Red

Chapter 20

Mike

I practically exploded into the phone.

"Oh, no no no no no no no no, you're not going anywhere, little sis. You probably can't even walk with that new leg!"

"I can learn! Mike, I want to help. He's my boyfriend."

"Yes, he is, I'm not denying that. I'm just saying you can't come. You're too weak. You just lost a limb. I'm not letting you get out of bed anytime soon."

"You're practically on the other side of town, it's not like you can stop me!"

She got me there. I couldn't stop her. But someone else can.

"I'll call back in a few minutes."

"No no no no, don't you dare hang–"

I hung up.

I quickly dialed the other number, waiting impatiently as it took forever to pick up.

"Fray Hospital, how may we help you?"

"Hi, um, who is the doctor in charge of patient Clarissa Bittani?"

"Dr. Morgan is busy with another patient at the moment. May I take a message?"

"Yes, tell her I have reason to believe Clarissa will try to escape. I'm her brother and I was just talking on the phone with her when she threatened to leave the hospital. She just had her leg amputated so that's not exactly a good idea."

"Of course. I will deliver your message to her immediately."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

I canceled the call and called Clarissa again. She's going to really mad.

"Mike! What the hell did you do?"

"Nothing, nothing...I just called the hospital."

"And why did you do that?"

"To warn them that you might try to leave. You're not ready."

Clarissa swore colorfully on her end of the phone. She hung up.

"Well that went well," I said, putting my phone back into my pocket.

"Hey, at least you don't have to worry about her now. She'll be fine, Mike." Marley placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. We were at his place, trying to figure out where Nate's father would be keeping him. My first guess would be his house, but we didn't know where he lived. I had planned on asking Clarissa but I didn't get a chance to. So, now we were searching through the phone books trying to find them.

"I got 'em," Marley shouted, but them his face immediately fell. "There's, like, two hundred Nate Walker's in here. Do we show up at every single house? I'm not calling anyone."

I thought for a second. An idea popped into my head.

"Which address is the farthest away from town?"

"Uh, this one, number seventy-two on the list. Why?"

"Think about it. If you're abusing your kid and torturing him or whatever, you don't want any neighbors around to possibly witness it. You'd want to be as far from civilization as possible. Get it?"

"Oh yeah. That makes sense."

"Hurry, copy down the address and let's go!"