The last location showed near Rosie's, but that was useless now. Charlie was long gone from there.
Simon pulled up the expanded data. The Organization's system didn't just track location, it pulled everything. Texts, calls, contacts.
The last outgoing text had been to someone named Brent at 7:42 PM: "fine. thanks for letting me crash"
So Charlie had stayed with this Brent recently.
Simon scrolled through the call history. Mostly the Stop & Stock, a few calls to someone listed as "Mom" that stopped three weeks ago, and Brent. Lots of calls to and from Brent.
Brent's full number was right there in the system, along with his last name pulled from carrier records: Brent Kowalski.
Simon checked the time. 11:51 PM. Not too late to call someone on a Friday night.
He dialed the number.
"Yello!" That was an awfully cheerful voice.
Simon pressed on. "Is Charlie there?"
"Charlie? No, why would he—who's this?"
So Charlie wasn't hiding at Brent's. Simon could hang up now, move on to the next lead. But?—
"I'm trying to reach him. His phone's dead."
"Oh yeah, that sounds like Charlie. Sorry, I haven't heard from him since he went to work last night. Is everything okay?"
"He's disappeared."
"What do you mean, he disappeared? He should be at work at this time. Have you checked there?"
"He's not at work."
"What? But he was so stressed about keeping that job." Concern crept into Brent's voice. "Did you check his apartment?"
"Yes."
"Okay, now I'm worried." A pause. "Wait, you're not that stalker guy, are you?"
Simon blinked. "What?"
"The guy Charlie said was following him. With the stakes and the whole 'I'm going to kill you' thing. He was pretty freaked out about it, though I told him it was probably just someone really committed to the LARP."
Christ. Charlie had told Brent about him. And Brent had assumed it was part of the game.
"I'm not a stalker," Simon said, which was technically true. Hunters didn't stalk. They tracked.
"Okay, good, because Charlie seemed legitimately scared. Said the guy cornered him in a laundromat and tried to stake him. The commitment to the vampire roleplay is impressive, but that sounds like it went too far, you know?"
"Right. Too far."
"So who are you then?"
"I'm... a friend. I'm worried about him."
"So you're not from his LARP group?"
"I'm... adjacent to it."
