No Shame (Book 2 - No Regrets)

Chapter Sixty-Five - Needle Meet Haystack

DOMINICK'S POV

"Katie is missing." That is a sentence I never wanted to hear, feared I would hear.

"How long has she been missing?" I ask scrambling over to the front door.

"We don't know. She was gone when I went to say goodnight. That was an hour ago. Her cellphone and backpack is in her bedroom." Dad answers, I hear the panic in his voice.

I take a deep breath, I have to be strong. "If her cellphone and backpack are there, she probably didn't run away. She might be taking a walk and lost track of time." I say as calmly as I can muster. "I'm going to make a couple calls, see if anyone might know something. Call me back if you hear anything. I'll call you back soon."

"Okay. Yeah, we'll keep each other in the loop."

After I hang up, I'm immediately calling Tyde. She answers fairly quickly, I don't conceal my panic when filling her in on the situation. She, like I did for Dad, speaks in a calm voice, "Can you get in touch with any of her friends?" She asks.

"Aside from private messaging their social media, no. But I'm not friends with them so even doing that, there's no guarantee they'll see it immediately." I hover over my computer. "Maybe I can try to log in to her profile?"

"No, if you get it wrong too many times it will lock the profile for a whole day." Tyde says. "I'll drive around. Can you think of anywhere she might go?"

"No." I answer defeated. "I should drive around too."

"Don't, Mollie is sleeping and Katie may show up. Stay put, I'll keep you updated."

"You're right... and same. I'll keep you updated."

We hang up, I set my phone down on the bed beside me. My head is spinning. Katie, what are you doing?

I scroll through her friends list, trying to see if anyone stands out. She didn't pull away from just our parents and I, she stopped hanging out with her friends. That Sawyer kid and her broke up, he probably wouldn't know anything. His cousin! What was his name?

My phone rings. I nearly dive for it, my hands are shaking and fumbling as I try to answer. "Hello? Katie, is that you?" I rush out.

"No, I'm sorry." Linkon says on the other end. My shoulder sag in disappointment. "Tyde just called me. I'm already working on getting in touch with those guys, Sawyer and Christopher." Yes, Christopher! That's the name.

"Thank you."

"Here, I got it. Do you want me to send it to you?" I can a woman's voice in the background.

"Yeah, I'll forward it over." Linkon says to them. "Okay Dominick, you should get the information soon." Linkon says to me.

"Great." I say.

  A minute later, my phone buzzes with the message from Linkon. I call the Christopher kid first. He doesn't answer the first time I call. However, he picks up quickly when I call a second time.

"Hello?" His voice is firm. "Who is this?"

"It's Dominick Benji. Katie's older brother. This is Christopher, right? Her friend."

"Yeah." The sternness in his voice drops. "Why? What's happened?"

"She's currently missing, has been for an hour and a half. At least. She doesn't have her phone. I'm calling to see if you know anything."

"N-n-no, I don't." He stammers in shock. "But I'll see if I can find someone who does."

"Okay, call me back if you hear anything.