in a hurry and forget a phone. After that, you should call your family. Before we send out the search dogs, let’s make sure she isn’t sitting at your grandmother’s place drinking tea.”
It was useless to argue with him. The last place Alice would go in a crisis was to any of our family. Maybe she’d call her best friend, Chloe. But I didn’t think so, because she’d called me. I just hadn’t gotten there quick enough.
Because Alice was such a neat person, it didn’t take me long to ascertain her purse was not in her apartment. Which meant she had her car keys. Returning to the living room, I saw Nate in deep conversation with the other two officers. He turned to look at me. Concern flickered over his expression.
I cleared my throat. “It’s not here. And I realized that means she has her car keys. Should I go downstairs and see if I can find her car in the lot?”
Officer Neuman came forward. “Give us the make, model, and color, and my partner and I will take a walk outside. That way, you can have some privacy while you call your family.”
“Alice drives a Mitsubishi Eclipse Coupe. It’s red.”
“How old is it?” Officer Thomas asked.
“Um, a couple of years, at least. I think it’s a 2005, but I could be off a year or two.”
Officer Neuman wrote the information down. “We’ll go look. Fill Nate in and then call your family.”
When they exited the apartment, I collapsed on the couch. “I don’t want to call my parents. They’ll flip out. And Alice is probably okay. So why worry them for nothing?” I needed to believe this.
Nate sat down next to me. “You need to call. But you can start with your brothers if you want.”
“How do you know I have brothers?”
“Your grandmother told me.”
I kept forgetting they knew each other. One of these days, I’d have to find out how. “This will not be easy.” I heaved myself up and walked toward the bedroom.
“Where are you going?”
“I left my phone on Alice’s bed. I don’t think I want to call my family on her phone to tell them she’s missing.”
I retrieved my phone. I held it for a minute, delaying the inevitable. Calling them made the situation even more real, and this was real enough as it was. Another minute passed. I sat on the edge of her bed, put my head between my knees, and cried some more. When I felt I could talk clearly, I went back to Nate.
“Here goes nothing,” I said, punching in the first number.
Nate squeezed my knee and offered up a smile. It didn’t help, but I appreciated the effort.
Grandma Verda wasn’t home when I called. But I got through to everyone else. I told my parents and then my brothers that I didn’t know where Alice was. I explained the condition of her apartment and that the police were there. I told them she’d called me upset and asked me to come over.
Nate spoke to each of them as well, asking the same questions I’d been asked. He impressed me, this cop I’d met so unexpectedly. His voice was warm, reassuring, and stabilizing as he talked to my family. Before he hung up, he asked everyone to stay at home, in case Alice showed up or contacted them.
On a different day, for a different reason, I would have laughed at this. Telling my family to stay put was, for lack of a better phrase, a complete waste of time. I gave it thirty minutes, forty-five on the outside, before the entire Raymond clan barged in the door at Alice’s.
“They’re not going to stay home. They’ll be here within the hour.”
Nate frowned. “We don’t want people trampling over possible evidence.”
“So you do think something happened to her, don’t you?”
“It’s not that, but we have to preserve the scene—” He broke off, a flustered expression crossing his features.
“The scene of a crime, right?” My chest tightened again and another tear rolled down my face. “I can’t comprehend this. It doesn’t make any sense. Who would want to hurt Alice?”
“We don’t know she’s hurt, Lizzie. Worrying about things that might have happened isn’t going to help. Focus on the facts. That’s all you can do right now.”
I excused myself and went to the restroom. I washed my face and used Alice’s brush to comb through my hair. I looked around the small blue-painted room and tried to find a reason to stay. Going back