Colin– 11:19 p.m.
Squads of both campus and city police continued to scour the area near the Culbreth Theater, looking for any clue as to Joshua’s whereabouts. Others searched the area around the Dale Alensworth residence, and still others were with Page’s sister, questioning her and tapping into her phone in the hope that Page would contact her again.
Lenny had used the court order to retrieve further information about Page’s phone contacts, digging into call logs and trying repeatedly to ping his and Joshua’s phones. So far, their efforts had yielded no results.
“Does that mean his phone is off?” David asked.
“We’d be able to ping its GPS even if itwasturned off,” Colin muttered. “It’s something else. The location, maybe. Weather. Some kind of interference. Something’s blocking the signal.” He hissed out a frustrated breath. “Goddammit!”
“Buddy, try to relax,” David soothed, then winced when Colin shot him a murderous look. “Sorry, Colin,” David muttered. “That was stupid.”
Colin huffed out a quick breath and reached to pat David’s arm. “No. You’re right.” He stared down at the floor, then shook his head, a small smile crossing his lips. “Josh is always telling me: No situation on earth will be improved by you goingberserk!”He turned toward David and Nate. “I’m struggling to remember that right now.”
“He needs you to be clear-headed,” David said. “Though I can only imagine how hard it must be.”
Colin nodded. “Not all that long ago we talked about this,” he said, and David saw him bite his lower lip. “He told me to have faith,” Colin whispered, his voice distant and heavy with sadness. “Faith!”
“Faith in god?” Nate asked.
“Faith in each other. Faith in the love we share and the life we’ve built together.”
“It’s good advice,” David commented.
“What good will that be if he doesn’t comehome?” Colin asked, his voice cracking. “What good willanythingbe?”
“Don’t go there, Colin,” David begged. “Not yet. We’re not there yet, and god willing, we won’tgetthere! It’ll be horrible enough if wedo,but for god’s sake, don’t take us there until there’s no other choice!”
Colin looked past him, his honeyed-green eyes dark with pain. “He said that was the one thing that nothing could take from us. The one thing that was ours forever: our faith in every moment we’ve shared, every memory we’ve built.”
“He’s right.”
“I know,” Colin whispered. “But I don’t think I can exist with just memories to sustain me.” He turned to stare at his friend. “I reallydon’t, David.” His face twisted in anguish. He wheeled away and slammed his fist onto the desktop. “God!” he cried out. “God, I want himwithme!”
* * *
Joshua– 11:32 p.m.
Page scrambled to his feet and moved into the next room, and for a few minutes Joshua sat alone, wondering what his captor was doing...what he was thinking. He squirmed, biting back a moan when he moved his left leg and triggered a burst of pain in his knee.
“Hey!” Page blurted, striding back into the room. “What’re you doing!”
“Nothing,” Joshua told him. “Moving around a bit. I’m stiff from sitting.” He looked up at his captor, deliberately keeping his body partially hunched in a submissive posture. “Lukas? Is it alright if I stand for a second to take a leak?” He smiled and tried to look self-conscious. “Sorry. It’s been a while.”
Page hissed out an impatient sound, then walked to where Joshua lay and released his hands from their bonds. “Don’t get cute or you’ll regret it,” he snapped, then he waved his hand, signaling Joshua to go ahead. Barely able to move, Joshua crept to a corner of the room to relieve himself, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his right arm and left knee. “Thanks,” he said, as he crawled back to his previous location. “Appreciate it.”
Page nodded. “Now sit still!”
Joshua crouched on the floor, hissing in pain through clenched teeth.
“You shouldn’t have fought me,” Page told him, waving the rifle.
“Obviously,” Joshua said.
“Not my fault,” Page said.
“I understand,” Joshua replied with a slight shrug.
“You got a girlfriend?” Page asked, and Joshua suppressed a smile. The more personal information Page had about him, the less likely he might be to harm him.
