Chapter 11
Sunday night, Luke and his boyfriends headed to his house, and Julie and Flynn went to the Molinas. Reggie opted to stay with Nick. They had a bad feeling in their gut and wanted to stay close to him.
Monday morning, Julie and the others were waiting outside the school for Reggie and Nick. But by the end of first period, they still weren’t there. Julie was chewing her lip, and Alex kept trying to tell her that they probably just decided to call in sick. Willie couldn’t take the worry gnawing at his stomach, so he called Reggie. When it went to voicemail, he called Nick, but he didn’t get a response there either. Willie was starting to panic. He tried one more time, calling Nick’s papa. This time someone answered.
“Willie? Aren’t you in class?”
“Hey Mister Carlson!” Everyone whipped their heads around to face Willie as he pressed the phone to his ear, “We were just wondering if Nick and Reggie decided to stay home today.”
“Stay home? I’ve been home all morning, they left hours ago.” A cold feeling started to settle in Willie’s gut. “Give me a sec to run up to his room and check.” Willie waited patiently, only half hearing Chad talking about the game yesterday. “They aren’t in his room, are you sure they aren’t at school?”
“Call Ryan.” Willie answered, “They haven’t been in today. We’re on our way.” Willie hung up before Chad could argue. “They aren’t home. His papa said they left hours ago.”
Alex started to hyperventilate, but they were all surprised when Julie’s face creased with anger. “If I find out Lily and Robert had anything to do with this, I’m gonna nail them to the wall myself.”
Luke muttered under his breath, “Remind not to piss Julie off.” He turned his attention to Alex as they bailed out of class. None of their parents would be happy about it later, but they knew they could get them to understand the situation. Nick’s car was definitely gone when they got to his house.
Willie got back into his van, sending the girls and Alex inside to check everything out, he and Luke drove down the road, the route they knew Nick liked to take if he wanted to take his time. They found his car off to the side of the road. “What the hell?” Willie pulled over, and he and Luke raced to the car, the passenger door was still open. “This is bad. This is really bad.” Willie swatted Luke’s hands away. “Don’t touch anything. I’m calling my mom.” Luke nodded, Willie’s mom was a cop. That could help them figure out what to do.
When Missus Stewart pulled up, she had a newbie detective with her. Willie forgot she was training someone. “Mom!” He ran over, having explained ditching school on the phone, “We left his car how we found it, but you should know that we’re pretty sure we know who took them.”
“Names?” She pulled out her notepad, but Willie blanked.
“Julie said their names but I don’t remember.”
“Lily and Robert Shada.” Luke filled in for him, chewing on his thumb. “They are bad people. They’ve put Reggie in the hospital so many times.” Luke started sobbing, tears slipping down his cheeks. Willie ran over, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. A car screeched to a stop behind them, Ray and the rest of the kids running out of it.
“Ray, what are you doing here?” Missus Stewart asked.
“Reggie is my child.” Ray answered, tears of his own pooling in his eyes. “Nick is their boyfriend. God, this is all my fault.”
“No, dad.” Julie pleaded, “You couldn’t have known they would do something like this.”
“Who are the Shadas exactly?” The younger detective asked.
“Reggie’s biological parents.” Julie answered as she consoled her dad. “They used to abuse Reggie, my dad got custody after the last hospital trip they put them through.”
“You keep saying ‘their’ and ‘them’.” The detective prompted.
Julie nodded, “Reggie is gender fluid.”
“We need a biological gender for the amber alert.” He said gruffly, clearly not liking the statement.
Julie narrowed her eyes, “Reggie is gender fluid. If you need a biological gender, just leave it blank.”
Missus Stewart glared at the detective, a look Willie knew meant ‘we’ll talk about this behavior later’, before turning to Julie, “So the Shadas knew your dad had Reggie?” Julie shook her head.
“I don’t think they were ever notified of who got custody. They came once after Reggie moved in, but I hid Reggie in my room and our dad told them we had no idea where they were.”
“Okay. Why don’t you kids head somewhere safe? We’re gonna have to call crime scene down here to check the car out.”
“Don’t be surprised if you find our prints.” Willie told her, “All us kids have ridden in his car at some point.”
“We’ll keep that in mind. You’ll probably all have to give exclusionary prints.” They nodded before she urged them away. Julie knew something was right about them taking Nick and Reggie. She knew they didn’t want Nick, but she couldn’t put her finger on what bothered her.