He chuckled. “Actually, I did. My friend, Irene, owns a diner, and she insisted I bring you something to eat.”
“Please thank her for me,” I said and took the bag of food. I could tell from the weight of the bag that there was more food than Ariel and I could possibly eat in one sitting. “Would you like to join us for breakfast or a cup of coffee?”
Ink grinned. “I could eat.”
As he followed me into the kitchen, Ariel’s phone rang.
“She’s had several calls this morning, but I only answered the one from you,” Ink said.
“I wonder if she had plans today,” I said and took the phone to Ariel. “Ink brought breakfast. Do you think you can eat anything?”
“Not right now,” she said, looking at her phone. Her forehead wrinkled, but she didn’t say anything else.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”
When I returned to the kitchen, Ink was setting the containers of food on the table. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
I’d made his cup and started mine when Ariel screamed my name in a way that told me something was very wrong. “Mom!”
Running to the living room, my socked feet slid to a stop in front of her. “What’s wrong?”
“Elsie is missing!”
“Elsie? Your science project partner?”
Ariel nodded frantically.
“What makes you think that?”
She tapped the screen of her phone, and a message began to play.
“Hi, Ariel. This is Mrs. Nelson, Elsie’s mother. I’ve been trying to get in touch with her for hours, but her phone seems to be off. She said she was going over to your house to work on your project, but she should have been home by now. Can you please tell her to call me?”
“That was around midnight,” Ariel said. “This one is from a few hours later.”
“Hi, Ariel. It’s Elsie’s mom again. I still haven’t been able to get in touch with her, and I’m getting concerned. I’m hoping you girls fell asleep. Please have her call me. If I haven’t heard anything by mid-morning, I’m going to call the police.”
“What is she talking about?” I asked. “I thought you finished your science project a few weeks ago.”
“We did. I looked at my text messages, and I was texting with Elsie last night. She asked me to pick her up from a party. She said she wanted to leave but didn’t say why. The last text message is her telling me to come inside and get her,” Ariel said and looked at me with horror-filled eyes. “I must have gone tothe party to pick her up, but that obviously didn’t happen. What am I supposed to do now?”
“I think we need to call her mother and let her know what we know,” I said. “Do you want me to do it?”
Ariel was quick to nod. “Yes.”
I took her phone and called Elsie’s mother. “Ariel, please tell me Elsie is with you,” she answered.
“Hi, Mrs. Nelson, this is Presley Calloway, Ariel’s mom,” I said and told her what we knew, as well as what happened to Ariel.
“So, they weren’t at your house working on their project together?” Mrs. Nelson asked.
“No. They finished that project weeks ago.”
“I see. Well, do you know if Ariel saw Elsie at the party?” she asked.
“If she did, she doesn’t remember. Like I said, she has no recollection of anything that happened last night.”
