Hours later,
And it would be indeed hours before anyone in her circle would think anything
might be wrong. Although Liz might dispute it, if she had been conscious. Which she wasn’t. But back in Roswell, eventually there would be repeated knock on the door as Maria tried to slumber. Groaning as she was awaken. “Can’t you handle it?” she muttered half asleep, half awake to her husband. As it was very late by the time she and Michael had gotten home, and after some sexy times,
you can never get too much with your sexy alien husband she thought,
the sex is amazing she thought as in the aftermath, they finally drifted off to sleep, and now it was hours later. When she heard the repeated knocks, she turned, “Come on Michael, can’t you handle it. I had to work all night,” she muttered “You drunk beer,” she moaned, but sighing only because she saw that Michael was not in bed with her. Given that both of them had a long night, she was surprised that Michael was not trying to get some shut eye. Because as far as she knew, he had no pressing concerns to deal with at work,
for now.
“Of course,” she muttered. “Michael” she yelled as she sat up in bed.
But she did not get a response because she heard the water running and then remembered that Michael had an early basketball game with Kyle. Something of a tradition when their schedules were light. Groaning. It meant that she had to get up and deal with the persistent knocking at the door. “I don’t need this,” she said as she wanted to crawl back into bed and deal with some more sleep until she had to go into the bar, and deal with inventory after a successful night.
Grabbing her robe, she put it on. “Thanks a lot Space boy,” she muttered. “I want to be sleeping,” she told herself as she walked downstairs, and when the doorbell came, she “Alright, alright, I am coming” she said as she pulled the door open. “Jeff?” she asked as she saw the surprise in seeing Liz’s father.
Jeff Parker did not come here to the house.
Never had the need she thought.
We always went there. As there was no need to bring the food here. “Jeff?” she asked.
“Where is my daughter?” Jeff asked as he saw his daughter’s best friend in her robe, even though it was now almost lunch. A lunch he should be supervising back at the restaurant. But Nancy was doing that honor, while she took care of
this.
“What?” Maria murmured. Surprised by question as she rubbed her eyes, thinking she had mistaken the question. “Liz?”
“Yes, Lizzie” Jeff said. “Where is my daughter?”
“How would I know?” Maria murmured. “Is she not at your place, because that is where she should be?”
“You would think,” Jeff muttered. “But she did not come home last night Maria,” he sighed. “I saw her leave last night, but she nor my car did not come home. Why is that?” she asked. “I checked with Jim, and reports are that she was seen at your bar. So, why is she not at home?”
“God, I need coffee” Maria murmured and because she knew she would not be going back to sleep,
god, I wish this was a dream she thought. “Come in,” she said as she checked the clock, and saw it was almost noon.
Damn, I have to get to the bar. “I just got up, and I am not exactly human, so repeat that to me will you Jeff” she asked as she welcomed Jeff Parker into her home. “She has to be at home,” she asked. “Why is she not at your place?”
“That is what I want to be asking you,” Jeff murmured as he glanced at his daughter’s best friend. “What is going on here?” Jeff asked as she entered Maria and Michael home.
“Hell, if I know,” Maria muttered.
*
Several hours earlier,
Jeff and Nancy Parker’s apartment,
Over the Crashdown,
Jeff had a history of getting up before dawn, because he had a restaurant to open and he did not have his daughter working the early shift, neither did he have Maria, so that meant over the last decade, the duty of opening the doors for the morning shift had fallen onto him and a supply of trusted wait staff, but mostly it meant that he had to supervise the working staff of the early mornings. And of course, now with Callie in the house. School was in the offering, so both he and Nancy tended to get up early. As they got going so that they could make sure Callie got her day going. Which is exactly what was happening on this morning. Therefore, he was in the bathroom, as Nancy had gotten up to go make sure Callie was up and ready for breakfast. Jeff was taking his time getting ready, because it was not like he had to go far to get to his job. He was nothing thinking of anything in particular when his wife came back in short order. “Is Callie awake?” he asked, because the child sometimes was known to sleep in if she could manage it.
Rarely did it work.
“Getting dressed,” Nancy said softly as she looked at her husband. “Breakfast is on the stove, but honey, where is our daughter?”
“What do you mean?” Jeff as he stopped and turned to face his wife. “Is she not sleeping on the couch?” he asked, because he very much wished his daughter could be sleeping in her old room. Along with Callie. He could not understand why she was so insistent on sleeping on the couch since her return.
The couch is uncomfortable he thought.
No wonder she could not sleep last night he muttered.
Hopefully she was able to sleep he would have thought before now, although he was wise enough to know there were other reasons for why his daughter would be unlikely to be able to sleep. And it was not about the comfort of the family room couch. Which had not been replaced since before his daughter became a rebellious teenager.
Never needed too when it was only Nancy and I here in the apartment he would think but the concerning look on his wife’s face snapped him back to their conversation.
Liz, he reminded himself. “Nancy?” he asked.
“No,” Nancy shook her head. “The living room, and the couch is empty Jeff,” she said softly. As it was the first thing she had noticed once she came out of the bedroom, and started to prepare breakfast for herself, and her husband and granddaughter. “And honey, the car keys are gone,” she said of the family car.
Something else I noticed she muttered to herself as she rushed back to find her husband.
Damn Jeff murmured.
“Have you checked to see if the car is actually there?” Jeff asked as he hated the sound of it.
Of course, she would take my car he thought because they had sold Liz’s old car, once it had been fixed up, and at their daughter’s suggestion, they had put the funds in Callie’s college fund. So, it meant they only had one car. Because it had only been him and Nancy living as empty nesters until their granddaughter came to stay, and they had managed it because most of the opportunity. And because Jeff was tethered to the Crashdown. So, it meant it was Nancy who took the car more often than not, he would think. As he checked the clock and noted the hour. “She should have been back by now,” he sighed softly as he remembered seeing his daughter leave the apartment, after midnight. At the time, he figured that she was planning to go for a drive, because she had been unable to sleep. And because they lived in a small community,
the drive would not have taken hours he would think.
“Yes, I did,” Nancy admitted. “But nope,” Nancy said. “It’s gone.”
“Okay” he said softly as he let out a deep sigh. “I will handle it,” Jeff murmured as he glanced int the mirror and wondered what his daughter was up too now,
god Lizzie, what is going on?
“Honey, about Callie, and school?” Nancy asked. “She needs to get there?’
The burdens of only one car he would think. Because they had never needed it. After all, he had had been almost chained to the restaurant and it was usually Nancy who tended to go out,
until the last few days when I brought our daughter back as he had kept the car at the airport. Because it was only a few days. “I guess I can call Isabel and see if she can come and pick her up,” Jeff sighed as he was quite aware that that Callie was in the same school as Ella and Noah Evans. Sometimes in the past, they had done that very thing. Even if the kids were in different grades. It was all pretty simply.
Being in a small town.
Nancy nodded. “That will be helpful. Let them know we can pick the kids up later when I head over to the school, that is that they would like, that is assuming we get the car back,” she said with a deep frown. “But where could our daughter be?” she asked.
“I have no idea,” Jeff sighed. “I will check with Jim.”
Nancy nodded and left the bathroom. “Oh Lizzie, where are you” Jeff sighed because he knew his daughter was a grown woman and could conduct her life how she wanted too,
and I cannot have opinion that I will voice to her he knew but bringing his daughter back after her recent developments in her life had made his worry, and he had no idea of what his daughter would be doing.
And whether he truly should be worried.
As he walked into the living room, and Callie was now eating breakfast at the breakfast table. “Good morning sweetheart.”
“Where’s Mom?” Callie asked. Because the first thing she had seen was that her mother was not trying to sleep on the couch. She had figured that because of all her mother’s sleeping the day before, that she would be up early, so she was surprised not to see her mother,
at all. “Where is she?”
I wish I knew, but I don’t know Jeff murmured but knew better than telling his eight-year-old granddaughter that he was not sure where her mother was. “She probably got up early,” he murmured as he latched onto the simply answer.
One I hope is true.
It’s plausible he thought.
Maybe she did go out.
And we don’t have to worry.
But of course, Jeff did worry. Liz always tended to make him do so. And he knew it could not be that simple.
“Earlier than this?” Callie asked referring to the time on the clock, as she was used to getting up early. Because of the restaurant, her grandparents were always on duty. Because Nancy sometimes helped during the early morning rush, and so she was used to over the summer if she wanted to see her grandparents, that getting up early was what was needed to do.
Now she had school. So, she had a reason to get up early. Although usually in her old life,
it was not this early she thought.
But she was a child, so she had a lot more energy and could deal with the lack of sleep, better than those older.
“She’s been going through something…” Jeff said, unsure of how to phrase it to his granddaughter. Because they were both aware that her mother was going through something.
“I think I know that Grandpa,” Callie smiled.
“Smart alec,” Jeff smiled, and it was good to smile.
Callie brings joy into the apartment again he thought. “You have to give your mother a little time,” he said. “Because she has always had a way of getting through it all in her own time and using her own process. She probably needed to go out and do some errands.”
“I guess,” Callie said. Knowing not to question her grandfather any further,
what is open at this hour she would think but knew better than to ask this to her grandfather. “Okay,” she said. “How am I going to get to school?” because she had overheard her grandmother make a comment about the family car.
“I am going to call Ella and Noah’s aunt and see if she or Kyle could pick you up” Jeff said softly as he went to the phone. “You would not mind that, right?”
“I have to get to school somehow,” Callie smiled. “Or I could always take this as a off day?” she said with a laugh. “Like I need to deal with my math test?”
Jeff laughed. Because he knew that his granddaughter was not that serious because he knew Callie liked her school. And her studies,
she is very like Lizzie she thought as her grades showed it. But he could not help but momentarily pause as he briefly dealt with the remembrance of the truth in regard to Callie, and how she was his granddaughter. Jeff tried not to dwell on the past, and especially the pain in his heart.
I might not have known her father but still hurts to not to have known him.
Of course, he had known how messed up he had been at one time. Causing the scenario of why he had not been told about Callie’s father.
“Do you want me to call Ella?” Callie asked.
“No, I can handle it,” Jeff murmured. As he went to the phone, “I have to make another call anyways,” he sighed as he dialed Isabel and arranged for her to come and pick Callie on the way over to the school to drop the twins off. Because Kyle was busy. “I appreciate it Isabel,” he said as he hung up and turned and face his granddaughter. “All arranged. Go get ready. She will be here in half hour or so.”
Callie nodded and rushed off.
While Jeff could not help but sigh as he watched his granddaughter go off, he turned back to the phone and dialed. Looking at the clock. He was not sure if Jim would be in the office yet, but he had to try. “I need to take to Sheriff Valenti, this is Jeff Parker” he said softly as Nancy came out of the bedroom and stopped to listen to his call. “Callie’s ride is arranged.”
“She told me,” Nancy sighed as Jeff waited for Jim to come on the line. “Yes, Jim. This is Jeff Parker, and I need your assistance” he said quickly. “My daughter did not come home last night, and Nancy and I are not sure whether we should be concerned or not” he sighed. “She took the car,” as he ratted out the license plate number. “My assumption is that she could not sleep, and left, but I figured she went for a drive. But when we got up this morning. She was not here in the apartment. Yes, I know that it could mean anything. She could have gone somewhere by her own power, and maybe that is what I afraid of because my daughter is going through a lot these days, and her judgment might not be completely there” he sighed. “So, if you could be on the lookout,” he asked. “I don’t really think she’s in danger, but this is a small town,” he shivered. “You can never be too sure, and my daughter does not know of all the changes the town has gone through,” he sighed, of the fact that Liz was only newly returned. “Thank you,” he said as he got off the phone and looked at his wife.
“Well?” Nancy asked.
“He will put some feelers out,” Jeff sighed.
Nancy only sighed as she left, and Jeff proceeded to finish getting ready for the day. And it was about fifteen minutes later, as he was preparing to head downstairs to the restaurant to open up, when he got the call. “Are you sure it’s the car?” he said softly. “Thank you,” he said quickly. “No, I will arrange to go pick it up” he said. “I appreciate the effort,” he said softly as he got off the phone and looked at Nancy who was in the kitchen. “The car has been located at
Cow Patties.”
“Maria’s place?” Nancy asked.
“Yes,” Jeff said softly. “Only the car. One of Jeff’s deputies did check, and it’s empty.”
“What about Liz?” Nancy asked.
“The assumption is that she probably went to the bar because Maria was there and probably got a lift somewhere else. Maybe even back to Maria and Michael’s place, because she might have been drinking too much,” he said. “Thinking the car was safe, which it is.”
“Liz, Jeff” Nancy murmured. “Getting a lift somewhere is not actually calm inducing?”
“I know,” Jeff sighed.
Oh, I know. “Which is why I did say that she probably went to Maria’s” he murmured with tons of hope, but less certainty. Because he had been aware of the tension between the friends the day before, and therefore, he was unsure of what it all meant. Then he picked up the phone again and tried the Deluca/Guerin household. But he did not get any answer. “No answer,” he sighed “They probably had a late night, so I’ll go over there later…”
Nancy nodded as they spotted Callie watching them. “All ready,” she said quickly as she tried to mask the concern on her face. “We should take you downstairs,” she said simply. And Callie, knowing that something was not right with her mother but knowing that her grandparents were not going to be telling her. So, she allowed them to cover.
As Jeff could only sigh, as he went downstairs and opened the restaurant for the morning shift. And it was later, after the morning rush was finished, that he managed to get over to Cow Patties and pick up the car, and on the way back, he continued to talk to his wife and Liz had yet to show up.
Worried. And needing answers, he decided to stop by the Guerin household.
Aware that it was getting towards lunch and sighing when he knocked repeatedly and got nothing. He saw the car was in the driveway, but it did not mean they would be at home. Although he sensed if they had been working at the bar at all during the night then they would be sleeping in.
Finally, the door opened. And second later, “Where is my daughter?”
*
Now,
Jeff was looking at his daughter’s best friend. Someone he had seen grow up, from before they were Callie’s age. Ever since the girls had gravitated to each other as young girls, and for a time, they would have a third musketeer in Alex Whitman attached to their hips. But tragically, that cord had been severed during high school but fortunately for his daughter, the same cord that brought his daughter and Maria Deluca together had never been snapped. Not even during their tumultuous teen years,
it actually probably brought them together instead of apart he thought.
As he tried not think of the reasons for
that he muttered to himself. Because he was in denial over a lot of the insight that he had gathered from his daughter’s journal. After all, it had been easy enough to ignore when his daughter came back to town, and then promptly moved on, away from Roswell.
It was all too crazy to be true he thought and wanted to write it down as his daughter being imaginative. And certainly, his daughter was imaginative, true,
but she was very logical and a scientist to her very core, so she was not some fiction writer.
Jeff wanted to ignore it.
Because it was easier too. And it had been without his daughter at home. And not having to witness the daily drama that had filled her days before her departure. Because Max was not coming in with great frequency, and if he did, only on occasion. It was easy to move on as if those three years had not happened. Because his daughter was not around to worry about trying to achieve her dreams. And he did not have to worry so much.
Of course, there were worries, but they seemed very normal and tame compared to what happened in her senior year of high school he thought.
“What is going on here Maria?” Jeff Parker asked, and he assessed his daughter’s best friend. “Is my daughter here?” he asked softly. “Is she sleeping it off?”
She’s sleeping it off somewhere Maria guessed,
but not here she thought of what she had witnessed the night before. “Why would you think that?” she wondered. “Is Liz not at home?” she asked as she racked her brain to the closing moments at the bar. “She should be at home,” she said softly. “Are you telling me that she is not here,” she sighed.
There is no way she would come here, even if I had asked her, she knew.
So, it was pointless to even ask.
“What is going on?” Jeff asked again. “My daughter cannot have disappeared, can she?” he asked. “I saw her going out last night. I assume she was heading for a drive, because she could not sleep. But when we awoke this morning, she was not at home,” he said softly. “Then I get word from Jim that my car was at your bar,” he sighed. “I go out there, and it’s all locked up, and my daughter is nowhere to be seen,” he asked. “No trace whatsoever.”
“Well, she’s not here,” Maria said softly as she looked confused.
I AM confused. “I don’t know where she could be if she’s not at your place” she murmured as she tried to figure out why her friend would not be at home.
Because she had been so sure that Liz had gone home. When she and Michael had come out of the bar not long after Liz had run out, looking like she was going to be sick
because of that stupid song, she thought of the unpredictable way for the night to end. But once she and Michael had finished closing up, and left, they had not seen Liz still there.
Sure, we saw the car, but we just assumed that she took the cab. But it was not the only car to be left behind, she thought. It is kind of expected if you run and operate a bar, and you have intoxicated people on occasion. “I heard from one of waitresses that Liz had called a cab, because she had been drinking.”
“You let my daughter drink?” Jeff asked with a concerning look on his face.
That is not good.
“She was not going to be detoured, because she came to my bar for a reason,” Maria murmured.
Yes, I know I should have probably put some controls on her drinking she thought of her friend. But she was not going to listen to me and if she knew I was pulling strings given my power of owning the bar, well, it would make things worse.
“Maria…” Jeff murmured.
“Your daughter is a big girl Jeff, and you cannot control her. She’s not eighteen anymore,” she sighed. “She has her own mind, and she will do what she wants.”
Obviously…
“I think I know that” Jeff muttered as Michael chose this time to walk down the stairs behind them. “Michael?” he said with politeness.
Acknowledging Jeff with a nod. “What is going here?” Michael asked. As he had taken a shower after early morning basketball game with Kyle. Because it had been a ritual even when Max had been around,
and something we had kept up so that we could talk about sensitive matters in a friendly game. After it finished up, he came home and found his wife still in bed. And he figured she needed her rest, so he hopped into the shower, and was surprised to see that she had awoken when he had gotten out and come back into the bedroom.
And heard the voices… so he had come to investigate and saw that Jeff Parker was talking to his wife, and the tone of the conversation was not an easy one. “Is there is a problem?”
“Yes, there is” Maria said softly. “Michael, Liz did not go home last night,” Maria murmured to her husband.
“Are you sure?” Michael asked, not sure if he was addressing the question to his wife or Jeff.
Jeff laughed for a moment, because it was a funny question, before of course the laughter died. “My place is not some palace,” Jeff sighed as he looked around at the home Michael and Maria shared together. “It’s pretty easy to know if my daughter came home or not,” he said softly. “She sleeps on the couch, so it’s very evident that she was not home this morning.”
“She’s sleeping on the couch?” Maria asked, slightly surprised. She could not really remember if she knew or not.
“She said she did not want her to sleep in her old room,” Jeff said softly. “I don’t know why not?”
“Memories,” Maria said softly and quickly because she got it. And because she was aware that Jeff was under the impression that Max was dead. Due to an event that had rocked this town.
Like everyone else in this town still assumes she thought, so it tempered what she could reveal. “A lot of memories of that bedroom is tied up with Max…”
“Oh,” Jeff said softly. “I don’t think I want to know…”
Maria could only smile. “You don’t have to worry it was all pretty G rated” she laughed. “Mostly,” she cracked.
Most of the “not” being much more than any sexual shenanigans she mused to herself.
Life would have been easier for them, if they had… “But still, because of what has gone down of late, she has a lot of memories, good and bad tied to that room, and her balcony.”
Jeff nodded. “So, Maria you especially, know why it’s so apparent that my daughter did not come home last night, and I called Jim, and he put some feelers out and found the car at your bar Maria, so I know she went there, but I figured she came here, with you at some point,” he asked. “Because she did not want to disturb her mother or I, and especially Callie.”
Maria only shook her head.
I wish she would have…
“So, where is my daughter?” Jeff asked.
“I wish I knew,” Maria said softly. “I really do wish I knew.”
“What is going on Maria?” Jeff asked. “Where is my daughter?’
“You know what is going on,” Maria murmured. “What more can I say. Jeff, she misses Max, and she’s been having a tough time coming to a grip with what has happened,” she said softly stopping because she knew she was hypocrite given all she did know, “It’s as simple as that,” was all she could repeat. “She is having a hard time.”
“Obviously, I know that” Jeff muttered. “So, I have to ask, is there something more that I am not aware of?”
“What do you mean?” Michael muttered, wondering if they were getting into a tricky situation. One that was perilous,
probably he and his wife would think.
“You know, I try not to notice” Jeff murmured as his patience had snapped. Because he knew something had to be up and there was so much that they were not telling me,
I have had too much experience with it to take it now.
“What do you mean?” Maria asked, this time.
“Everything,” Jeff muttered.
Maria and Michael waited for Jeff to go on, and for the other shoe to drop. As they did not know what Jeff was getting at.
It could be anything they knew.
“Whether it was the disagreement that you and my daughter were clearly having yesterday,” Jeff asked. “Or is the greater cause that I try to ignore,” he sighed. “That goes back to my daughter’s teen years. As well as yours Maria. Because I know something went on back then. I probably know more than you want me to do, and I mostly choose to ignore it and try to believe that it was all some imaginative teen drama because it has been easy to this past decade. With my daughter gone, and the nightmares lessening, but things are stirring up again. So, I have to ask if any of it plays into whatever was going on with my daughter?” Jeff asked. “And last night?”
Maybe Maria conceded, as she looked at her husband, and they sighed deeply. Because it is not that J
eff is ranting at us, she thought,
and bringing up a subplot that he should not even know about Maria murmured. Sure, she knew that Liz had sent her journal back home, but then everything happened the way it did, and they were back in Roswell before long. So, it was easy to allow it all to go away and ignore and move on like he would not know their deepest secrets. And have their parents operate under “Don’t ask, don’t tell” so she simply sighed and pretended that Jeff had not said what he had just said. “Yesterday was a private matter,” she muttered. “That is all I can say about it, Jeff, I wish I could, but I can’t.”
“Are you sure?” Jeff wondered.
“Yes, she is.” Michael said quickly and Jeff’s eyebrows were raised.
“Michael is right,” Maria murmured. “It is not on us to tell you what is going on with your daughter,” she sighed. “We had a disagreement. They happen, especially if you are as close as Liz and I have been, and we will get past it,” she said.
Hopefully she sighed because she was not so sure that she and Liz would be able to get past it. “It’s not something to get into right now. Because it does not give us any answers into what is going on now with Liz.”
“Where is my daughter?” Jeff asked, knowing full well that Maria and Michael were being secretive, it’s all so blatant.
“I wish I could tell you,” Maria murmured softly. “If I knew, I would have told you. As we have mentioned. Liz and I had that slight disagreement yesterday, and therefore I would be the last place she would want to come too, and she chose to come to my bar last night because she needed to drink. Maybe I should not have served her, but she was going to get around me. And I do know she was there at closing, but once we left ourselves, she was gone. And we assumed that she got into that cab that we heard had been called for her. So, we were left to believe that she was going home.”
“But she did not,” Jeff said.
“We know that
now,” Maria murmured.
We did not know it at the time. “So, I suggest that you give your daughter time. Because she needs time. For a whole host of reasons. Maybe she’s somewhere, some motel or something, sleeping it off. After all, she probably did not want to make noise by returning home, especially in the condition she was in, with you guys sleeping, and Callie. Because as you said, you have a small apartment. So, she went somewhere else. Which means that she will be home later. Once she wakes up. But if you would like it, Michael and I will look into it for you, if you want us too.”
“Can you?” Jeff said. “Tell her that her mother and I want her at home.”
Maria nodded.
“Thank you,” Jeff murmured. “I have to get back to the restaurant. I was only supposed to be getting the car. Nancy is supposed to be helping out at Callie’s school this afternoon” he muttered.
Maria nodded.
“If you find my daughter…” Jeff asked.
“I will make sure she gets home,” Maria murmured. “Personally”
Whether she likes it or not.
Jeff acknowledged the promise with a slight smile to say thank you. As he prepared to turn back to the door, but before he said. “About that other stuff I said…”
“Forget it,” Michael said quickly.
“A lot went down…” Jeff asked. “Us parents
do know things…”
“Yes, it did” Maria murmured. “And yes, we know…” she said as she glanced at her husband who nodded. “We appreciate the secrets that you have kept all these years. Knowledge that was known.”
Jeff sighed.
Why would we want to make waves when we knew the collateral damage he thought.
Our children, he would mutter to himself.
Lizzie was in the middle of it, and then she was gone, and so it was easy to go back to acting as if it was an ordinary group of people. “All I want is my daughter to be happy,” he said softly.
“That is all we want too” Maria murmured.
“She’s so unhappy,” Jeff commented as he turned to head for the door. “So, let me know if you find out anything” he said with a quickness as he departed from the house, and it only left Maria and Michael to look at each other.
“Space boy, the million dollar question,” Maria muttered. “Where is she? she asked. “Where is Liz?” she asked Michael.
I have no idea Michael murmured to himself. “She has to be somewhere here in town, some motel or something, right,” he asked. “It is a small town, right?” Michael asked. “And she happens to hate most of us, right now…”
for secrets kept.
Yes, I know. “Which makes you wonder…” Maria murmured.
Petunia, where the hell are you?
That was a good question.
*
Hours later,
And it was a question that was not easily solved because it was evident by the end of the day when Callie was returning home with her grandmother that Liz had vanished. If she was sleeping it off, no one close to her knew where she could be. The Sheriff department was alerted but there was little they could do before they gave the requisite hours to wait. After all, Jim had been burned once before when he went gung ho before he had cause too and certainly, he knew the players in this drama.
And he felt that if you gave Liz some time, she would eventually come back, he would tell his son and Maria when they called him up personally to intercede and at least have someone go out and look for her. Comb the woods or check the few town motels.
“Sorry,” Jim would say at the request. “I am sure she’s fine. You saw her, and she had some drinks…” he commented.
Drinks, which makes this all the more dangerous. Maria murmured. I know how she was when she was drunk at boarding school.
If I had not been there, who knows what might have happened, she told the air around her as she talked into the phone. “That is what I am afraid of,” Maria murmured. “She could be anywhere. She is mad at the world right now, and that makes it risky for her right now,” she muttered. “Liz is capable of everything when she’s feeling down on the world, and when it’s not making sense for her.” And so, yeah, when she’s down, then that is dangerous.
Jim sighed from his side of the conversation. “You are probably right, but I am stuck. Legally, I cannot do anything unless she’s missing longer, so if she does not show up by tomorrow, then yes, I will have someone go out” Jim reasoned. “But I have to remind you that I lost my job last time I got in the middle of something, when I should have waited, for more precise information.”
“That was different, and you know it” Maria murmured of the situation during junior year.
Isabel got the ID of the girl wrong… But she had a weak answer, and both of them knew it, and she knew deep down that Jim was right. Because assuming that Liz was sleeping it off, then putting manpower and department resources into something that was meaningless in the end would not help anything,
especially with Jim close to retirement.
But it did not mean Jim was not willing to help off the books, and so he and Michael went out, and did some looking. But they could find nothing.
Upsetting Maria more and more.
As she handed off opening, running the bar to her trusted deputy, and stayed close to home. Because he had a bad feeling that this would end up being a big drama.
So, Nancy and Callie returned to The Crashdown. They would see that Liz was still a no show. “Where is Mommy?” Callie asked her grandfather as she came downstairs once she was home. Ella and Noah were both at one of their practices, so, she was alone. And it was clear that she was worried about her mother. “You told me that she was out doing some errands?”
“She might be,” Jeff weakly said as he spent the afternoon in the restaurant, and in the backroom and making calls to the hotels around town, and outskirts, but no one resembling his Lizzie had asked for a room.
“All day?” Callie asked.
“There are errands that can take up your day,” Jeff murmured, weakly.
“Mommy is not like that,” Callie murmured. “She always makes time for me,” she muttered.
Until she didn’t, she thought of the last three months.
When Mommy has been a funk.
“Your mother is fine,” Jeff said softly as the door opened, and he breathed a sense of relief because his granddaughter would have a diversion from the answers that he was unable to give her. “Looks like Noah is here.”
“Really?” Callie asked as she turned. “Hey,” she said softly as she smiled at Noah. “I thought you had swim practice?”
“It was cancelled at the last minute,” Noah murmured. “Ella has her dance lesson, so Aunt Isabel is picking her up, so I am supposed to wait for them to come. Uncle Kyle might show up, but he seems to be busy.”
“Why?” Callie asked.
“With something regarding your mother,” Noah said as she looked at Callie’s grandfather.
“What is this about my mother?” Callie asked.
Interceding quickly, “How about you go over to the booth,” Jeff said softly as he wanted to get the kids away from talking.
Because it could be anything. “Look at a menu or something…”
“Do you know what is going on with my mother?” Callie asked, obviously on the scent of something because it was more than a little clear that the adults around her knew more than they were willing to tell her. She was too smart to take the “errand” excuse at face value,
sure she might have gone out, but I know my mom, and she would have been back by now. So, yeah, she knew the adults were deliberately keeping her in the dark.
“You probably don’t have to worry about that…” Jeff said quickly as he walked the kids over to the booth. “Right, Noah?” he asked because the last thing he wanted was for his granddaughter to be overly concerned.
Too late.
“Right,” Noah said as Jeff nodded, and walked off.
Callie only grumbled. “Why won’t they tell me what is going on?” she muttered as she and Noah sat in the booth, and she looked over at her friend. “I know something is up,” she sighed. “They are keeping something from me about my mother.”
“Probably because something is
probably up,” Noah murmured as he remembered how the house was buzzed with activity when he got home from school, and his botched lesson only to see that his uncle was very upset about something, and he heard curses from both him and his aunt about Callie’s mother. “They won’t tell me either what is going on, which is why I came here, while Aunt Isabel went to pick up my sister.”
Callie nodded. “I don’t know where my mother is?” she muttered.
“Maybe she is with my father,” Noah muttered, half in jest and maybe half seriously, and a look of instant alarm flew onto Callie’s face.
Oh shit…