Page 87 of Marcus: Sins of the Father

“Yes, sir.” He clicks off the phone.

I dial Mary, hoping she’s heard something, because I can only imagine the wreck she’s going to be with both her husband and son missing.

“Hello?” Mary answers, her voice full of hope.

“Mary, this is Marcus. Checking to see if you’ve heard from them.”

“No, nothing.” Her worry seeps through the phone.

“All right.” My eyes scan the lot and street. “When’s the last time you saw them?”

“When we left. I drove the truck home, and Red Dog was going to ride alongside Billy.”

“What time do you think that was?” I pat my leg, uncomfortable with the barely held together voice on the other end.

“Um, we left right around one a.m.”

I glance at my phone to see it’s just after four. “So, you haven’t seen them in three hours.” I say it more to myself, trying to work out timelines in my head, then actually expecting a response.

“Yes, and Billy only lives twenty minutes from us. Please find them.” Her voice cracks at the end.

“I’m sure they’re okay,” I say, but not really sure it’s true. “We’re going to go check some of their usual places. Maybe they’re just drinking and lost track of time or passed out or something.”

“Yeah, okay.”

I can tell she believes the bullshit excuse as much as I do.

There’s a faint rumbling in the distance, and I walk over to the railing of the landing to get a better look. It’s a lone rider, but I can’t see who just yet. As the bike turns into the complex, I see it’s Crash.

“Hey, Mary, Crash just got here. We’re getting a game plan. Call if you hear from them, and we’ll do the same.”

“Okay.” She clicks the phone off.

“Mary hear anything?” Crash calls as he pulls off his helmet.

“No, nothing. Said last time she saw them was about three hours ago.” I jog down the steps.

“All right, let’s start checking bars. I sent TJ to Sonny’s to see if they continued the party there.”

“Okay.” I start to walk to my bike and then turn. “Hey, Crash?”

“Yeah?” He responds, strapping his helmet back on his head.

“Do you think someone ought to check the hospital? I mean, if they had a wreck hours ago, it’d probably already have been cleared, and we’d never notice.”

“Shit. Yeah, I’ll head there. You check bars.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

We’ve ridden to every place we can think of and still no sign of them.

Now we’re all standing around a gas station, trying to decide where to go next.

The sun is cresting over the horizon and motorists are making their morning commutes.

“Where to now?” I glance at Crash.

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