Ray was so happy to have all his kit with him again, it was hilarious. He kept pulling out jars and instruments and making happy noises, waving things in the air when he was particularly pleased to see them.
"I hope Pete didn't open any of these," he said, indicating the jars with the red 'DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU ARE RAY TORO' labels on them. "But he can always call me if any part of him starts falling off, I guess."
Gerard looked up from where he was making out with his books. "Did anyone find my cell yet?"
"Here," Bob tossed it to him.
"You can use the landline," Craig said, but Gerard was already on the way out of the room, with his cell pressed to his ear.
Mikey watched him go, looking troubled. "I hope the Cardinal isn't too mad."
Frank took another enormous bite of his sandwich. "Isn't it against his religion?" he said with his mouth full, then took advantage of Mikey's distraction to sneak a couple of his chips. "I'm sure it's fine, dude."
"How is it fine?" Mikey wanted to know. He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "After everything that went down, he just ran away? What if they fire him?"
Frank swallowed his mouthful and picked up his soda. "Am I supposed to think that would suck?"
"Don't be such an asshole," Mikey said, moving pointedly away from Frank.
"I'm not!" Frank protested, but then Gerard came back into the room, looking like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"I only got to speak to him for a few seconds," he said before they could ask, "But I think everything's okay. He said he'll call me back and we can talk about it more."
"What did you even tell him?" Ray asked.
Gerard shrugged. "The truth. I freaked out. He told me not to blame myself, and-" his eyes flickered to Frank for a second, "To reassure you all that he only has our best interests at heart."
Frank snorted. "If you say so."
"I do say so," Gerard replied sharply. "Our best shot at figuring this out is with his help, Frank."
Frank disagreed with that so hard he almost laughed, but he bit it back and concentrated on eating.
"I just don't even know where to start," Brian said now, looking glumly at the giant 'To Do' list he'd written. "How the hell do you find missing kids who may or may not be mixed up in a cult when you can't involve the police?"
"Private investigator?" Ray suggested.
Bob gave him a look. "We are private investigators."
"Yeah, but we suck at it," Frank said truthfully. "Does anyone even know their last name?"
"Allia," Gerard and Brian said at the same time, like, way to make Frank feel like a shit.
"Um," said Craig then, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. "I might be able to help."
Brian looked unconvinced. "Craig, we're so grateful for everything you've done for us, but this is really-"
"I was going to help them anyway," Craig cut him off. "Remember? I'm invested now. Look, if I can't turn anything up, there's no harm done, is there? Let me try, come on. I can help you."
"You're already helping," Brian said, and looked at Gerard, who was smiling a little.
"We always find ourselves people who want to help," he said. "It's almost like we were meant to meet you."
