“And you never saw them again after that?”
“No. After the explosion by the waterfront…”
“Wait, what?”
“There was an explosion by the waterfront a few minutes before everything went down inside the convention center.”
“What kind of explosion?”
I shook my head and decided not to get into it. “No one knew. But needless to say the security team was on alert. So I went and tried to find the girls in their seats but the band was just coming on stage and it was too crazy to see anything.”
Paige was frowning and had a confused expression. “Okay. So then what?”
“Then I went outside to talk to Padre and someone inside the convention center heard three pops that they thought was gunfire, and evidently everyone else did too, because people started running out of every door. I went in to try and find them, but people were getting trampled and by the time I made it to the floor, they were gone.”
“And then you went to the meet up place and they weren’t there either.”
“Right.” We just sat there in silence for a bit, each lost in our own thoughts.
“Should we go to the police?”
I shook my head. “There’s no point yet. Two sixteen-year-old girls go to a concert and they don’t show up at the appointed meeting place after the concert? It doesn’t exactly sound fishy.”
“Right, but Bailey would never just not call. It’s completely out of character for her.”
I wished I could say the same thing about Lily. I knew the next person I needed to talk to, and did not want Paige to be with me for it. “Look. Why don’t I take you home and I’ll talk to some people and see what our next move is?”
She sighed. “Normally, I’d say that I wanted to keep looking but my parents are at my apartment and I’d better get over there and do some damage control. Poor Maria is alone with them.”
I started the car and pulled out of the space to head back to North La Playa. While Paige was going to be doing damage control, the rage filling my belly told me that I was about to do some serious damage myself.
Thirty
Paige
I could see the lights still on in Maria’s apartment as Ryder pulled up front. I really didn’t want to go in there, partly because I wanted to stay with Ryder and partly because I didn’t want to deal with my parents.
What I wanted was to be inside my apartment, eating tacos with Bailey and Lily. Tears sprung to my eyes. What would I do if something happened to her?
“Don’t think about it, Paige,” Ryder said. He reached out and pulled me over for a hug. “I will find the girls. I promise you that, okay?”
I looked in his face and saw fierce determination. He would find them.
He opened his car door and came around to let me out. “Let me walk you to the door.”
The last thing I needed was to be questioned by my parents, so I said, “Just stay and watch me walk in from here, okay?”
“Okay.”
I wrapped my arms around him, inside of his leather jacket, for a hug. He felt so good and strong that I never wanted to leave. Reluctantly, I pulled back. “Keep me posted, okay? Call me as soon as you know anything.”
“I will.”
I then walked the path up to Maria’s apartment, dreading what waited for me inside.
* * *
“Where have you been?”My mother stood up from the couch as soon as Maria closed the door behind me. “Where’s Bailey? Did she go up to your apartment?”
