Taken

Part 10

Quinn's POV:
Within seconds, someone came to the door. It was a tight lipped woman with light blonde hair pulled back in a bun. She was wearing a bright red blazer and had pearls draped around her neck. I immediately recognized her as Myra Walters, she was a famous fashion designer. I glanced at Luke who was staring with his mouth hanging open. I realized I was gaping at her too.
"May I help you?" she said with a condescending tone, looking me up and down. I was suddenly self conscious about my hollister hoodie and my dirty chuck taylor's.
"Oh hi, um I was looking for Cara Walters," I said trying not to stutter, "but I must have the wrong house." I looked at her apologetically and started to turn away.
"Wait a moment," she said, not moving from her position in the doorframe, "you must be referring to my daughter Caroline."
"Oh, yeah I think so, is she here?" I asked.
"No, she's away at college." Mrs. Walters said.
"I know, I'm Cara's roommate at NYU," I explained, "She told me she went home because your husband had a stroke."
"Heavens no," she said, looking completely appalled, "My husband is fine. And Caroline hasn't been here since we threw her out."
"Why was she thrown out, if you don't mind?" I asked, hoping to get some answers. Mrs. Walters stared at Luke and I for a moment.
"Hm," she started, contemplating, "Why don't you kids come in."

She gestured inside and we followed her into a large foyer. There were two spiral staircases and a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "This way," she said and we came to a large sitting area. "Please sit." Luke and I sat down on a sofa across from Mrs. Walters. I looked at her intently, waiting for her to start talking.
"Caroline had a drug problem," she said, my stomach dropped, "when we found out she was stealing money from the family trust to pay for her marijuana addiction, we threw her out." I stared at Mrs. Walters, mortified. I looked over at Luke and grabbed his hand. I couldn't believe Cara never said anything about this to me.
"Do you have any idea why she might have left campus then?" I asked.
"I really don't," she said, "maybe you could ask Leo, he still keeps in touch with her." She called for Leo and a guy with brown hair and bright blue eyes came into the room.
"Hey mom," he said. His voice was smooth and deep, "Who's this?" he asked, glancing at Luke and I. Before she could answer I spoke up.
"I'm Quinn and this is Luke," I explained, "we're friends of Cara's er -- Caroline's I guess." I continued talking, "She disappeared a few days ago and told me she was at home, but since she isn't here we're staring to get worried." He looked at me with a weird expression on his face.
"Okay, we can talk upstairs." he said, and we followed him up the spiral staircase.

"So she just went missing?" he asked, starting to look very worried.
"Right," I said, "I got a weird call and text, and figured I could come and make sure she was alright."
"Quinn heard a gun," Luke chipped in referring to the phonecall I got from Cara, it was the first time he spoke the whole time we were here.
"Okay," he said, uncertainly, "Do you have the text?" I handed over my phone and he read the text. "Odd," he said as he plugged my phone into a computer.
"Um what are you doing," I said, I don't even know this guy and he's doing whatever he wants with my phone.
"I'm going to track where the phone is right now," he typed quickly on the keyboard. "That's weird, I can't get a specific location, but it's definitely in the New York area." I was shocked, how could that be.
"So you think it's still on campus?" I asked.
"Sure looks like it." he said, "He said you heard a gun?" Leo said, looking over at Luke.
"Yeah, when she call me it sounded like there was a gun click." I explained.
"Did you find anything that might be able to tell us where she is." Leo asked. I suddenly remembered I brought a bag with Cara's laptop in it. I got out her laptop and handed it to him. Luckily it was charged, and he logged into it.
"I'm sorry, where's your bathroom?" Luke asked, interrupting.
"Down the hall, the first door on the left. You'll see it." Leo instructed. Luke walked out of the room and we heard the bathroom door close. Leo was going through Cara's laptop for a good 10 minutes and all of a sudden his clicking stopped just as Luke walked back into the room.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to get a look at the screen.
"There's an e-mail," Leo said, "It was sent just a few minutes ago." I leaned forward to read it. "I thought I told you to stay out of Cara's business," the e-mail read. We all looked at each other. "Holy shit," Luke said, "Someone's watching us."