"And that's everything," Jackie said, concluding his long-winded tale. There were, of course, things he omitted, mainly instances of Alice's usual odd behaviors.
He rolled his eyes to the police officer standing at his right. The plainclothes detective snapped his notebook shut having just finished jotting down notes. Meanwhile, the older cop kept his piercing gaze on the boy.
"That was on Friday, right?" the older officer said. "You never got in touch with her at all over the weekend?"
Jackie shook his head in deep regret. "I work part-time at the grocery store five minutes from here. Weekends, I'm there all day."
He should've realized something was wrong late Saturday night when he got a text message from Granny Tsing asking if he knew what Alice had been up to. But such text messages were not new to him, and he didn't think anything had happened to her. He DEFINITELY should have realized something was wrong when Alice didn't show up to school yesterday.
I want to kick myself for being such an idiot! He thought to himself.
Jackie was snapped out of his self-hate by the younger police officer who inquired, "Mind giving us the name and address of the place?" He quickly added, "Just for reference."
The older officer had his own request. "We're also going to need to borrow that flyer you got from . . . Taylor, I think her name was?"
Jackie didn't mind at all and was happy to give the officers whatever they needed, if it helped them find Alice faster. Even the flyer he got from Taylor.
But then Jackie realized something that got him frowning. Based on when Granny Tsing texted him, something had to have happened to Alice on Saturday. Today was Tuesday. Why'd it take the police so long to do something? Jackie was certain Granny Tsing must have kicked up a fuss with them the instant Alice missed curfew.
I guess not even the infamous Granny Tsing can get the police moving fast enough, he thought rather bitterly.
"Something wrong?" asked the old officer.
To which, Jackie gave a quick, "No."
After all the grownups left, Jackie locked the door to his room and then dropped back down onto his bed. He stared at the white ceiling for a while before rolling to his side to reach for his bedside table. After digging in the drawer a bit, he pulled out a sheet of paper. It was another flyer for the Gathering. Little did the police and his stepdad knew, he had actually gotten THREE flyers from Taylor, thinking he should have spares just in case. And he was glad he did.
Although the police promised before they left that they would do everything in their power to find Alice and bring her home, along with all the other people who've gone missing, Jackie could not just sit around and do nothing. He had to take action himself. He had to find Alice himself.
"And I know just where to start."
**********
School the next day was . . . normal. Which was surreal for Jackie after learning just last night that his friend since childhood had gone missing and was possibly kidnapped. To be honest, it even made him a little mad how happy-go-lucky everyone was being when one of their own fellow students could be in dangerous trouble. But knowing that lashing out at them would not help anyone, especially not Alice, Jackie swallowed his anger and forced himself to spend the day like any other.
It was hard for him, though. Not only did worry for Alice's safety distract him from his schoolwork, but he also had to deal with a lack of sleep, having not slept a wink last night while trying (fruitlessly) to solve the puzzle of the Gathering's flyer. It didn't help that the girls from last week were being especially cruel today and constantly taunted him about Alice, using harsh language and stinging insults. Luckily, though, there was a teacher nearby who was also fed up with their behavior and called them to the faculty room. Jackie and everyone else were spared the clique's remorseless bullying for the rest of the day.
As mentioned earlier, Jackie's efforts to try and solve the puzzle of the flyer were fruitless. He looked over the flyer over and over, from top to bottom, backwards and forwards, side to side, and from bottom to top. There was nothing to be found that seemed to hint at the answer, except for maybe how much space there was between text beckoning its readers to join the Gathering and the big white box that overtook the bottom right corner.
Figuring maybe the answer was hidden in special invisible ink, Jackie tried first to hold the paper up against his lamp light, then borrowed his stepdad's forensic black light. Neither worked to change the flyer, so he snatched a book of matches from the kitchen, lit one and held the flame beneath the back of the paper. The result: nearly burning the apartment down.
Luckily, Jackie's room was where the fire extinguisher was kept. After dropping the flyer-turned-inferno into his tin waste basket, he grabbed the extinguisher off its stand and gave the blaze a few spurts of white, misty foam. The fire was gone after, but so was the flyer. He only had one left.
By the way, to make sure Arnold (his stepdad) did not find out about the fire, Jackie threw open his window to fan out the smoke and masked the scent with can after can of Lysol. As an extra precaution, he also went a step further and made himself a late-night snack of grilled cheese sandwich.
Unable to solve the flyers puzzle, Jackie decided to steel himself for Plan B, the age-old technique of detectives everywhere: asking questions.
So, as soon as school was over, Jackie quickly hurried out and followed the same route he and Alice had taken countless times before all the way to that gray sidewalk beside that black paved road from before. Just as he had hoped, Taylor was there passing out flyers for the Gathering. Or at least trying.
Judging by the huge stack of papers hugged in her arm, she was seeing little to no success. Those who did accept a flyer, merely took a quick glance before tossing it into the trash can the second they had a chance.
While hiding in an alleyway, back pressed against the gritty wall, Jackie took some deep breaths.
"Okay, Jackie," he said to himself. "You can do this. You've seen enough detective shows to know the best way to get answers is not to get overly emotional. The best way is to play it cool. Yeah, cool. Like Batman."
Side note: Batman is not known for playing it cool.
Jackie took a few more deep breaths, straightened up and smoothed creases off his red, checkered, button-down shirt. After clearing his throat a couple of times, he stepped out from the narrow alley and marched over to Taylor.
He didn't know it, but he attracted a lot of funny looks because of the way he swaggered down the sidewalk. Taylor was quick to notice his approach and really wished she hadn't.
They made eye contact and Jackie flashed a big smile.
"Hey, Taylor," he said in a light, almost high-pitched way.
Taylor smiled back, but more awkwardly and reluctantly said, "Hey, Jackie. What's up?"
Okay, Jackie, Jackie thought. Be cool. Be cool.
"Nothing much," he said. "Sorry I couldn't make it to the meeting last Saturday. That puzzle's tougher than I thought. But I'm sure you and Alice must've had a blast hanging out together."
Taylor frowned. "Alice? I don't think I ever saw her at the Gathering."
"Really?" Jackie felt his pulse accelerate. "Because she told me she solved the puzzle."
Taylor looked at him doubtfully. "She did?"
Calm yourself, my beating heart, Jackie silently thought. Remember, be cool. Be. Cool.
He nodded to Taylor's question and answered, "Yeah. She wouldn't wait for me to solve the puzzle myself and went on her own. Can you believe that?"
Jackie meant to pretend, but his feeling of dismay was genuine which helped Taylor to relax her guard.
She flashed Jackie a sympathetic smile and replied, "No, I can't."
"But I'll catch up with her yet. But, uh . . . I think I'm going to need a little help."
Taylor's frown returned and she asked, "What kind of help?"
Jackie glanced right and then left before whispering to Taylor, "Think I can get just a little hint about the puzzle."
Taylor chuckled. "Sorry, but no can do. You gotta solve the puzzle on your own."
"Aw, please?" Jackie implored with puppy dog eyes. But it was not enough to sway the Gathering member.
"Sorry, Jackie. But rules are rules."
"What if I give a little something in return? Like say . . . "
Jackie reached into his backpack and pulled out a ziploc bag. In it was -
" . . . a grilled cheese sandwich?"
Yes, Jackie was trying to bribe Taylor with a grilled cheese sandwich.
But like a pro actress, Taylor tapped her chin thoughtfully while humming. "Hmm . . . Tempting, but still no."
"You sure?" Jackie shook the bag a little. "It's cheesilicious."
"I'm sure," Taylor said with a laugh.
"How about I sweeten the deal further with some bacon?" Jackie pulled out another ziploc bag, this one filled with bacon. "It's baconlicious."
"Okay, now you're just being repetitive."
"How am I being repetitive?" Jackie asked. "This is bacon. The last thing was grilled cheese. They're totally different things."
"Different prop, same lame joke."
Jackie was genuinely hurt. He really thought he was being clever and witty, not lame.
Taylor seized her chance to excuse herself. "Anyway, I gotta get back to work. These flyers aren't going to go away on their . . . own."
She trailed off as she looked past Jackie. Puzzled, Jackie turned around to see a man a few feet away, swatting at something with his hand while wearing an irritable look on his face. The man appeared to be in his early to mid-forties, short with dark hair and dressed in an ill-fitting brown suit.
At a glance, he appeared to be shooing away a bug, which was nothing unusual. But Jackie could not help but stare. The man noticed and made one final swish movement with hand before smoothing out his jacket. He took a quick glance at Jackie and then resumed walking. Taylor didn't waste a moment to call out to him.
"Excuse me sir!" She ran up to the man and held up a flyer. "Would you be interested in joining our Gathering?"
Jackie watched as the man looked the flyer over, giving it a good, long stare. Much longer, Jackie thought, than it would normally take to read just one line of text.
"Hey!"
A shout behind made Jackie jump. He spun around to see a tall young man glaring down at him. The young man had the same kind of t-shirt and lanyard badge as Taylor, but his look was far from friendly.
In a sharp, menacing tone, he asked, "You got business here?"
Sensing that he's overstayed his welcome, Jackie shook his head and quickly scurried off. But not before giving the man and Taylor one final look.
When that man looked like he was trying to swat away bugs, Jackie noted that there were no bugs around him.
That's just like Alice, Jackie thought, back when we were kids.
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