Chapter 2

"Hello," said Barbara.

"Oh, hi Barb," said Sammy disappointedly. She'd been hoping that Bobby would answer. Barbara sensed instantly that something was wrong. "What is it Sammy?" Raul heard the concern in her voice, and combined with hearing his daughter's name, caused him to also come to full alert status.

"Uh, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to Bobby. Is he there?"

Barbara felt her stomach tighten. "No he's not here, Sammy. We thought he was with you! When did he leave there?"

"Well, I guess about four hours ago," she said, her voice trailing off.

"Four hours!? Did he say he was going home?" her voice beginning to rise in urgency.

Sammy didn't answer immediately. "Sammy? Sammy!" demanded Barbara.

"Barb, I think he was going to Patty's house."

Barbara blinked in surprise. "But why would he do that? He said she wasn't home this weekend."

There was another silence. "Sammy!?"

"Barb, we got a call from a kid we go to school with. He said he saw Patty leaving the art show downtown with a guy she'd been walking around holding hands with. Bobby said he was going home when he left here. But I saw him head off in the other direction, toward Patty's house."

"Oh Jesus!" exclaimed Barbara. At the same time, it did help her to calm down. At least they knew where he'd gone. He hoped he was still at Patty's house, although now she was more worried that he was alone somewhere in the rain, with a broken heart.

"All right Sammy. Let me call over there and make sure he's okay, and I'll call you back."

"Okay Barb. Sorry about this."

They finished dressing and went downstairs to the kitchen to make the call to Patty's house. After a couple rings, a voice she didn't recognize as Patty's answered.

"Hello?" said Collette.

"Hi, this is Barbara Taylor. I was looking from my son Bobby — is he there?"

"Hi, Mrs. Taylor, it's Collette Simpson. Uh no, Bobby left here a couple hours ago at least."

"Did he say if he was going home when he left?" Barbara asked, maternal panic in her belly beginning to grow again.

"He didn't really say where he was going. He, uh, he was pretty upset when he left. He and Patty kind of had a fight." Collette figured that would be enough information for the situation, at this point anyway.

"Collette, could you put Patty on the phone please?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Taylor - she's still pretty upset too."

"I'm sorry to hear that Collette, but I'd like to understand just how upset Bobby is."

"He was pretty upset."

"Well do you think he was okay to ride his bike all the way back here safely?" Barbara demanded.

Collette turned and looked out the window, as if to assess the safety of the world outside. As she did, she spotted Bobby's bike helmet lying on the front lawn. "Oh shit," she breathed.

"What!?" Barbara practically yelled into the phone.

"He left his helmet here. He didn't put it back on when he left," said Collette in a small voice.

Barbara sat silently for a moment, thinking furiously. "Okay. What time did he leave there?"

"About 6:00 I think." It was now 8:00. Barb thought it was possible that he'd simply stopped somewhere to be alone for a while, but with the rain coming down hard she didn't think it likely.

"Alright Collette. Let me give you my cell number, and if you hear from him, would you call me immediately?"

"Sure, Barbara. What are you going to do?"

"We're going to go look for him," she said, as she watched Raul pull out his cell phone and place a call. She recognized the name of his cousin John Ramirez on the police force, as he began speaking in rapid Spanish.

"Will you please call here too when you find him? This is going to make Patty freak out even more than she already has."

Barbara bit back a sarcastic comment about the girl that had apparently broken her son's heart. Finally she said, "Of course we will Collette. Talk to you soon."