Marv looked at me, storm-gray eyes serious. “Don’t worry, Harlow. We’ll tell them when they gethere.”
I sighed. “You tell me not to worry, but I can’t help it. If Erika knew she was leaving, then does that mean that she’s withJosh?”
Marv grimaced and grabbed the back of Lizzie’s desk chair. Turning it to face me, he sat and reached for my hands. “Listen, it’s entirely possible. But we don’t know the whole storyyet.”
“If she’s been with him this whole time,” I snapped, “I’m going to be really mad.” I stood, pulling away from his hands and paced across the room before coming back and repeating the cycle. “We’ve been best friends for years,” I explained. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t she tell me what’s going on? Does she not trust me? How can she keep something like this from me? What if she’s indanger?”
Marv stood and stepped into my pacing path, causing me to come to an abrupt halt or risk running into his chest. His hands moved to my shoulders and I looked up. “Relax, Sunshine. It’s all gonna workout.”
“That’s easy foryoutosay.”
He frowned and shook his head. “No, it’s not.” Marv tugged me to the bed and sat down, pulling me down beside him. “What’s wrong? You’re not acting likeyourself.”
“I’m just worried about her,” I admitted. “If she left campus willingly, do we really need to behere?”
“Well, considering Josh walked out of his rehab facility without discharging himself, I’d say that there’s still something not adding up,” he pointed out. He was right, but what was it? I felt like there was something big missing. Something I should seeclearly.
“There’s no use getting so worked up now,” Marv said. “I didn’t bring you up here to rattle you. We’re just going over what we know. Think of the clues as the pieces to a puzzle—once you get the outer ones lined up and connected, you just need to fill the restin.”
“That’s just the thing,” I said, standing and pulling my hands away. “None of it makes much sense to me rightnow.”
“Come on, sit back down.” Marv stood and patted the bed. I sighed but did as he asked while he moved towards my desk to pull out a sheet of paper and a pen from my drawer. “Alright, so let’s start out with what we knowthen.”
“Okay,” I said. “Well, we know that both Josh and Erika aremissing.”
“Yes,” Marv said, scribbling it down. “Whatelse?”
“We know that Josh was not discharged, and he left of his own free will. So, he hasn’t beenkidnapped.”
Marv shook his head. “We don’t know that forsure.”
I frowned. “But how can you say that? Didn’t Texas and Grayson watch the videos? He did leave without anyone forcinghim.”
“There are a lot of ways to force someone that don’t necessarily involve a gun to the back of thehead.”
“Like coercion?” Iasked.
“In a manner of speaking.” Marv scribbled something else down before turning back to me. “We did mention that Josh might have left because someone had kidnapped Erika to hold overhim.”
“Sort of,” I conceded, “but then she wouldn’t have known she was leaving, which she clearlydid.”
“Ah, but that’s assuming that the two are mutuallyexclusive.”
I stared at him as my temples throbbed. “Huh?”
Marv smiled patiently before writing something else down and then lifted the paper for me to see. It was a somewhat crude drawing of a puzzle with a bunch of missing middle pieces and blank outer pieces. In one corner, Marv had written “Caruso #1 missing” and in another space alongside it, he had written, “Erika missing.” Further to the side, another piece read “Erika takes prearrangedbreak.”
Biting my lip, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Okay, so what if Josh was forced to leave then? It wasn’t because Erika was in trouble, because she already knew she was leaving. What if they planned on leaving together?” Iasked.
Marv tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Do you think theyeloped?”
Scrunching up my nose, I shook my head. “All this mess just to elope?” It was ridiculous. “No, it’s been weeks. They would have been back by now if theyeloped.”
“Ah, and Caruso Number One doesn’t have any money left.” Marv took the paper back and leaned over the desk to fit that little tidbit of information into another space of thepuzzle.
I watched him work as I thought. “Something triggered this,” I finallysaid.
“Hmmm?” Marv looked up. “Do you have an idea?” heasked.