Chapter The Concert
THE CONCERT
On the stage, The Vows are playing the last few songs of the night while pictures of Mike light up the wall of screens behind them.
The audience sings along and cries over a man they never met, yet who somehow means so much to them.
Above that, the stars sparkle and the comet hums along.
All the while, hysteria nips at Claudia’s heels.
Claudia feels herself growing angry. She imagines what she’ll say when she finds Lisa and Elliott. Words like ‘irresponsible’ and ‘unreliable.’ ‘Stupid,’ even, but she knows that would be a mistake.
She stalks from trailer to trailer, calling Lisa’s name in a sharp tone. Zane’s trailer is empty too. She skips Steven’s. He came alone so there would be no one there who would have Elliott.
Where would Lisa have taken him? Was he in the crowd, terrified by all the noise, getting dizzy from the stench of weed?
Finally, she makes her way to the back of the stage where the cute security guard—the one who’d been smiling at her while he checked out her breasts—notices her and immediately rushes over to find out what’s wrong.
As calmly as possible (which isn’t very calm at all), Claudia tells him her baby is missing and that he was with Lisa Dwyer, Russell Dwyer’s daughter. “I’m afraid I don’t know Lisa well, and I’m worried she left him alone and someone maybe came in and…”
She doesn’t finish the thought because she is determined not to act like some new mom who can’t control herself.
The security guard tells her his name is William.
He’s going to help her find her baby so she’s not to worry.
He’s eager to take charge and Claudia is eager to let him.
He suggests they go to the VIP area, as that’s probably the most likely place Lisa would have gone.
She agrees and is overcome with relief that she’s decided to put her faith in William.
They start to wind their way through the equipment behind the stage, and he asks her how old her baby is. “Five months,” she says, her voice wobbling.
“About how big is that?” he asks her, using his hands as if measuring an imaginary baby’s height.
His guess would be more accurate if Elliott was a five-month-old chihuahua, but she doesn’t make fun of him in the flirty way she would if this were any other situation.
Instead, she uses her own hands to indicate his height.
“He’s fifteen and a half pounds.” She immediately feels silly for being too specific, and adds, “Not that the half matters.”
“No, it’s good, Claudia. Every detail is helpful. What color is his hair?”
“Blon—” She stops talking because Lisa has just come around the corner, arms linked with Trish, both stumbling and laughing, giddy with the thrill of being young. In an instant, the facade of the calm, collected woman gives way, and Claudia lunges at them. “Lisa! Where is Elliott?!”
William holds her back and calmly questions them. Their faces fall. They explain they only left a few minutes ago, but the baby is fine because Ivy and Poppy are watching him.
“Ivy and Poppy are gone too,” she snaps, then raises her voice to scream at them for being irresponsible. “They’re not in my trailer or theirs or yours! Why would you leave them? I was coming right back!”
A police officer strides over and asks what the problem is. William answers for her while she studies the police officer. He’s short and about her age with a crooked nose that looks like it’s been broken on multiple occasions.
While the men talk, she turns to Lisa. “I can’t believe you left. You promised to watch him!”
The policeman snaps at Claudia to calm down. “Yelling at a teenager isn’t going to solve anything,” he says, as if snapping at a hysterical mother will.
Claudia suddenly understands why the man’s nose is crooked.
William explains that of course she’s upset. “Her baby is missing. And now it sounds like Zane McCreight’s daughters may have disappeared too.”
As soon as he mentions Zane’s name, the cop snaps to attention. It pisses Claudia off, but at the same time, she’s grateful because now it’ll be taken seriously.
William suggests they all carry on to the VIP area together to look for the kids. Lisa shakes her head. “That’s where we’re coming from. They’re not there.”