Someone Switched My Phone At A Party And My Life Has Become A Nightmare
I stared out the window at the police cruiser parked at the curb. I was in shock and completely bewildered. I didn’t understand what was happening. I had tried calling my parents over and over again. Voicemail. Nothing but voicemail every time. On my last call, I’d gotten frustrated and threw the phone across the room. They knew I was coming home. This wasn’t like them at all. Usually, mom was busy in the kitchen working on a welcome home supper and waiting on a lot of dirty laundry. Dad would be lounging in his recliner, watching a sporting event on television. Instead, my house was silent. If not for Mark’s reassuring presence I’m sure I would have gone crazy.
I cried myself out just as the sun was setting. There was a knock at the door and Mark answered. It was Officer Petroff, my “official” guard. He wanted to let me know that he was going to be switching off with another officer, Officer Renard. Before he left, I asked about filing a missing persons report for my parents. I still couldn’t reach them and I was worried. He told me he would have Officer Renard come in and get a statement and he would let Detective Conroy, the man in charge of the investigation, know so that he could come speak with me as well. My head was throbbing and I felt utterly drained.
“Come on, Lulu. Let’s get you comfortable, you look like you’re going to be dead on your feet,” Mark said.
I smiled. Mark had called me Lulu all through our childhood, he only did it now when he was trying to be reassuring or when he wanted a favor. It always made me feel safe. I let him lead me to the couch where I promptly passed out. Crying is exhausting work.
I woke after a few short hours. Mark was gone. I shot from the couch and ran through the house yelling for him. I got no answer. I felt vibrating coming from my back pocket. It was the phone. I was shaking as I pulled it out and unlocked the screen.
“Your so sweet when you sleep”
“Think maybe I could call you lulu too?”
“tsk tsk. That policeman should not have left you all alone”
I didn’t continue reading, instead I dashed across the house back to the living room. I pulled back one of the curtains on the front window. There was no cruiser. My stomach sank to the floor and tears burned my eyes overflowing down my cheeks. No Mark. No cop. I was on my own. I grabbed the house phone and dialed Mark’s number, silently praying for an answer. Come on, pick up. Pick up. Pick up. “Damn it Mark, pick up your goddamned phone!”
He finally answered.
“Lulu! Sorry, so sorry. I didn’t know you were going to wake up so soon. Officer Renard was sitting outside, I had to run home and change. My parents aren’t home either. So no one to bring me anything and you didn’t have anything of mine in the house.” He spoke in a rush, not bothering to take a breath.
“Mark, the cop isn’t out there. And yes, we have clothes here for you, we always do. They are in the guest room. Get back here now.” I hung up. My next call was to the police station. They were not aware that Officer Renard abandoned his post outside of my house. They were going to radio to him, but in the meantime, they would send another officer out. I sighed and tugged at my hair. I had at least five or more minutes until someone else arrived. Anything could happen. I took off for the garage, I wanted my softball bat. I could at least try to protect myself.
It had been the most nerve wracking five minutes of my life before Mark walked through the door. I was so rattled I nearly took his head off with the bat. Relief washed over me once I realized it was Mark and I dropped the bat on the floor.
“Don’t you EVER do that to me again Marcus Alexander Gronkowski!” I said. I leapt on him and gave him a hard hug. “I was terrified. What if that crazy person got you? The police are gone. What if that crazy person got me on my own? What is wrong with you?!” I was as angry as I was relieved. “Right now, I could just kill you myself!” I let him go and stepped back, still glaring. As wonderful a friend he was, he could be really, really stupid sometimes.
“Sorry, really. The cop was here. I just wanted to change. You were safe with the cop here and no one is going to want to come after me, at least I think not. I was filthy from earlier.” He looked at the ground, not wanting to mention that he had gotten dirty burying Bear. “I couldn’t find my spare clothes in the guest room. Have you called the police station? Where is the damn cop?”
“I called, they don’t know, so they are sending someone else out while they try to find him,” I said.
We were both startled by a knock at the door. Mark pushed himself in front of me and answered. It was Detective Conroy — he had personally driven out. He wanted to get the information he would need to complete a missing persons report for my parents, I numbly gave him the information about their car and a recent picture of them. He informed me that they hadn’t found Officer Renard — he wasn’t responding to any of their radio calls. We were missing three people and the only thing each had in common was…me. Things were not looking good.
We sat in the living room, trying to run through possible suspects. We knew it had to be someone at the party. So we attempted to make a list.
“So, who was there? I understand it may be a long list, but any leads can help. I can call in Montgomery P.D to help us run down leads, same with campus police. So if you have contact info for any of the people. That would be helpful as well,” the detective said. He pulled a notepad from his pocket, prepared to take notes.
I spoke first. “Tony. I apparently spent most of my night…” I took a pause, suppressing a shudder. “…Well spending time with him. He’s always been a little creepy with me.” Mark nodded next to me in acknowledgement.
“There are the girls Tony left with, but I don’t know who they were, but they were just girls,” Mark said and shrugged. “There’s Owen Carter, Noah Morris, Tommy Hall, and Ray Harris. They’ve all had at least a fleeting interest in Lucy.” I raised my eyebrow. Really? I shook myself, with everything going on, I found that interesting? I was really starting to lose it.
“Anyone who was hostile or any girls that may come to mind?” Detective Conroy asked.
“Well, there is Ava Wright. She has always made it known that she didn’t like me. We’re in a lot of the same classes, same major. Or maybe, Adam Rogers? He’s a bit odd,” I said. I tried to think of anyone one else. There were a lot of people at the party and I could barely remember bits and pieces of my night, let alone every face that I saw. Mark went through his phone, giving the detective any of the phone numbers and names of people who were there that he had contact information for.
“Thanks,” Detective Conroy said and stuffed his notepad in his pocket. “I’m going to have them run this down. I’ll contact campus police and look everyone up.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and called the station to relay the names and numbers we could provide.
Hours passed. My parents never returned home. A call came through to Detective Conroy. They found Officer Renard’s cruiser abandoned just on the outskirts of our tiny town. The doors were open, dome light on, engine running. I couldn’t help but wonder when my life had turned into a horror movie. I just needed Neve Campbell or Jennifer Love-Hewitt to come walking out of a room and it would be complete. Or maybe Freddy or Jason, maybe even that dreadful clown from IT. A different cruiser pulled up and Detective Conroy excused himself. He needed to check in with the officer and then needed to go to the scene of Officer Renard’s abandoned cruiser.
I watched out the window for the detective to leave, but he didn’t. While he was speaking to the new officer, his head bowed and his shoulders sagged. I had no way of knowing what they were saying, but as the new officer shook his head I knew the news was not good. The detective turned on his heel and headed back towards my front door. I managed to open it before Mark.
“What? What’s going on?” I was insistent.
“Lucy, please, let’s go sit down and we can talk.”
“I’m not moving from this damn door. What the hell is going on?”
Detective Conroy gave a resigned sigh. “Lucy…state troopers found your parents’ car. It appears to be abandoned at a truck stop off of the interstate. There was blood, lots of it.” That was more than I could handle. My legs went out from under me and I crumpled to the floor. My world went dark.
I jolted awake at the sharp sting of ammonia in my sinuses. Smelling salts. My foggy mind registered the harsh smell. Detective Conroy was crouched over me, checking my pulse and looking me over. I tried to brush him away. I was fine. I just needed a minute. Strong arms went under me and I turned my head to see Mark scooping me up and moving me from the floor in front of the door to the couch. Again, tears flooded my eyes. I didn’t think I had it in me to cry any more than I already had, but I assure you it was entirely possible. As I was being soothed by Mark, the mystery phone buzzed. We all turned and stared at it as though it were going to hop off of the table and attack. I just shook my head, my hands up in a defensive position. It was Detective Conroy who took the initiative to answer. He seriously looked like he thought the phone would bite.
“Hello. This is Detective Conroy of the Springfield Police Department,” he said. He paused. “I’m sorry, she is not available to talk to you. Who is this? I can take a message.” Another pause. “Excuse me? I’ve already told,” and he was cut off. We were able to hear yelling, but from far away, it only came out garbled. Without responding, he hung up the phone. “Okay, Lucy, I want you to go pack an overnight bag. I am getting you out of here.” He looked to Mark. “You too. Once Lucy is done I’ll have the officer outside take you home to get some things. Where are your parents, are they home?”
“Well, actually no. They’re on vacation for the rest of the week. Cabo.”
“Good. Let’s get moving. I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to.” He held up the phone. “I’m keeping this. I’m disabling the GPS and going to try and have our tech guy pull whatever he can off of it. We need to nail down this fucker.”
I was completely numb. I could see Mark shooting me concerned glances as we were stuffing my backpack with my clothes, ignoring the wrinkle factor. At this point, I had been running on autopilot. If not for Mark being the strong one, I would have fallen into a blubbering and quivering mass. Terrified and immobilized by my grief. I know he wanted to break down just as bad, but he wouldn’t let himself. I had been that rock for him in the past — when we were 12, his mother died of ovarian cancer then again when his father remarried when we were 14. Within minutes, Mark was being escorted back to his house to get his own things. I didn’t know yet where the police were taking us, but I hoped it would be a safer respite than my own home.