Paybacks

Alan had a very bad feeling about this.  Something was wrong, wrong, wrong.  The day had started off with a high.  It was a Friday afternoon.  Alan left work early and picked up Geoff from school.  They had already made an appointment with the Department of Motor Vehicles to get Geoff’s driver’s license. Geoff had been ecstatic.  He had passed the course in his Freshman year and was just waiting for his birthday to get that full license so he could drive without an adult in the car.  Alan knew how much he had been waiting for that.  He also knew there was a shiny new pickup truck with his name on it that his grandparents would be giving him soon. 

After they arrived home, Geoff had asked if he could drive over to see his girlfriend.  He planned to take her out tonight to celebrate.  It was the first time they could go without a parent or an older teen who could drive.  Alan had handed the boy the keys with a smile and then pulled his credit card out of his wallet and handed that over too.  The Corvette would need some gas.  In fact, knowing how excited Geoff was, they would probably cruise around all evening and he would have to fill it up twice.  Geoff had leaped on his father, giving him a fierce hug, then headed out.  Alan could hear the Corvette peeling out as it hit the asphalt at the end of their private gravel road.

Tori drove up in the little pink Volkswagon Beetle that her grandparents had given her the month before with Robbie, Sam and Chrissy and they volunteered to go get pizza and a couple of movies for the evening.  Tori had a date, but wasn’t being picked up until nearly eight, so she was planning to hang out here until time to go home and get ready.  Melissa was the last to arrive with Susie in tow.  Susie’s school ended later than the high school the other four attended, and she had dance lessons afterwards.  Mel had worked it out with another mother who took the kids to dance and she picked them up.  They had also gone shopping for a birthday present for one of Susie’s friends.  She would be going to a party the next morning.  Tomorrow night, Melissa had already planned a family party for Geoff’s birthday.

The family was busy all evening.  Tori and Sam left, and Susie was on and off the phone.  Melissa was baking a birthday cake that her mother had promised to help decorate when they arrived in the morning.  Alan made popcorn and watched the two Terminator movies that Robbie had rented, then he and Robbie took Chrissy home.  He really expected Geoff to be home when he returned, but the Corvette wasn’t in the garage yet. 

Robbie asked his father to play a couple of video games, so Alan went up to the play room with him.  After being beaten soundly in three different games, Mel came by in a chaste robe, stood behind Robbie and showed some leg.  Alan admitted defeat and left Robbie to his gaming.  They checked on Susie, who was sound asleep with a phone in one hand and a teddy bear in the other.  They removed the phone, tucked her under the covers and headed to their own room, leaving the stairway light on for Geoff. 

Alan hadn’t intended to sleep.  When Melissa curled into his arms with a satisfied sigh, he held her close and lay awake in the dark room listening for the sound of his eldest son returning for the evening.  When the grandfather clock in the study downstairs struck two, he realized that he had dropped off to sleep.  Surely Geoff was home and had just forgotten to turn off the hall light.

He tried not to wake Melissa as he slipped out of bed.  She turned over with a soft sigh and curled around a pillow.  Her bare back was enticing, but he pulled on shorts and headed out into the hall.  All was quiet.

The game room was dark.  Robbie had headed for bed.  They had plans to work on his old junker of a corvette in the morning, and he was an early bird.  He would be up with the dawn. 

Susie’s room was dark and he could hear her soft breathing from the canopy bed filled with stuffed animals.

The door to the boys’ room was closed.  Alan opened it softly and checked the beds.  Robbie was sprawled across his on top of the covers wearing an old pair of gym shorts in the colors of his middle school.  Geoff’s bed was empty and the lamp on the bed table next to it was on.  Robbie usually did that when he turned in before Geoff to avoid fights about Geoff making too much noise or turning on lights as he readied for bed. 

Alan closed the door and turned towards the stairs.  Maybe Geoff had come home and decided to watch a late movie downstairs.  No one was downstairs.  Alan went all the way to the garage to check, but the Corvette was not in its usual spot.

Melissa had strict rules about curfew.  On school nights everyone better be home by nine or there had to be a school related function they were attending with a parent picking them up.  On Fridays and Saturdays, the time was extended to eleven.  Geoff had always been one to push the envelope, but this was beyond the pale.

His cel phone was upstairs, so he picked up the house phone and called Geoff’s phone number.  The familiar ringing signal cycled three times then clicked over to a recording. 

“Hey dudes and dudettes.  This is Geoff.  Obviously I’m busy right now.  Leave a message and I’ll catch you later,” his son’s voice growled into the phone.  Alan disconnected and tried again.  He didn’t want to leave a message.  Besides, Geoff could pick up the phone and see that the missed call was from the home number.  He tried another two times before admitting to himself that Geoff either couldn’t hear the phone or didn’t want to answer.

He was tapping the handset in his hand and wondering what to do next when Melissa came down the stairs. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Geoff’s not home yet.  And he’s not answering his phone.”

“Not home yet?  It’s after two!”  Melissa hurried across the living room and took the receiver from Alan.  She dialed Geoff’s number while Alan watched.  He could have told her that Geoff wasn’t going to answer, but he knew she had to do it for herself.  Melissa left a message.  “Hey dude yourself,” she said drily.  “This is your mother and you’d better get home now.”  She clicked off and looked at Alan.  “You don’t suppose he’s been in an accident or something?”

“Of course not, love,” Alan assured her quickly.  “If he had been, he would have called here first.  He’s probably just lost track of time.”

“I’ll say.  Do you know where he was going?”

“He planned to go see that girlfriend of his.  What’s her name?”

Melissa frowned for a moment.  Geoff seemed to bring a new girl home just about every weekend.  “Um, it was… Serena, Selina…”

“Sabrina,” Alan said with a snap of his fingers.  “But I don’t know her last name.”

Before Mel could reply, the phone in her hand rang.  She touched the button quickly and put the handset to her ear.  “Hello?”

“Mrs. Carter?”  A man’s voice said.

“This is Mrs. Carter.”  She was immediately worried.  She took a step closer to Alan and he leaned toward the phone so he could hear too.  She could feel the fear all the way down into the pit of her stomach.

“This is Ernest Davison, Sabrina’s dad?”

“Oh, yes, hello, Mr. Davison.  Sabrina went sailing with us last Sunday.  You have a lovely daughter.”

“Well, thank you.  I don’t suppose you know where that son of yours took her tonight, do you?”

“Where Geoff took her?”  Mel asked.  She looked at Alan who took the phone from her.

“Mr. Davison, I’m Alan Carter, Geoff’s father.  Geoff and Sabrina were planning to go out to dinner tonight.”

“Carter, look, I walked in from work this afternoon and found your boy here with his hands all over my Sabrina.  Before I could say anything, he grabbed her hand and they ran out the door.  Last I saw of them he was leaving a fifty foot streak of rubber down the street in front of my house.  Now, where did your boy take her?  And she better not be harmed in any way. I was a teenage boy once too you know.  I know all to well that a boy that age has only one thing on his mind…”

“I was a teenage boy once myself,” Alan reminded the man, cutting off his tirade.  “Mr. Davison.  I’m sure there’s a simple explanation for this.  They’ve probably gone to the beach with some friends and lost track of time.  Geoff has always been a good boy and I’m sure he’ll bring Sabrina home soon.”

“Carter, I’m telling you he’d better get her home within the hour, and unharmed!  I swear I’ll put out a warrant for his arrest for statutory rape if he doesn’t.”  The receiver slammed down with a thunk as Davison got in the last word.

Alan and Mel looked at each other.  Mel blinked.  “The charge wouldn’t stick, of course.  They’re both underage and consensual.  At least I would hope so,” Melissa said.

Alan sighed.  “Her dad may be making a play to sue in civil court.  He may be seeing dollar signs.”

“Oh, how ridiculous!”  Mel said. 

“People do lots of strange things for money.”

“Alan, you don’t suppose he’s been kidnapped or something?”

“I doubt it.  Like I told Davison, they probably went down to the beach and lost track of time.  They might even have fallen asleep.”

“Or, they could have been in a wreck,” Mel was about to start listing all the terrible things that could have happened to them. 

Alan put his arm around her.  “Look, love.  There’s no use speculating.  We’ll know when he gets home.  And Davison will most likely see them first and take a piece of him if he gets a chance.”

Melissa looked at the clock.  “Well, he should.  He’s just barely sixteen!  And look what time it is!”

Alan pulled Melissa onto the sofa and they sat together in silence waiting for their son to show up. 

Their patience didn’t last long.  At two-thirty Alan sighed reluctantly and called the police.  He identified himself, described his Corvette and the kids and asked if there had been any incidents involving them.  The officer assured him there had been no accidents or any reports of problems involving Geoff or the car and asked if Alan wanted to file a ‘missing person’s’ report.  The kids were underage and he had every right to do so.  Alan didn’t want that.  He still hoped that they were just parked on the beach somewhere and had fallen asleep, but he knew Melissa was worried.  Besides, he didn’t want to give Davison any ammunition against them.  So he agreed.  The dispatcher said they would send a detective over shortly to get pictures and description and other information. 

They headed upstairs to dress and Alan put his cel phone in the pocket of his jeans, trying Geoff’s number again, with no more success.  He wasn’t surprised when the house phone rang to find out it was Davison again.  He told the distraught father that they had spoken to the police and would be reporting the pair as missing.  He asked Davison to come over and bring a picture of Sabrina with him. 

By four, the police officer was wrapping up the interview, Davison was still angry, but that anger was changing to worry.  He was a single father and Sabrina his only child.  He headed home to be there if Sabrina called or returned home and Alan promised to keep him posted if they heard anything.

Melissa made coffee and scrambled egg sandwiches for the two of them and they sat in the breakfast nook watching the silent phones, both their cel phones and the house phone. 

“Where do you think he’s gone?”  she asked Alan quietly.

Alan shrugged.  He was still of the opinion that they were at the beach somewhere and would come home when they woke up as the sun came up. “Why don’t I drive over to the beach, some of his usual haunts?”  Geoff knew how to get past most of the security on the private sections of Canaveral.

Melissa rubbed her eyes. “I guess you should.”  She buried her face in her hands and moaned.  “He’s just got to be okay.”

Alan picked up his phone and took his keys from the hook on the wall.  “I’ll take the Navigator.  Call me if you hear anything.  Try to get some sleep.”  He kissed her on the top of the head and squeezed her shoulder before slipping out the door.

Melissa didn’t move.  She certainly wasn’t going to try to sleep while her baby was out there somewhere and perhaps in trouble.

This is the best day of my life!  Geoff thought to himself as Sabrina settled next to him on the sofa.  She leaned forward and kissed him.  He put his arms around her just as the door from the garage slammed. 

“Sabrina?”  Called a deep voice. 

Geoff jumped.  He had only met Mr. Davidson once and the man was seriously scary.  He kept looking at Geoff like he was about to grow an extra leg or something.

 “Come on, let’s go,” Sabrina murmured into his ear.

They both jumped up from the sofa and dashed for the front door, hand in hand.  Sabrina climbed over the door to the car as Geoff ran around to the driver’s side and did the same.  Mr. Davidson was just opening the front door as Geoff slid the car out into the street.  The rear end fishtailed a bit as they headed around the corner.  Sabrina whooped and raised her hands over her head.  Geoff grinned and shouted at the fun of it all.  They headed to the Rocket Burger Drive-In and Geoff cruised around the building twice before pulling into a parking space.

Kids they knew converged on the ‘vette to offer their congratulations on getting his license and admire the car.  Geoff put his arm around Sabrina and enjoyed the admiration of his friends. 

“I have a birthday present for you too,” Sabrina said.

“Really?  That’s nice of you, Bri.”

Sabrina pulled an envelope from her purse and handed it over.  Geoff opened the envelope and pulled out two tickets.

“Never Mind?  You got me tickets to Never Mind?”

There was a chorus from their friends around the car.  “No way!” “That concert has been sold out for months!” 

“Bri!  This is so awesome!”  Geoff put both arms around her and pressed his lips to hers.  She encouraged the kiss and Geoff’s hand slid underneath the tiny sweater she was wearing, his thumb just caressing the side of her breast.  The crowd around rang out with whistles and cheers.  Geoff didn’t hurry the kiss just because they had an audience.  He also noticed that Sabrina shifted slightly to press against his hand.

“All right, all right,” the waitress skated up.  She was a classmate; nearly everyone working at Rocket Burger went to school with the crowd of kids that gathered here in the evenings.  “Come on, Carter.  If you’re going to park here, you gotta order.  Otherwise, go get a room somewhere.”

Geoff sat back and grinned at Gina.  They had gone together back in eighth grade in that inevitable mating dance that teens did, coming together and breaking up.  In fact, more than half the girls here had been his girlfriend at one time or another. 

“Okay Gina, don’t get all antsy.  Check out the wheels.”

Gina rolled her eyes, long immune to Geoff’s charm.  It was rumored that she was currently going with someone who graduated last year and was in the marines now.  “Nice of Daddy to let you use his car.  I’ve seen it before.”

“I’m getting my own car tomorrow.  My grandparents are bringing it down.”  Geoff bragged.  He didn’t know that for a fact, but Tori had gotten her car last month for her birthday, and the family celebration was tomorrow.  Besides, he had overheard Grammy talking to someone on the phone at Christmastime about two cars.  Knowing that Tori had loudly campaigned for a pink Volkswagon Beetle, he had enlisted his dad to make sure he didn’t end up with something that shouted “sissy dweeb” in every nut and bolt.  His dad told him not to worry.  So he was certain that it would be something totally hot.  Maybe a Corvette like this one, even.

“Order or burn rubber, Carter.”

He turned to Sabrina. “What do you want, honey?”

“I’ll have a Caesar wrap and curly fries and a Dr. Pepper.”

Gina wrote it down.  Others drifted away.  Geoff ordered for himself.

Gina skated back quickly with their food and as soon as Geoff had downed his hamburger, he revved the engine pulled carefully out of the parking place and they headed for Orlando.  The traffic would be bad on a Friday afternoon, so he knew they had to get an early start.

Sabrina tuned in the radio station that was sponsoring the concert and soon the air around the Corvette was pulsing and pumping with the sound of Never Mind as they zoomed down the freeway.  Three songs later they were at the outskirts of Orlando and slowing down in traffic.  They hadn’t even reached the 416 yet. 

“This is the latest from the O-rena.  Traffic is backed up for miles as rush hour hits concert hour.  But we have some bad news for all you Neverminders out there…”

Geoff and Sabrina exchanged worried looks.

“There’s just been an announcement by Never Mind’s manager.  Three members of the band have come down with a violent case of stomach flu and can’t perform.  Looks like the concert is cancelled folks!  What a shame!  This band is so hot right now.  Tickets have been sold out for months.  Well, we’ll just have to stay tuned to see what develops.  Maybe they’ll reschedule at a later date, but their schedule is tight, so it could be months before they’re back in Central Florida again.  We repeat, the Never Mind concert that was supposed to take place at the O-rena tonight has been cancelled due to illness of several band members.”

Both teens groaned, and Geoff made a quick right turn onto the 416.  They got off at the first exit and turned into the parking lot of a McDonalds.  They pulled into a parking place and looked at each other.

“Now what?”  Sabrina asked.  “ I planned this for two months!”

“Well, maybe they will have a makeup concert.  We’ll keep hold of the tickets.”

“I love that band.  And I knew you did too.  Your birthday present is ruined.”  Sabrina looked like she was about to cry.

“Hey, it was a great birthday present, Bri.”  Geoff was trying to decide where they would go next.  He was forming a plan to head south to Vero Beach.  It was quite a drive, but he knew the guard at his grandparents apartment would let them in, and his grandparents were in Destin last night when they talked to his mom on the phone.  There was some kind of art show they were going to today up in St. Augustine before coming to Cocoa in time for his birthday party tomorrow.  He and Sabrina could spend an evening listening to Never Mind on the sound system there, and completely alone.

“I wish it were easier to see a band.  Why can’t there be all kinds of places with live music?”

“Yeah,” Geoff sympathized. “Some place like New Orleans.  When you’re in the French Quarter, you can wander from place to place and listen to the bands.”

“I’ve heard about that.  But those are bars, and we’re under age.  I wish we could go someplace like that.”

“Why don’t we?”  Geoff said with a grin.

“Why don’t we what?” 

“Go there.  Go to New Orleans.  You’d love the Big Easy.  I’ve been there a couple of times.  It’s really cool.”

“You’re kidding, right?  People don’t just suddenly go there.”

“Sure they do!  There are flights from the airport all the time.  We could go, have dinner at Deanie’s – they have awesome seafood, take in a few bands, and fly back.”

Sabrina looked at him as if he’d just sprouted wings.  “We couldn’t.”

“Of course we could!”  Geoff pulled out his phone and began tapping in a command to bring up travel schedules from the Internet. “Look,” he said. “These are all flights leaving Orlando for New Orleans this evening… Oops, nothing seems to be available.  Wait, lemme try a different airport.” 

He tapped some more keys. “Here we go, there are three flights out of Tampa with available seats this evening.  We can be there in time to board.”  He grinned at Sabrina.  “Want to?”

“You’re crazy.”

“But fun.  Come on, let’s do it,” he wheedled.

Sabrina grinned back at him.  “Ok, let’s go.”

Geoff clicked a button on the phone to reserve the tickets, closed it up and put the car in gear.  Soon there was only a streak of black on the pavement and a cloud of smoke to show they had been there. 

The sun was coming up as Alan arrived home.  Melissa was waiting for him with a mug of coffee in each hand.  He took it from her gratefully.

“No sign?”

He shook his head.  “I talked to Canaveral security, and they called the wildlife management guys who patrol the northern area of the cape.  We took some ATV’s out on the beach and road halfway to New Symrna.  There hadn’t been a car out there in days from the looks of the beach.”

Mel put her arms around her husband’s neck and he held her close.

The back door opened and a familiar voice called out, “Anyone awake in here?  Where’s the birthday boy?”

Melissa burst into tears at the second question.  “Oh, Daddy!” she sobbed.

Robert and Susan Thompson walked into the kitchen and Susan hurried to her daughter’s side.  “What’s happened?  What’s wrong?”

Melissa switched from her husband’s arms to her mothers while Alan explained.

“You haven’t heard from him all night?”  Robert asked with a frown.

Melissa shook her head. “What if something has happened to him?  What if he’s hurt, or kidnapped, or been in an accident?”

“The police said there had been no accidents,” Alan assured his wife again.

“The police are looking for them?”  Robert’s face held a glimmer of a smile for a moment, then turned serious again.  He caught Alan’s eye and Alan knew what he was thinking.  Robert had once called the cops on Melissa for taking his own corvette without permission when she was not much older than Geoff.

“We had to report them missing.  I’d rather have kept looking for them myself, I think they’re bound to turn up, but Sabrina’s father is furious.”  Alan explained.

“How far could they have gotten?  Even if they did nothing at all but drive?”  Susan asked.  “Surely they couldn’t go too far.  How much money could they have had with them?”

“Just Geoff’s allowance from last week,” Melissa said.  “And he spends that on hamburgers and music pretty quick.”  She held fast to her mother but reached for a tissue and tried to get control of herself again.

“Um, well…”  Alan said.

“What?”  Melissa asked.

“I, uh… gave him my credit card.  The car needed gas.”  Alan explained.

“Your credit card?  Why didn’t you tell me that last night?”  Melissa asked, her eyes going wide.  “Which card?”

“The Visa I always use for gas,” he said.

“I can trace that!  I can see what he’s charged.  Even if we know where he last bought gas, that would be a help!”  Melissa headed to the office with the others following behind.

She was logged into the desk’s computer in moments, and pulled information in from their server.  She had all their bills set up to pay online and it didn’t take her long to find Alan’s Visa, log in to his account and pull up the list of most recent transactions.

The house phone rang just as the transactions showed up on the screen.  She turned and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Carter?”

“Yes.”

“This is the Brevard County Sherriff’s office.  We’re calling about the car you reported missing early this morning.”

“Did you find it?  My son –“  She exchanged looks with Alan and touched the phone to change to the speaker.

“We’ve located the car, but not the kids.” The officer’s voice blared across the room.

“They’re not with the car?”

“No, ma’am.  The Tampa PD found the car on a routine check.”

“Tampa?  The car is in Tampa?”  Alan asked.

“Yes, sir.”  The officer didn’t miss a beat with a different voice on the line.  “It’s in short term parking on the top floor of the parking garage at the Tampa airport.  I’d say it’s likely they caught a plane, but it’ll take some detective work to find out where they went.”

“Thank you, officer,”  Melissa said, turning back to the computer.  “I just found out my son had one of our credit cards with him.  I think I can trace him that way.”

“That’s a good idea.  Please call the detective handling your case if you come up with anything.”

“We will.”  Melissa ended the call and tapped the keyboard, her eyes on the screen.  “Plane tickets.  They purchased two tickets to New Orleans.”

“New Orleans!  Goodness!  What’s he doing there?”  Susan asked.

“Mel?  Can you tell anything else?” Alan asked.

“He had dinner at Deanies.”

“Not a surprise,” Alan said drily.  It was Geoff’s favorite restaurant.  “Anything more recent?”  He pulled out his cel phone and called John.  “John?  I need to get to New Orleans fast.”

“Should I stop the credit card?”  Mel asked.

“It’s our best chance to track him.  Don’t do that yet.  Did they check into a motel?”

“No sign of a charge to a motel.”

Alan was already to the door, still on the phone to John.  Robert was right behind him.  “I’ll come too.”

“Mel, call when you know something.  Leave messages while we’re in the air.  I’ll let you know when we land.  If Geoff calls tell him to stay put.” 

Mel nodded even though her husband couldn’t see her.  Her mother sat next to her and put her hand over Mel’s.

“What can I do, sweetheart?”

Melissa turned and leaned into her mother’s arms.  “Oh Mom.”  She hugged her mother tight, then sat back up.  “Susie has a birthday party to go to in a little while.  Can you get her there?”

“Certainly.”

“The invitation has a map on it.”  She pointed at the refrigerator where a party invitation in pinks and purples was hanging.  Susan reached for it and then headed upstairs to Susie’s room to see what her granddaughter was planning to wear.  Melissa turned back to the computer to see if there was any way to wring more information out of it.

Geoff sat back in the booth with a satisfied sigh.  Dinner had been fantastic, as usual.  And the look of awe Sabrina gave him was a complete high.  They had strolled along Bourbon street, wandering in and out of several places until they found a place playing something they liked.  The waitress had taken their order without even looking at them, much less carding them, and there were two beers sitting on the table in front of them.  Sabrina had taken a cautious sip and hadn’t touched hers again.  Geoff’s was half-full and he could take care of Sabrina’s and his before they needed to catch a cab back to the airport.  Sabrina cuddled against him and he turned and pressed his lips to hers. 

She felt good, she smelled good and she tasted good.  His hand reached around and underneath her sweater again.  This time she shifted just right and his thumb moved up underneath her bra, “Ohhhhh, yeahhhh,” he thought.  He moved his other hand to her thigh under the table, but she put her hand over his before he could move it up.

“Not here, Geoff,” she whispered.

He had to grin.  She wasn’t turning him down, she’d just said, not here.  He murmured into her ear, “Bri, you’re so hot, you drive me crazy.”  She smiled and covered his mouth with hers and the jazz swirled around them.

When his phone beeped, their time was up.  It was time to catch a cab back to the airport.   Geoff went to the bar to pay the tab and Bri waited by the door.  He didn’t see her talk briefly to a tall skinny guy, not much older than they were, dressed in a flack jacket over black pants.  The young man had slipped outside before Geoff joined her.

They walked down the street toward the square where Geoff knew there were always cabs parked and waiting.  When Bri tugged him into a narrow walkspace between two buildings Geoff thought she wanted to make out and he followed willingly.  Then he realized there was someone else in the dark alley but before he had a chance to say anything, everything went black.

Alan knew he was too agitated and had too little sleep the night before to fly the plane himself.  But John was there and he trusted no one to pilot more than John.  He was also glad that Robert was along once they arrived at the plane and found Sabrina’s father waiting for them.  Robert handled the encounter with the skill he had utilized in negotiating the political waters of pharmaceuticals for so many years, and with no more than a glance at his two sons-in-law, took Sabrina’s father aboard and began to get his side of the story.  Alan belted in to the unaccustomed position of passenger and stewed by himself. 

They were barely on the ground in New Orleans and still taxiing toward the private hangar they generally used here when his phone rang.

“Yeah?”  It was Mel.  The two of them needed no formality.

“The New Orleans police want to talk to you.  They’ve found him.”

Alan lowered his voice, hoping to hide it from the two men in the back of the plane.  “What’s he done?”

“He was a victim, not a criminal.  But he was also a minor with no ID and an inflated blood alcohol level.  He and Bri are in police custody.”  She quickly gave him a summary of her conversation with the police, information on the rental car she had reserved for him and succinct directions for getting to the police station.  Alan had pulled a spiralbound notebook from the pocket of the chair he was sitting in.  Its cover with neon horses running across it indicated that it was one of Susie’s.  A matching pink pen with a feather plume was attached and he wrote the instructions needed in glittery pink ink on a blank lavender page.

“Got it.  I’ll call you.”

“Yeah.”  He closed the phone immediately, tore the paper out of the notebook and stuffed it in his pocket.  He stood and looked at the two men behind him.

“They’re at the main police station.  Evidently they were mugged last night on Bourbon Street.  And neither would give any information about who they were.  That’s why we weren’t called.  Melissa called the police while we were on the way and identified their teenage John and Jane Doe.”

“Are they all right?”  Sabrina’s father asked, frowning with concern.

“Both fine.  I don’t have any idea why they wouldn’t say who they were, though.”  That worried Alan more than anything else.  Geoff had a wild streak, but he had certainly never done anything like this.

“Let’s just go get them,”  Robert said. 

John had joined them from the cockpit during Alan’s explanation.  “I’ll stay here and file a pending flight plan home.”

“I’ll call you when we’re on the way back so you can schedule.”

John nodded and gave Alan a clap on the shoulder.  Alan was glad John had his back on this.  And Robert was being a big help too.  Alan had no wish to deal with Davison right now.  They set off to deal with whatever red tape would release the kids to their parents.

Geoff had only blacked out for a moment.  He could clearly hear Bri’s screams and the sounds of some kind of whistle.  He rolled up to his knees.  They needed to get a cab and get back to the airport.  There was one late flight back to Tampa, and with some disregard of speed limits, he would be home within a few hours of curfew and no one the wiser. 

There was a hand on his shoulder and a woman’s voice was hushing Bri.  He was glad of that.  The screaming was getting on his nerves, not to mention his aching head.  He was helped to stand and turned to focus aching eyes on the solid black of a police uniform. 

“You okay, son?”

“Yeah.  Yeah.”  He rubbed the back of his head which was tender and looked around.  Another uniformed cop was still trying to hush Bri.  The woman was now asking her name.  Moving his head wasn’t a good thing and he barely had time to stagger away from the cop before his stomach emptied with a good deal of force.

“Let’s get you two out of here,” the woman cop said. “What’s your name, honey?”

Bri struggled away from her and over to Geoff.  She leaned down where he was still bent over, trying to work up enough spit to wash out his mouth.  “Don’t tell them anything.”

He wasn’t sure he heard her right.  “Huh?”

“Don’t tell them,” she whispered urgently and squeezed his hand.  “If you love me, don’t say anything.”

“Yeah.  Sure, sure.”  He spat again.  Right now, he wanted to get on a plane and go home.  “We’re okay, officer.  Really.”  He reached for his jacket pocket with the airline tickets and his wallet.  Neither one was there.  He stood up, and regretted the movement.  “My wallet’s gone.  And our tickets.”

Bri was at his side, her lips against his ear.  “Don’t tell them who we are!”  she whispered urgently again.

“Come on you two, let’s go back to the station and we’ll figure this out.”  The officer who had helped him stand seemed nice, and fairly tolerant of the situation. 

“I’ve been robbed.”  Geoff said, stunned.  He looked up and down the narrow alley, a walk space really, between the buildings.

He was gently led away, Bri holding his hand tightly, the policeman on the other side, doing his fair share of support.  Geoff couldn’t believe how shaky he felt.

Parking was an issue near the police station, but once Alan found a space a block or so away, he headed briskly toward his goal, his father-in-law and Davison in tow.  The main lobby was busy with a wide variety of the tawdry and the tourist as well as plenty of uniformed officers on their own missions.  At a reception desk, Alan identified himself and he was directed to a bank of elevators and juvenile detention.  As they turned to make their way there, an officer with a K-9 dog on a leash passed by.  The golden retriever moved up to Davison with eager greeting.  Davison bent down to pet the friendly dog. 

“She’s a friendly one,”  her master said as Davison tolerantly petted the dog.  The officer asked the men where they were going and volunteered to guide them.  Alan agreed gratefully.  The dog seemed to have made best friends with Davison, and ignored both Robert and Alan.  They sorted themselves out and navigated the halls to the proper section.  The K-9 officer made introductions at the reception and withdrew, dog reluctantly in tow, to a phone in the corner of the waiting room.

They were led to a small conference room where an earnest young man met them with handshakes. “The kids will be escorted here in a moment.  And I’ll have paperwork for the two of you to sign,”  he indicated the two fathers.  “Geoff received a good thump on the head, and has been in our infirmary all night.  Sabrina seemed to have just gotten a good fright.”

“My wife said they wouldn’t tell you their names.  That’s not like Geoff.”

“Well, he was pretty rattled.  And we thought it best to tread lightly.  When your wife called and identified them, we waited for you, their guardians, before trying to sort things out.”

Robert cleared his throat. “I’m the boy’s grandfather, and a doctor.  I’d like to take a look at him.”

“We don’t have a doctor on staff, but the nurse has a lot of experience in these things.”  The phone rang.  “Excuse me.”  He picked up the phone and spoke in monosyllables.  Finally he said, “Of course.  The boy’s grandfather is a doctor and would like to see him in the infirmary.  Yes.  Yes.”  He hung up the phone, opened one of the files in his hand.  “Okay, Mr. Carter, if you’ll stay here.  Doctor…”  He didn’t remember Robert’s name.

“Thompson.  Dr. Robert Thompson.”

“Dr. Thompson.  Someone will walk you down to the infirmary in just a moment.  And Mr. Davison, if you’ll come with me, we have some additional paperwork on Sabrina that needs to be done.”

Alan took a look at Davison, perhaps the first good look he had given the man since they left for New Orleans.  He seemed extremely uncomfortable.  “What kind of additional paperwork?”

The young man was at a loss for words and it was obvious he was dissembling.  “Just routine.  If you’ll come with me, sir.”

Davison left, looking disgruntled, and almost immediately there was a knock on the door and it opened again.  It was the same K-9 officer with the dog.  This time, the dog stayed calmly at his master’s side.  “Dr. Thompson? I was asked to walk you down to the infirmary.  Mr. Carter, there’s no reason you can’t come too.”

The officer made small talk as they headed through the hallways and the dog padded sedately at his side, no sign of the frentic activity he had shown before.  When they reached the infirmary they stopped at a desk just outside a locked door and spoke to an older, heavyset woman with chocolate color skin.  She obviously knew they were coming and immediately gave Robert a run-down of Geoff’s condition when he arrived and now.  Then she unlocked the door and allowed them to pass through. 

“Dad!  Grampa!”  Geoff looked pale, but intact.  He started to get up as they approached, but his grandfather motioned him to lie back.

“Let me take a look at you first, boy.  Then we’ll talk.”

Geoff obediently lay back, but held out his hand to his father, who took it and squeezed it tight.  Robert looked him over, pronounced him mostly fit, and sat down on the edge of the bed.  “Do you know how worried we’ve all been?”

“We would have been back on time, but something weird happened.”

“Back on time!  I loaned you the car, and you went to New Orleans!”  Now that he knew Geoff was all right, Alan had an overpowering urge to yell at him, and a good spanking wasn’t completely out of the question either, despite the fact that he had never even considered raising a hand to his children once they had passed the toddler stage and knew the meaning of the word ‘no’. 

Geoff sighed.  “I know.  It got a little out of hand.”  Both Robert and Alan gave hmphs of disbelief at that.  “But we would have been back by midnight, well, one or so.  See, Bri got me tickets to this concert for my birthday—“

“In New Orleans?”  his father asked.

“No, in Orlando.  And we were on our way when a couple of band members got sick, so they cancelled the concert.  Bri was so disappointed and,”  Geoff shrugged.  “I got to bragging and suggested we come here.  I got a flight out of Tampa, and we had about three hours in New Orleans before we caught the flight back.  We would have been in Tampa by midnight.  But then I got hit over the head, and these two policemen came to see about us, and Bri was all like, ‘don’t tell them who we are.  If you love me, don’t tell them your name.’  And I was barfing my guts out and my head was pounding and I just went along with her.  They stuck me in here and I went to sleep and now you guys are here.  How did you find me?”

Alan had no doubt that to a teenager that story made logical sense.  The line from Sabrina sent a cold chill through him.  Did Geoff love her?  They were both too young for that sort of thing. 

“But why New Orleans, Geoff?  Couldn’t you find anyplace a bit closer to home to get into trouble?”  Robert asked.

“I like the food here,”  Geoff said with a shrug. 

“You flew to a different state for the food?”  Alan asked.

“You guys do it all the time.”

Alan opened his mouth to deny it and Geoff said.  “You went to Savannah for lunch two weeks ago.”

They had gone to Savannah for lunch.  On the way home from Christmas in Texas Helena had read an article in the most recent ‘Southern Living’ about a new restaurant opening in Savannah.  It was being run by a couple of their old friends from Alpha and before they got off the plane, Melissa had already called and made reservations.  Two weeks ago they all flew to Savannah for lunch.

“And you guys are always going to New Orleans.”

Robert and Alan exchanged glances and Robert gave a small shrug and turned to Geoff.  “And this girl.  You love her enough to lie for her?”

“I didn’t lie about anything.  I just didn’t say anything.”

“While your mum and I are at home worrying about where you are and whether you’d driven the car into some swamp and drowned.”

“Oh, Dad.” 

“You think we haven’t been worried with you missing all night?”

Geoff gave him a blank look.  It really hadn’t occurred to him.  Alan sighed.  He knew it was a teenage thing, and if he didn’t kill his firstborn, he would probably outgrow it.

The door opened and the young man handling their case came in.  “Good morning, Geoff, how are you feeling?”  Although he asked the boy, he looked at Robert for confirmation.

“Okay, I guess.”  Geoff answered.  “I’m… I’m sorry about not telling you my name and all.”

“Thanks.  We figured we’d get it straight this morning.  Your family seem to love you an awful lot.  They were worried, you know.”

Geoff glanced at his father and grandfather.  “Yeah.”

Robert spoke up.  “He has a mild concussion.  But he’ll do.”

“Mr. Carter, if you’ll come with me, we can get everything set to release him to your custody.”

“Will there be any charges, officer?”

“No, no charges.  We’ll chalk his silence up to that concussion.  But, Geoff, don’t come back to New Orleans without telling your parents for at least a couple of years.”

“Yes sir.”

The officer led Alan out of the infirmary.   Robert stayed behind to help Geoff get dressed.  Alan sat at the nurse’s desk to sign the forms needed.

“Mr. Carter, may I ask you, how well do you know the Davison’s?”

“I just met Mr. Davison last night.  Sabrina has been boating with us a time or two.  That’s all.”

The man pulled up another chair and spoke quietly.  “The Davison’s will be released today as well.  I assume he came in on the same flight as you?”

“We came in a private jet.”

“I see.  Well, as I said, the Davison’s will be released shortly.  But you might want to keep your son away from her from now on.”

“I don’t understand.”

“That K-9 unit you encountered?”

Alan nodded.

“They’re a drug detection team, specializing in marijuana.  The dog is trained to be overly friendly to anyone with the … ah… correct scent.”

Alan looked at the man for a moment.  “That dog was all over Davison.”

“That’s right.  And we didn’t find anything on him, or his daughter.  So it must just be traces.  We have no reason to hold them at this time, but…”

“You think that had anything to do with why she wouldn’t tell who they were?”

The officer shrugged. “With teens, especially teenage girls, you can’t always tell.  She might have thought her father would be angry with her and was trying to avoid that.  Or, she might be trying to keep us from looking too closely into her or her father’s ‘hobby’, or ‘side business’, if you get my meaning.”

Alan sighed, and nodded. “Officer, I assure you…”

“It’s fine.  You and your family didn’t set off any alarms, and you obviously have nothing to hide.  In fact, I recognized you, you’re the ones who were on Moonbase Alpha, weren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“I suspect it would be hard to hide anything when you’re famous like that.”

“Well, mostly I’m just a working stiff, and a dad.”

“Still, do you think I could have your autograph?”  From the back of the clipboard the man was carrying he pulled an old battered publicity picture of an Eagle.

Alan grinned. “Sure.  No problem.”  He signed the picture with a flourish.   “And thanks about the heads up on the Davisons.”

“No problem.”

The flight home was a quiet one.  Even more strained than the flight out, if that were possible.  Alan made sure Geoff was sitting next to his grandfather and Davison seemed to want to sit Sabrina as far from Geoff as possible.  Alan was fine with that.  He retreated to the co-pilot’s seat in the cockpit with a sigh. 

Once they were in the air, Robert came forward and leaned over the back of his seat to talk to John and Alan.

“That little girl is bad news.”

“You don’t know the half of it yet.”  Alan said, looking out at the clouds below blanketing the Gulf from their view.

“I know it’s up to you and Missy to decide his punishment, but consider this.  She was around the same age when her grandfather offered to let her finish high school in Texas, to keep her out of trouble.  I refused to do it, and lived to regret it.  Let me give you that same offer.  We’ll take him home with us, at least for the semester.  Enroll him in school out there.  Keep him busy on the ranch after school.  Get him away from that girl.”

The thought of sending Geoff to Australia had already crossed Alan’s mind.  Sending him to the ranch wouldn’t be a bad idea either.  He was a junior this year, he could finish out this semester in Texas and still come home for his senior year. 

“I’ll talk it over with Mel.”

Robert patted his shoulder and headed back to the passenger section.

John glanced at his friend. “You going to consider that?”

“Let’s just hope Tori takes after her mother, not her aunt.  You know what they say about paybacks.”  Alan stared out the windshield, willing the plane to go faster.

 

Maureen Long

March, 2007

 

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