Page 80 of Spencer

Spencer knew that the beef would be perfectly done, but silently blessed his mother for downplaying it.

“Shouldn’t you all…?” Tabitha waved a hand toward the table, and instantly got a slew of rebuttals.

“No, sweetheart. Of course not. And you don’t need us, so we’ll be getting out of your hair.” Spencer’s grandmother placed a hand on her husband’s arm, guiding him toward the door. “But if you need us for anything, we’re just a phone call away.” The pair quickly left among vague waves and air kisses.

“We’renot leaving your side.” Everlee, with her psych degree, seemed to know just what to say next. “First we’ll determine that your sister is safe,thenwe’ll eat, because we’ll all need food to mount whatever posse we put together to go get her.”

“You… You’re going to help me retrieve her?” Tabitha’s voice cracked incredulously. “But…what if she’s in North Carolina or someplace like that, far away?”

“Family road trip,” Kyle stated with a positive grin. “You and Spence can’t possibly think you’re going to do this by yourselves.”

“Okay. Hold on.” Mason held up a hand to stop the chatter. He clearly was hearing back from Prez.

Everyone snapped to attention.

“Sarge has got her. She bought a one-way ticket from Orlando to Atlanta, with cash. She got on the bus at 2:10 this afternoon. She’ll arrive in Atlanta at 11:25 tonight. That’s just,” he looked at the clock on the wall, “four and a half hours from now. Not enough time for us to get there, but… Prez?” He turnedhis attention back to his phone. “Ask Sarge what the next stop is if she gets another bus headed our way.”

Mason’s face grew excited as those balls were clearly rolling without his orchestrations. “Sarge says the next leg could depart as early as five tomorrow morning.”

Contrary to those upbeat words, his positive posture subsequently slumped. “Yeah. That’s five and a half hours. It’s a long time to sit in a bus station.”

The damned rollercoaster of emotion was almost too much for Spencer.

Tabitha had to be bereft.

Spencer speculated. “Atlanta’s a twenty-hour drive for us, which won’t help. We wouldn’t be there in time. Maybe we could catch a flight?”

Kyle scrolled on his phone and shook his head. “The last flight to Atlanta out of Bangor for the day left two hours ago. What’s the next stop on Sheila’s itinerary if shedoesget on the morning bus?”

Mason relayed the question to Prez, who undoubtedly asked Sarge.

Mase filled them in. “He says it’s DC, and the bus should be pulling in there at 7:20 tomorrow night, nearly twenty-four hours from now. For us, from here, that’s an eleven-hour drive. Plenty of time for us to get a little rest tonight, mobilize, and arrive in time to stake the place out.”

Tabitha shook her head and got to her feet, looking resolute. “No way. Thanks. All of you. But I can’t possibly impose on you for this. Just take me back to Bangor, andI’llcatch a flight to DC that will get me there before seven tomorrow night.”

Spencer wasn’t about to let that happen. “You’re not going alone. I’ll go with you.”

“Wait. Let’s think this out.” Spencer’s father who was a man of few words, finally spoke up.

When he had something to say, everyone listened because they knew when he bothered to talk, it would be important.

“Tabitha, your sister is autistic.” He measured his words, carefully. “A few young men from a group home nearby help me out at the mill, and I wouldn’t say they have a lot of sticktuitiveness.”

There was an old-fashioned word if Spencer had ever heard one.

Guy continued. “They’re easily drawn away if something distracts them or otherwise catches their interest. To that point, how is your sister’s focus?” he asked Tabitha. “What are the chances she’ll sit around at the Atlanta bus station for five and a half hours waiting for her connection to DC?”

Tabitha groaned, and gave a dip of her chin in agreement. “Sheila’s not great at ignoring distractions. She’s genius smart, but… You’re absolutely right. If I know her, the bus schedule looked great on paper, but once she’s faced with a five-hour-plus lull, her brain is going to search for and find alternatives.”

Mason relayed all that to Prez, then waited for several minutes before nodding and filling everyone in. “While we’ve been talking, Sarge has already enlisted the help of a genius computer hacker he knows, named Tex. I’ve heard of the guy through my friend, Quint. If anyone can keep track of Sheila, it will be him. They’re both going to watch the cameras in Atlanta and attempt to follow her once her bus arrives to see if she decides to wait—or not wait—for the connection to DC.

“If they identify her and she stays put, they’ll let the local PD know, and have her picked up.”

Tabitha nodded her approval.

“If theycan’tspot her, however, their thoughts are that it will be a waste of our efforts to head out right now. That by the time we could get there, Sheila might have hopped a plane, or a train, or even hired a car to take her the rest of the way. In that case,Sarge and Tex will have better luck scouring things remotely, keeping overwatch on every venue they can think of to try to follow a trail she might have left.”

Mason looked at Tabitha, who concurred again.

---