Changed Direction

Changed Direction Part 18

Chapter 18: George

I am standing in the airport, tapping my foot nervously against the marbled tile floor. There are three police officers here with me, including Officer Mike. The female officer is also tapping her foot, but she's annoyed more than nervous. She's been checking the weather on her phone constantly, monitoring the snow in Nebraska. It's holding everything up. We are waiting for Rosa and Vincent Parke to arrive, but their plane is delayed. They couldn't catch a flight sooner because it was snowing in Lincoln yesterday and Monday, and even today their flight took off late due to ice on the runway. It hasn't started snowing in Indiana yet, but the temperature is staying about the same. Too cold for comfort.

The phone conversation I had with Emilia's parents is still playing in my mind. That may have been the longest talk I've ever had with anyone. It lasted only a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity.

"Hello?" I ask nervously into the phone. A woman's voice is on the other end.

"Hi, George?" Rosa sounds confused. "Is everything alright? How's Emilia?"

"Um, not good, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" the mother's voice sharpens. "George, what's wrong with my daughter?"

I swallow nervously. How do you tell a mother that her child is missing? Emilia is the only child she has. Rosa and her husband had already lost Emilia once, when she ran away to Los Angeles. Now I have to tell them that once again, their daughter is missing. This time, however, she didn't leave a note. We don't know for sure that she ran away.

"I don't know how to tell you this, Rosa." My breathe catches in my throat. "Emilia is missing."

Rosa gasps on the other end. I hear the muffled sound of her shouting to someone. "Vincent, get over here! George says Emilia is gone!"

The girl's father is on the phone in a heartbeat. His voice is rough and I can detect anger in his words. "What do you mean my daughter is gone? Weren't you supposed to be watching her?"

Not every second of every day! She's not a child. She doesn't need me all the time. Her parents won't understand that, though. "She didn't want me hanging around during her meet-and-greet, so I was talking with some of the stage crew. Emilia sent me a text afterwards saying she was going out with a friend for a little bit and that I wasn't to worry."

"Friend?" Vincent questions incredulously. "Emilia's only ever been to Indianapolis when she's been on tour. She doesn't have friends there."

"It was probably a fan," I reply weakly.

Rosa's voice is shrill in the background. "My baby's been kidnapped! I just know it! Some crazy fan's taken her!"

"Calm down, calm down," Vincent orders harshly. I can hear his heavy breathing as he thinks. "She ran away once before. Maybe she did that again. Was she unhappy? Was she stressed?"

"I don't know," I admit.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" her father yells into the phone. "You're with her all the time! You know her better than we do! How do you not know if my daughter is unhappy?"

I have no reply to this. There's really no way I can answer.

Rosa's voice sounds on the phone again. "We're coming right away, George. Vincent and I will be on the first flight out of Lincoln. We are coming to find our baby. We can't go through this again."