Chapter 3

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I walked around the room searching for any clue that something was wrong. There was nothing out of place, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened. Frantic I grabbed the phone and dialed his cell. My heart sank when I heard the familiar strains of his ringtones.

He was gone. Justin was gone. Not knowing what I should do I called Horvath at home. I asked him to meet me at the loft as soon as he could get there and sat back to wait for him to show up. Once there I explained to him what had been happening and showed him the notes and photo album.

"Did you get a look at the guy the night he followed Justin home?"

"Um, not a good one."

"Any detail at all could help Brian. Try to remember."

I closed my eyes and thought back to that night. "He was tall, and bulky. Not fat, but stocky, sorta like Ben but bigger. Dark hair I think, um clean shaven."

"What about his voice Brian? Anything unusual about it?"

"It was deep, nothing out of the ordinary though. Do you think he took Justin?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to arrange for a police artist to come over so you can try to help him come up with a composite sketch. Has Justin mentioned any names you didn't recognize lately?"

"No."

"Has he been acting strange, doing things out of the ordinary?'

"Well yeah, he's been drinking and tricking." I hated betraying Justin but I had to tell Horvath everything.

"When did this start?"

"A few weeks ago I guess. Right after he quit his job."

"Why'd he quit?"

"Some guy named Jacob was making it impossible for him to be creative so he just quit."

"Does this Jacob have a last name?"

"I don't know it, sorry. He works at Pittsburgh Graphics."

"That's a start. Anyone else you know of could have a grudge against him?"

"No."

"Is it possible he left of his own free will?"

"The thought crossed my mind, Carl. We haven't been in the best place lately, but he left his art stuff here and his credit cards. Now the Justin I know and love wouldn't survive ten minutes without his sketchpad and charcoal. And his taste is far too expensive for him to not take the Gold Card with him."

"I believe that. You need to call his friends, all of them. And you should call Ethan, to see if Justin's been in contact with him lately."

"He wouldn't do that, Carl."

"Just do it, Brian. Call everyone you can think of then think of thirty more to call. The more people who know he's missing the better chance we have of finding him." He stopped with his hand on the door and turned back to me. "IF he calls, let me know and try to find out where he is. I'll be in touch soon. I'm sorry Brian."

"Thanks Carl."

Two days later I had contacted everyone Justin had ever known, including that fucking fiddler. No one had heard from him and I was growing more concerned with each tick of the clock. I spent every waking second trying to figure out who would take him and if maybe he really had left on his own. I knew in my heart that he hadn't left me, that last day he was the old Justin.

I kept thinking about the man who I'd seen the night he came home drunk. I thought about the notes and phone calls and I was sure that if we could find that stalker, we'd find Justin. When we didn't have even one remotely decent lead in a week's time, I put my ad skills to work and set about forming a search party of sorts. Emmett and Theodore combed the clubs, asking around about a blond that went missing. When everyone found out it was Justin that was missing I got hundreds of volunteers.

We handed out fliers with his picture and a sketch of the man I believed took him to every fag who walked past any establishment on Liberty Ave. People combed the parks, and the homeless haunts asking around. It was as if he'd just disappeared into thin air.

The end of the week approached and I was exhausted. Michael and Ben were at the loft manning the phones. I had set up a tip line and recruited my friends as operators. I sank into the couch, opened a beer and ran a hand through my hair. I was sitting there staring out the window not really seeing anything when Michael called my name.

"Brian, pick up the phone. NOW."

I obeyed without question and I felt my heart in my throat when I heard his soft voice.

"I love you Brian. I'm okay, nothing is wrong. I have my tylenol so my headaches won't bother me much. It's nice here, the sounds are amazing, and I finally know what you meant by getting some color on my skin."

He was sending me some sort of code and I was determined to figure it out, even if it killed me. I ran the words over and over in my head unable to make sense of it. If only I had been able to ask him something. If only he hadn't hung up so quickly. None of this made sense, but I had to figure it out. There was no way in Hell I was going to just give up on him.

I called Daphne and filled her in on what Justin had said. She was the only other person who knew him as well as I did. If she couldn't help me then Justin was as good as dead.

Twenty minutes later Daphne and I were sitting at my table with notes scattered everywhere. We had come to the conclusion that the person who had him had no clue that Justin was allergic to tylenol, or that he never got headaches. Daphne was convinced that he was somewhere warm since he talked about getting color on his skin.

I, on the other hand, couldn't believe that his kidnapper would take the risk of letting him outside. at least not this early in the game.

"Justin has a way of making people let him do what he wants, Brian."

"You think I don't know that? But why would someone take the chance of letting him out? They have to know he'll try to run."

"Why'd they let him call you?"

"To make it look like he left on his own. Someone wants me to think he left me again."

"So are we assuming it's someone who knows the both of you? Someone who knows about Ethan?"

"I don't know. But they want people to believe he just left."

"Could he have?"

"Without his art books or his cellphone? I don't think so. Justin doesn't go anywhere without a sketch book in his hand. Shit, whoever has him, planned this out well."

"Do you think we'll find him?"

"YES."

A week later I walked into the loft after a day of talking to everyone Justin had ever come in contact with again to find the message light blinking on the phone. His soft voice filled the room and I began to cry.

"I love you. Don't worry about me, Brian. I needed a break. I feel like I've been going downhill for awhile now. Especially after your business with Brown."

I could hear the phone slam down and my mind flashed to that trip where I made partner. Justin had gone to Vermont without me.

"That's it he's in Vermont." I threw some clothes into a bag and dialed Daphne's number.

"Daphne, I got another call. I think he's in Vermont. Can you be ready to go in ten minutes?"

"Of course."

"Great, meet me out front of your building. I'll call Horvath from the jeep." That drive was the longest of my life. I was terrified at the thought of Justin being gone from me forever. As hard as this was on me, I can only imagine what it was like for him.

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