Karen spoke softly. “I can’t imagine why.” After al she learned about Libby’s situation, it was obvious this girl needed someone to help her, not throw her out into a world of more strangers and fear. She wanted to take the lonely girl in and hug her as her own mother would have.
“Can they find her? There must be a record?” Peter’s voice broke, he turned away, his chest rose with each breath.
“We tried. They won’t release the information. She’s a minor and under custody of the state. It’s the law.”
“This is shit!” He snapped, and let his anger over power his pain. “Libby’s suppose to be at home with her family enjoying life, not locked up in the foster system.” Peter paced. “She’s too sweet and good.” He turned to her, tears roled down his face. “She has no one, Mom, no one,” his words fel to a whisper. “I’m it. I was al she had and now she thinks I abandoned her too!” Karen watched Peter’s pain. She wanted to hold him in her arms and kiss his forehead like she did when he was a little boy, but it wasn’t what he wanted.
Peter paced like a caged animal, his jaw set and eyes wild.
He stopped at the side of the monstrous speakers and pounded them with both fists. A mournful groan roared from him, startling the many who watched. He braced his head on the speakers trying to keep control. His arms shook with rage, his body taut as he restrained himself. Karen saw her little boy for the man he now was.
A young man in love and suffering the cutting pain of a broken heart. His love for this helpless girl tore at him.
He turned and grabbed the edge of a heavy equipment table and up-ended it like a toy. Expensive equipment crashed to the ground. The onlookers exchanged concerned glances. Peter had never behaved like this. He was the quiet one. The bandleader they al counted on no matter what.
His father walked out from backstage where he observed the exchange. “That’s enough, Peter, take a walk,” he spoke quietly, but with a steel tone. “We have a sold out show tonight. Pul yourself together.”
Peter glared at his father, his face tortured and in agony. “You did this,” venom tinged his voice. He noticed the crowd of spectators who stared at him as the best part of his life fel apart.
Without a word or a glance to anyone, Peter walked off the stage and out of the arena.
He puled his hood up to disappear from the world, and thrust his hands deep into his