"Thanks." Matt said, hanging up the phone and turning towards his parents. Brian sat patiently, waiting for Matt to finish his call but Nora, she hadn't stopped pacing since Matt stormed back into the office the day before.
"What do you mean her car in the garage?" Nora asked when Matt finally made an appearance.
"It's in the garage." He said calmly, "and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, either."
That was Matt's first rational thought. Maybe she'd had car trouble and left it here overnight, and so he'd driven all the way to her apartment and knocked incessantly. She wasn't home. He would have called Ruth's school, if only he knew what school Bobby had enrolled her in but even if he did- they wouldn't just give him the information.
When he made it back to the office, he called the police. That was a joke. As much as he tried to explain that she wouldn't have abandoned the car, that she wouldn't have missed work without calling, they would not consider her a missing person. She hadn't even been missing 24 hours and well, no one was a relative or next of kin.
"What did he say?" Nora asked, turning to look at him. "I can't believe this."
"He said he's going to do his best." Matt said with a sigh.
"This is outrageous. Let me know as soon as you have any information from your guy- I have a couple of friends downtown and I'll make sure they step in." Brian said. He'd already made a few calls and was trying to get the police to take the case seriously.
"I just don't get it. Where could she be? Do you... do you think someone took her?" Nora said, trying not to let panic sink in.
"I don't know." Matt said. He hadn't been much for words since he realized what was going on.
"Maybe we're panicking. Bobby is a very smart, very practical girl." Emma chimed in but Nora sighed.
"Which is why this worries me. Bobby would never just miss work and in the off chance that she was sick, why not answer her phone? Or the door? Why is her car here?" Nora replied.
"Hey, relax. Okay, try to calm down." Brian said, standing and moving towards Nora. "It's not going to help us or her to panic."
"I know... I just, I wish we knew." Nora said.
"We all do." Brian said. "I can't believe we don't have the surveillance cameras in the garage."
"I know." Nora said. "It just... I guess it just never occurred to us."
"What about at east entrance?" Matt asked suddenly, making Brian and Nora turn to him.
"There should be one at the door." Nora said with a frown. "But it doesn't look into the garage, it doesn't even get the garage exit."
"No but it gets a shot of the street." Matt said, making her raise her brow.
"But that's a one way street." Brian said, making Nora look at him.
"But what would we be looking for?" Nora said, "I doubt we'll be able to see into any passing cars."
Brian moved back towards his desk and began to open the security program.
"Your mother's right. We probably won't get much more than a few blurry images of cars." Brian said as he accessed the right file. They weren't even sure if there was anything to be looking for at this point.
"Just let me look." Matt said, practically pushing his father aside. Nora and Brian looked at each other, it was obvious that Matt was very distressed.
"Matt." Brian said, as Matt stared at the screen.
"Hold on." Matt said.
"Matt, let me do it, you're going too fast." Brian said, trying to scoot back in but Matt suddenly stopped and pointed to the screen.
"There." He said, making Brian and Nora lean in.
"What?" Nora asked, trying to make out the image of a car.
"I know that car." Matt said, making Brian look at him.
"Emma, where do you keep the list of parking passes." Brian said, understanding. It was part of their security protocol that all employees register their vehicle make, model and license plate number in order to get a parking pass.
"It's on the administrative drive. You'll need to enter your password to view it." She said.
A few minutes later, Brian was typing in a partial plate number, hoping something would pull up. Nothing.
"Fuck." Matt said loudly, turning on his heel and moving away. "FUCK."
Nora moved towards him, putting her hand on his back and trying to get him to calm down.
"Matt, please. We'll find her, we'll figure it out." Nora said.
"I can't just sit around waiting. There has to be something." Matt said. "Did you check ex employees?"
Brian stared for a second before turning back to the computer. There it was.
"Is it him?" Matt asked.
"Listen, we need to be calm." Brian said but that was all Matt needed to hear, he'd already stormed out.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Nora said, turning to Brian. "Go make sure my son doesn't get himself killed!"
---
"This is officially the dumbest thing anyone has ever done." Bobby said as she watched Michael cooking. "Why the fuck would you mess up your life this way? over me? Seriously? I'm not that special."
"I already told you, I like having you around." He said simply.
"How can you be so calm? It's called kidnapping. You literally kidnapped me and my sister." Bobby said. "And it doesn't change anything... I'm still not into you."
It was so strange to be having this conversation but they'd had it over and over since he picked them up. Michael was way too calm about the whole thing. Bobby felt like he'd completely lost touch with reality... and over her?
"She's so beautiful." He said, changing the subject and glancing over at her sister, who was seated on the sofa, watching television. It was the most bizarre thing. Except for the part where they both had their hands and legs tied, you might even think that they were visiting with a friend. "She doesn't look a thing like you."
"It happens." Bobby said with a shrug. "Can you run this entire plan by me one more time? I'm just trying to wrap my head around it."
"I really don't feel like talking about it right now, Bobby. I would rather have a nice lunch, if you don't mind." He said, turning off the stove and beginning to separate the food onto different plates.
"I'd like to be untied, I'd like to be at work. I'd like to have been able to take my sister to the doctor. She's been very sick." Bobby said.
"I already told you that I'll take her to a clinic if she promises to behave." Michael said.
"We will." Bobby said.
"Not you." He replied.
"Because she's more likely to behave if she knows I still have you here." Michael said.
"Well, sorry if it sounds rude but I don't trust you alone with my 15 year old sister." Bobby said and Michael sighed.
"Bobby, haven't you figured out, it's you I want." Michael said, placing a plate in front of her. She frowned, watching as he left the room and came back seconds later. He was dragging Ruth along, holding her arm tightly as she tried to hop so she wouldn't fall.
"Dude, I'm a 15 year old girl. What are you so afraid of?" Ruth asked as he practically pushed her into a chair. "Just untie me."
"So you can run? No thank you." Michael said.
"At least my hands so I can eat." Ruth said, "you'll be watching me the whole time."
"Michael, what's the point of all this? Are you just going to keep me here forever? Did you know that you're under investigation? Eventually, the police will show up to arrest you for that." Bobby said and Michael laughed.
"They must have been surprised when they saw the numbers." Michael said.
"How much did you take?" Ruth asked.
"Only what was fair." He said.
"I can't believe you even risked coming back for me." Bobby said with a shake of the head. "You should have left while you still had the chance."
"You're worth it." Michael said, reaching out to touch her face but Bobby quickly snapped her teeth as if she would bite him.
"Don't start, Michael. I told you what would happen if you try touching me." Bobby said.
"You'll get over that eventually." He said.
"When they find us you're going to be in so much trouble." Bobby said with a shake of the head.
"No one is going to find us. Besides, we're leaving as soon as I can get another car." He said, making Bobby frown. She knew they needed to get away before he tried taking them out of Manhattan. "Right now, the Carltons are probably a lot more stressed out trying to find the money they think I took. They probably haven't even realized you're missing yet."
Bobby raised her brow.
"What do you mean think? You took the money, you're the only person who had access to those accounts." Bobby said.
"You're right but all I did was move the money from one place to the next." He said, "When they finish their audit, they'll realize that the CFO just made a mistake and transferred funds to the wrong business account."
"You're joking?" Bobby asked. "WHY?"
"I needed something to keep them busy." Michael said.
"Just to take me? Are you completely out of your mind?" Bobby asked.
Michael sighed, turning to Ruth.
"What are you looking at?" Ruth asked and Michael smiled.
"She can't come with us." Michael said, turning to Bobby. "We're going to want to be alone."
"I'm not going anywhere without her. You'll have to kill me." Bobby said.
"No, Bobby. We're not doing anything that dramatic. Listen, You and I are going to Mexico and on the way there, we can stop in on your parents. After all, a girl this young should be with her mother." Michael said.
"Michael- Why do you want me this badly? Just let us go and Ruth and I will pretend like this never happened." Bobby said, looking at his wrist. Her bracelet was dangling on it, shining brightly. He'd taken it from her, and that's why Matt said those things. "You can have your life back."
"Bobby, I want you. That's all that matters." Michael said. "You'll come around to it. Trust me."
"Not likely." Bobby said, leaning back in the chair.
"Give it..." Michael began to say but just then, Ruth pushed herself up from the chair full force, leaping onto him and knocking him on the ground.
"Ruth!" Bobby cried out, confused by what was happening as she watched her baby sister reach over for a plate only to immediately begin hitting Michael over the face with it repeatedly. When it broke, she reached up again, this time grabbing the pot Michael had placed there and hitting him repeatedly as he covered his head with his arms.
"You. Crazy. Bastard." Ruth starting yelling between whacks. "We. don't. have. time... for this rich people, crazy stalker bullshit."
"Ruth!" Bobby yelled out but she kept going.
"We're poor." Ruth said, hitting him again, "I'm sick, Bobby has an old car, we. don't. even live. in. Manhattan."
"Ruth stop!" Bobby yelled.
"I. take. the bus for over. an. hour." She said, hitting him a few more times before she stopped.
Michael wasn't moving and now, with the ties around her wrist loosened, Ruth wiggled them off, freeing herself. When she'd untied her feet, she moved back all the way to the wall, leaning against it, trying to catch her breath.
"and you're not the first crazy son of a bitch we've had to deal with." Ruth said, remembering all the times she had to defend herself against some creep.
"Oh my god." Bobby muttered, staring down at his motionless body. Bobby slid off the chair and onto the floor.
"Here... Let me..." Ruth began to say, standing to walk over and help Bobby but just then Michael reached out to Ruth.
"God damn it." Bobby said, picking up the discarded pot and hitting him as hard as she could on the side of the head. "Stay the fuck down."
Then, Bobby and Ruth stared at each other for several minutes, trying to understand everything that happened.
"Is he dead?" Ruth asked.