The next day at school, Tom rushed to the lunchroom as soon as his fifth period class let out. He ignored the food line and looked around for his friends. After a moment he saw Reed and Danny sitting at a table in the corner. He hurried over to them and threw himself down into a chair.
“James didn’t go home last night!” he told them.
“Where did he go?” Danny asked.
“I don’t know,” Tom said, visibly agitated. “His mom called me this morning looking for him. He does that sometimes, stays to our house and forgets to tell his parents. He’s got a key so he just crashes there whenever he doesn’t feel like going home. That’s what she figured he did last night.”
“What did you tell her?” Reed asked.
“I told her that he spent the night in the spare room in our basement. That way it wouldn’t be strange that my parents hadn’t actually seen him.”
“But he’s not in your basement,” Reed said.
“No. And his car’s not in front of our house either. I have no idea what happened to him.” Tom ran his fingers through his hair briefly and tried to calm down. “And that’s not all. Nobody’s seen Magda or Paige all day either.”
“I can help with that,” Danny said. “I was talking to my mom earlier and she said that both of them called out sick.” Danny’s mother worked in the main office.
Tom seemed to relax at that news. “Well that’s something,” he said, then paused, frowning as his mind raced. “Doesn’t it seem a little weird that both of them would call out sick on the same day like that? We were with them yesterday after school and they both seemed fine. And with James missing…”
The three of them looked at each other. After a moment Reed pulled out his phone and started typing.
“I’ll text Paige’s mom and see if she knows anything,” Reed said as his fingers slid madly across the small screen.
“Don’t scare her,” Tom warned. “If something’s going on we don’t want to upset her.”
Reed smirked. “It’s me. I know how to do subtle.” A moment later he finished typing and set the phone down. “If she’s not too busy I should hear back from her in a couple of minutes.”
“Hey guys. What’s up?” Dimitri set his tray down and joined them. Tom quickly filled him in on what was happening, then repeated everything again when Manny sat down a few moments later.
As soon as he finished his story for the second time Reed’s phone chimed. He snatched it up and quickly scrolled through the message Paige’s mother had texted to him. As he read it his face dropped.
“We’ve got a problem,” Reed said. “Mrs. Stone said that Paige is spending a couple of nights at Magda’s house so they can finish up the economics project they’re working on.”
Manny frowned. “I thought they already turned in their project.”
“They did,” Tom said.
“I don’t get it,” Danny said. “Why would Paige tell her mom she was at Magda’s house then call out sick from school?”
“I don’t think she did,” Reed said. “Paige’s mom said Paige texted her. They never actually spoke. Anybody could have sent that message.”
“It’s them,” Danny said.
“We don’t know that for certain,” Manny said, trying to be optimistic.
“What other explanation is there?” Tom asked. He couldn’t keep an edge of fear out of his voice.
For several long moments no one could think of anything to say. Then Reed turned to Manny. “Doesn’t Amanda know Magda’s parents?”
“Yeah, she does,” Manny said. He pulled out his phone and started typing. “She’s in class now but she’ll have lunch next period. I’ll let her know what’s happening and ask her to text Magda’s mom as soon as she can.”
Tom was rubbing his hands together as he fought to contain his anxiety. “This isn’t good. They’ve got all three of them.”
“Hey, let’s not borrow trouble,” Manny said, as much to help Tom keep calm as to keep calm himself. “Let’s wait until Amanda talks to Magda’s mom. For all we know Paige did go to Magda’s and they’re just bagging school today.”
“Do you really believe that?” Tom said.
“No,” Manny admitted. “But let’s not panic until we have a reason to panic.”
“Fair enough,” Tom said. “School will be over in a couple more periods. Let’s all meet in the parking lot after last period and Amanda can tell us what she learned.”