Arachnia #Featured

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

by sloanranger

Two days before their return home, they were getting ready for dinner when the phone rang. It was a call from Tom Rettig.

Elaine answered the phone. "It's Tom," she said.

After a moment Tom heard her say: "What do you mean, missing?"

The look on his wife's face caused Steve to take the phone. "What's going on Tom?"

"Billy's missing," Tom said. "He didn't come home from school yesterday afternoon and Cassie's out of her mind."

"That's odd, "Steve said. "Where could he have gone to?"

Steve listened, punctuating every minute or so with, "When," "Uh, huh," and "All right. I'll call you in a couple of hours." When he hung up he turned to a very anxious Elaine, who was looking at him with an intense expression.

"Billy didn't come home for school yesterday. Cass called the school and all his friends, and then finally went to the school and found out he'd been dismissed at the usual time. No one seemed to know anything else.

"The Mays knew that the Rettig house was close enough to the school, that Billy didn't need the school bus most days - he walked. If the weather was bad, if he was late or missed the bus, Cassie drove him.

"Have they called the Police?"

"Yes, about seven, last night."

"The Police tried to reassure Cassie. They said he might just be over at some friend's house and just forgotten to call."

"Billy wouldn't do that," Elaine said. "You know how over-protective Cass is. Billy knows it too; he knows his mother would be a nervous wreck if he didn't call."

"Yeah. They told Tom and Cassie to try and not worry. But privately they told Tom that they thought Billy was too young to be a runaway. His home life seemed okay and if that were true, he didn't fall into the troubled teen category."

"We have to go home, Steve; Cass will be frantic."

"Yeah, I know. I told Steve I'd get back with him. I'll call the airline and see if we can get an early flight back."

There had been no word yet about Billy when Steve called the Rettigs back and the couple were able to get a 4:00 PM flight out that afternoon for the mainland.

They had already exchanged cards with Ted and Millie, but Steve and Elaine felt they had developed a relationship with the couple so when Steve told them why they had to leave early, promises were made to contact each other upon their return home.

"If there's anything we can do to help, don't hesitate to call," Ted said. "And I'll get hold of Mark, the physician I told you about and tell him to expect a call from you or Elaine.

With the time difference, they landed at LAX at 3:00 AM and took a shuttle home. Steve was tempted to call Tom but decided to wait until a more reasonable hour of the morning.

Neither of them wanted to get out of bed the next day, but Steve rousted himself and staggered to the kitchen to make the coffee. He took an aspirin for his headache, and brought coffee to Elaine in bed. Did she want an aspirin, too?

"No thanks, Babe. What time is it?"

"Nine o'clock." He had the phone in his hand.

"Four hours is not enough sleep, Steve."

"I know. I'm calling right now."

After a minute, Tom picked up.

"It's Steve, Tom. Any news?" Silence.

"When?"

"Yeah. What time?" Elaine looked at him with a questioning expression. Steve nodded, covered the mouthpiece and whispered, "He's home, he's all right."

Elaine took a deep breath and softly let it out.

Steve returned to Tom. "Did he say what happened?"

"Uh, uh. Thank God he's home, anyway. Look, we haven't had any sleep Tom. I'll get back to you later. Okay?"

"Sure," he said and replaced the receiver.

"What's happening?" Elaine said.

"Billy came walking in this morning safe and sound and won't say anything about where he was."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm repeating exactly what Tommy said."

"But that's not like Billy. He's a pretty responsible kid."

"So we all thought. Let's not worry about it for now, Sweetheart. I need some more Z's and so do you."

"You shouldn't have made coffee," she said.

"We haven't drank much." He took her cup and set it on the nightstand. "Maybe just enough. Scoot over," Steve said. He leaned over, grabbed her lips with his mouth and held them with a kiss until he was laying beside her.

(To be continued).