Evans & Evans,
Max Evans, Esq.
It was after lunch when he got a call from the high school. He had just returned from his lunch with Michael and Maria. “Hello, yes, this is Max Evans. Can I help you?” he asked of the caller. “Yes, I am Grace’s father. No, I was not aware she wasn’t at school today. Thank you for informing me and I will be right there,” Max said as he hung up and made another call. “Maria. Is Michael home? Get over to the high school. Your son has gotten my daughter into a mess.”
Sighing one last time he called in his secretary Cassie and asked for all his meetings for the rest of the day to be postponed until Monday or later. Then he put a call in the Sheriff’s department. “Jim. I need you to run a check on Jake. It seems he and my daughter were a no show at school today. Could be unrelated but I suspect not given how joined at the hip they have been lately,” Max said. “Thank you. I am heading over the high school right now where I am meeting up with Maria and Michael.”
Getting up after hanging up, he made a quick pit stop at his father’s office and told him that he would out for the rest of the day and explained why. Phillip understood and said he would take any emergencies.
Driving over the high school he once attended was always a rush of emotions. It had been a difficult experience all four years he had attended West Roswell High. He, Michael and Isabel had felt like an outsider during their time there. Sure, Isabel hid it behind her popularity shield. She threw herself into anything school related and became Ms. Queen Bee at the school but for him and Michael; it had been more difficult. Trying to blend in had been more difficult for them until the moment where Liz came in his life and brought Maria into Michael’s. Then life got happier although not without its own kind of pain for much of high school, but they hadn’t been so isolated with the inclusion of women in their lives who had brought along with Alex and Kyle for good and bad.
He had been happy to graduate and happier still on his wedding day the following day.
Damn Liz you should be here on these days where Grace screws with her life he thought. Where is that daughter of ours? She never misses a day of school and hasn’t in her life. Why in the heck is she doing it now and where is Jake? Are they trying to give me grey hair?
Parking in the lot and rushing into the school. He noticed that Maria had made it to the school before he did. “You beat me” he said as they hugged. “So, what is happening?”
“Seems my son has made skipping school practically a major this semester” Maria moaned. “At least his grade average is still exceptional for all the missed classes and now he is missing in action along with Grace. I had them send for his no good of a friend Duncan. They had plans this weekend or that is what he told me this morning. I think my son has gotten his master plan messed up” she said. “We were so much better at parental deception, weren’t we?”
“Except the time, we all went to Vegas and got caught skipping,” Max smiled as he waited outside the principal’s office with his long-time friend.
“Oh that,” Maria smiled back. “We can thank Kyle for forgetting he had gotten put into detention and then decided to skip school and the state along with the rest of us.” she said. “But we did have a fantastic time, didn’t we?”
“We did,” Max smiled as he thought about that time in their lives and how much
Vegas meant for him and his wife. He and Liz had been going through a torturous time in their lives and had broken up for many months. But Vegas seemed to a turning point, and they had seemed to be making progress during that one unbelievable night. Of course, once home, everything had gone quickly south once again for yet another eternity of pain and suffering. “Where’s Michael?”
“He had gone off on a potential case interview before I received your call,” Maria frowned as she thought of her eldest. “He said he would meet us here after he meets with the client. I don’t know what is going on Max. I really don’t.” she said as she thought of his eldest child. “He’s almost out of the house.”
“Teenagers sure are hell, aren’t they?” Max said as he thought of his daughter. His little princess. Usually an angel who provided him no worries and the one person who’d kept him from losing it after they had lost Liz. And now she had gone and done something not typical for his straight A and future valedictorian candidate. He didn’t know what to think. He especially didn’t like how it felt to get a taste of all the drama he had put his own parents through as he got a reminder of those times with these latest antics of his godson Jake, and his daughter.
“They are. And an eighteen-year-old who thinks he’s an adult is even worse,” Maria muttered as they waited for the principal to be finished with a prior meeting. “I hope I don’t have to face it with the others.”
Max nodded as they were given the green light to head into the principals’ office as he pictured the other kids and especially Elizabeth. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” he cracked, and Maria groaned because she knew he was right.
*****
Elizabeth and Sue were huddled in the corner of their Chemistry class. Elizabeth was taking a junior level Chemistry class. One of the few advanced classes she was taking to enrich her studies and grade point average. They were talking about Jake and Grace. “We can’t say anything?” Elizabeth was asking of Sue. “I promised Jake.”
“Grace’s father is talking to the principal,” Sue said. “I saw him talking to your mother on my way to class. They are in trouble Elizabeth and with your brother being the older one. Didn’t he cross state lines with a minor? This could get him into trouble.”
“They wouldn’t do that with Jake,” Elizabeth whispered. “It’s just a weekend.”
“It’s a weekend out of state,” Sue whispered again as an announcement came over PA system. “
Will Elizabeth Guerin and Sue Adams please report to the principal’s office as Mr. Erickson would like to speak to you.”
“Damn it,” Elizabeth said as they were noticed by the teacher as she came into the room and pointed at the door. They both nodded and walked out of the Chemistry class. “Well, at least it gets us out of class.”
“Like your brother would be that nice and considerate,” Sue muttered as they took the long walk down to the head office.
******
“I am sorry Mr. Evans and Mrs. Guerin,” Mrs. Erickson was saying to Max and Maria as Michael came barging into the office. “I wouldn’t have noticed Jake’s absence if not for the fact Grace was unusually absent as well.” he was saying. “I see from the files that he did call in sick and it’s come to our attention as well that Grace absence was placed in as a sick call also. But because of a glitch in our computer system today, it hadn’t come through all the channels by the time we alerted you Mr. Evans. I am sorry for the interruption to your day.”
“My daughter is not sick Mr. Erickson,” Max said. “I had breakfast with her this morning. She was dressed for school. Unfortunately, I had an early morning meeting, so I didn’t see her off this morning. But she was not under the weather.”
“And our son?” Maria asked the principal as she looked at her husband who was now standing by her side.
“It would be polite to say your son has a spotty track record with his classes, but he makes it through because he’s very smart and manages to ace most of his classes despite rarely going above a 65% attendance record. He will graduate and go to an excellent school if that is what he wants. But he obviously doesn’t value school.”
He’s like Michael, Maria couldn’t help thinking.
If I didn’t know how he was born, I would think that he was a carbon copy of my husband. Although Jake’s grades are apparently better than Michael’s ever were given he didn’t exactly graduate.
“How are we going to handle this?” Max said as he interrupted Maria’s thinking time.
“As far as the school is concerned; Jake and Grace are absent, so it will go on their record. But if they are back in school on Monday; they won’t face any additional punishment. I will leave it up to you, their parents to decide how to proceed from here,” Mr. Erickson said as Elizabeth and Sue walked into the room. “Good afternoon Ms. Guerin and Ms. Adams it is nice to see you. I take it Jake and Grace’s parents want to have some words with you. I have a meeting on the other side of the building, so I’ll ask Hannah to give you both a pass to go back to class once your talk is concluded.” he said to the two teenagers who had joined them in the office as he left the room.
“Mom, Dad.” Elizabeth asked of her parents who looked at their daughter with suspicion in their eyes. “Uncle Max.” she said deferring to the adults in the room.
“Elizabeth, Sue nice to see you two.” Max said. “Given we all know why we’re all gathering in this room this afternoon it’s meaningless to engage in small talk. So straight at it, where are Grace and Jake?”
“We don’t know,” both girls lied as effortless as they both tried in vain to keep their secret for the sakes of Elizabeth’s brother and Sue’s friend. “Honestly, we don’t,” Sue Adams replied while Elizabeth elected to stay quiet as if she though being quiet was the best possible motion against her parents.
“Hogwash” Michael muttered and glared at his daughter “Elizabeth?”
“Honestly Daddy,” Elizabeth quietly replied as sweetly as possible. “I have no idea what Jake is up to as he doesn’t always tell me, so I don’t know.”
“Sue?” Max asked knew his goddaughter was lying so he looked at his daughters’ best friend. “I heard you and Grace talking last night and rarely does my daughter not tell you what is going on in her life. I am sure she told you all about whatever they were planning? he asked.
“She doesn’t always tell me everything in her life. In this case I wish I did know but I don’t,” Sue lied quietly as the cell phone of Max’s rang and watched as he answered and frown at what he was hearing. “Thank you, Jim.”
Hanging up, he turned to Michael and Maria. “Jake’s car was spotted at the Santa Fe airport. So far Jim can’t find a ticket out of the airport under the names Evans or Guerin. He even tried DeLuca too. There has been nothing so far.”
“Damn it,” Maria muttered as she turned to her daughter. “What is going on Elizabeth and I know you know something because it would be unlike your brother not to mention it to you or Grace for that matter but because Grace is involved in this little scheme than it’s you who would know the ins and outs of any weekend rebellion. If they have gone over state lines, then your brother is in big trouble.”
“We don’t know anything Mrs. Guerin” Sue tried saying as she stepped in for her friend, but knew it was a big mistake because she could tell they would break soon. The adults just were too powerful to go against a teenager who didn’t even know what or who she was facing.
“I don’t believe either of you.” Maria said as she eyed the girls and her own daughter. “You both know something and one of you will tell us where Jake and Grace went. We don’t want them to get in trouble. So, come on Elizabeth tell us what you know.”
“I know nothing Mom,” Elizabeth lied as she grew tougher and more stubborn in her ability to resist the temptation to break at the force of her parents or Uncle Max. “Can I go back to class?”
Michael could easily tell his daughter was lying. But he suspected that she would be too tough now to break. He cursed her special ability which she was mastering at an alarmingly rate as she was growing older. The ability to resist breaking under distress and questioning had improved greatly with age. Usually he would commend the unbreakable spirit in his daughter but knew that his son could be in big trouble. He knew they had to find him. Although deep down suspected it was only going to be a lost weekend and they would have every intention to be back in a few days. But with two teenagers out there in the unpredictable real world, one never took a chance. And given Grace had abilities of the special kind also, it would make it harder to find them. If of course Grace was anything like her father.
“Okay honey,” Michael said and immediately got a classic Maria stare beaming in his direction. “Go back to class. But we will be talking tonight when you get home.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” Elizabeth smiled as she looked at the frown on her mother’s face and knew she had to get out of there quick but knew Sue would break and prayed for her brother and best friend.
Once Elizabeth was out of the room, Michael zeroed in on the frozen teenager staring at the parents like she was paralyzed. During all this, Max had been standing back and taking everything in. He knew like Michael and Maria that Elizabeth had known something but also knew her abilities would resist any breaking. So, it was useless to try to break the teenage hybrid in this moment of time. But Sue was a different matter altogether. They had to be careful with her. He knew she knew something. “Sue, come on. It’s okay. We won’t hurt you. You’re not in any trouble. I am worried for my daughter” he said softly to his daughter’s friend and in that instant, all his parent’s worries about him and Isabel came flooding back and he knew he was getting payback tenfold for what they had done to their parents with all their travels. He just prayed Grace wouldn’t undergo any familiar havoc. He also knew Jake would protect his daughter but also knew he was normal. So, there was only so much he could do. While Grace was the one who could do so much but was small in stature. He just prayed that everything would be fine, and they could find them quickly. “Sue.”
“I am sorry Mr. Evans” Sue tried as she broke out of her frozen trance and cursed Elizabeth for escaping and leaving it all on her. “I don’t know anything.”
“We both know that isn’t true, don’t we?” Max said quietly as he used his lawyer training to persuade the teenager to part with the information she may have on Grace and Jake’s whereabouts.
“Mr. Evans, Mr. and Mrs. Guerin please don’t do this to me. I am being honest with you. I don’t know much about where they went.” Sue said.
“Why don’t you just tell us what you do know,” Max said.
“I just know they were going to go scout a university that Jake was interesting in. Grace was going as a companion.” Sue said as she cracked.
“Sue, my son has already applied to university.” Maria said as she stared at the young teenager. Even though her daughter Elizabeth had been a younger; she had been in some of the same classes with both Grace and Sue for the past year and all three girls had become thick as thieves. She knew Elizabeth had treasured the friendship she had developed with Sue and Grace and now they were calling on one to betray one of their own.
“All I know is Grace said that Jake was interested in some school and some scholarship had come up and he was going on a scouting trip” Sue replied. “I promise you, I don’t know much more than it was back East.”
“Damn it,” Michael exploded. “The East coast, which meant they could literally be anywhere.”
“I know,” Max said as many bad thoughts came to his mind at the thought that his daughter was heading to the East Coast. His one attempt at going to New York had ended in disaster and Michael hadn’t liked it any better when he had gone with Maria after high school. “Sue, can you pin down a place.”
“No,” Sue said. “I said all I know. I think Grace didn’t tell me much because she knew I would be weakest and therefore the easiest to crack. Plausible deniability and all that”
“Which can only mean my daughter would probably know much more than you do?” Michael asked as he thought of their daughter who had been admitted back to into class.
“Thank you, Sue, you can go back to class. I am sorry if we frightened you. But we are very worried for both Jake and Grace. You have been helpful,” he said as the girl nodded but ran from the room.
“The East Coast, Max,” Maria moaned.
“I know,” Max sighed. “I put Jim on it,” he muttered as her got his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the Sheriff’s office. “I’ll call and fill him in on the additional details. Let us get out of here and meet up at the Crashdown. Maybe Amy knows something.”
“For god’s sake if they are really out on the East Coast then I am going to kill that son of mine the moment I get a get a hold of him” Maria muttered as they walked out of the principals’ office and headed for the parking lot as Sue was getting the
‘did you talk’ look from Elizabeth as she walked back into their class with a pass from the front office for their teacher. Sue just sunk down in her seat, and tried to concentrate on the rest of the class’ lesson.