Made You Feel Second Best - Day 1
Jul. 20th, 2024 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsTW: grooming, mention of child abduction
Jay returns Lucinda's call
Jay dialled his mother's number once he was on the roof and about to fly home. He waited for her to pick up. "Hey Mama, sorry I couldn't answer your call earlier. I was in a meeting for work. What's going on?"
"You can tell that brother o'yers to answer the dang phone," Lucinda snarled over the line. "The family needs y'all and yer brother is too high-falutin' now to answer his phone? Maybe sendin you n Melody to the city with him was a bad idea, iff'n that's the sorta bad habits he's passin along." Paige wasn't mentioned. Girl has always thought herself above her station, and far as Lucinda was concerned she could stay in the city and do her psycho-analyzin there instead of bringin that nonsense back with her.
Jay ignored most of what his mother was saying and it was easier than he had expected. If Mama was upset with Mel she could tell her herself. And while he didn't like that Sam hadn't given Mama his new number, there weren't anything he could say to change his mind. Instead he caught onto the most important thread and pulled it. "What's wrong, Mama?" Because something had be real wrong for Mama to be getting like this without even saying hello first.
“Yer sister, Joelle, ain’t comin’ home. Got hersself some no good unemployed boyfriend and thinks she ain’t gotta be part of the family no more.” Lucinda almost yelled, voice taught and frustrated. “I told her that boy was no good but she don’t listen and now she won’t come home.”
"Mama, Mama," Jay said placatingly as he tried to find a piece of paper to write all the details down. "Go back a bit, would ya? When'd 'Elle leave? What boyfriend? She never told me she was seein' nobody-" Then again, there was that older boy she sometimes got rides from. "Wait, it ain't that man Sam's age with that blue fastback are it?"
“A bit ago. Figured she was stayin’ with one of her girlfriends.” Lucinda answered quickly. “Yes Preacher, I told her a man with no job ain’t a good match and couldn’t provide for ‘er the way she’s used to but she didn’t wanna listen. And now she’s done runned off.”
"We'll come down," Jay said, slightly annoyed with his how his mother was handling this but much more concerned about how Joelle was. "You know where he and she mighta gone?"
Lucinda relayed what she did know. It wasn't as much as she oughta, but by the time she hung up with Jay there was a plan in place at least, and she could do something that wasn't just spinnin her wheels. She pulled the littles in to help, gettin the house aired out and ready for Jay and a whole passel of visitors.
Where'n the heck was she gonna put 'em all?
Jay fills his siblings in on the situation.
Jay was grateful it wasn't hard to get all his siblings together. He was windswept, having just flown home and gathered them as soon as he could. He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and looked to Paige and Mel first. "Mama called. It's about Joelle."
Sam's stomach sank. That was his little girl. "What was it? Did she manifest? Is she okay?"
"She up and left with that no good older boyfriend a'hers," Jay said, practically spitting in his anger. "There's a new hateful group that he's gone and caught her up with. Mama thinks he took her into the caves with all the rest of 'em."
Sam's chest felt tight and his hands started shaking. "Shit." Why were all his kids turnin' out like him?
Paige’s heart sank. “Joelle runs off and Mama calls us to come home and fix it?” Who knew what would happen to their sister in the time it took them to get home and find her. Why didn’t anyone try to step in before she ran off?
"She don' want Lizzie or the kids gettin' involved, and Mr. Holder is lookin' around," Jay said, defending his mother as an instinct he didn't have to think of. "But we gotta get gone now- 'Elle could be hurt! Who knows what that man's down with her!"
"What if I ask my coworkers for help." Sam said quickly. "They- this is what we do. We find people and get 'em safe. I'm sure they'd- I know they'd wanna help. The more folks we got the more ground we can cover."
Mel bit at her nails anxiously. There was a flurry of emotions in her chest- the main one being guilt. If she had stayed home maybe this wouldn’t’a happened… “Is it really a good idea to involve them in this? Joelle’ll be embarrassed enough if we come down to get her, let alone half the mansion.”
“If she’s wrapped up with some hate group, we should probably have some back up.” Paige started running through a list of things she’d have to pack, trying to focus on something productive. Maybe she should make a bag she could just grab the next time they needed to run home on a moment’s notice.
“I guess….” Mel said, still unsure. Elle wasn’t going to like this either way, but she feared that involving Sam’s work could needlessly escalate the situation.
"She might be embarrassed but I'd rather her be safe," Jay said, leaving no room for argument. "If I'd'a been home maybe..." He trailed off and shook his head. "We just gotta get Elle safe."
Sam squeezed Jay's shoulder. "Ain't no use in thinkin' bout if's. We gotta get Ellie safe, and she's already mad at me, we can tell her that involvin' other folks was all my idea. All I care about is knowin' she's alright."
“We just want to keep her safe.” Paige wrapped her arm around Mel. “Come on, I’ll help you pack.”
Mel leaned into Paige’s shoulder. “Alright.” She had a bad feeling about all of this, but they had to get their little sister home.
Jay talks to Illyana about going to KY
Jay looked exhausted already when he caught up with Illyana. He found her in the chapel and sat heavily in one of the other chairs. "Hey 'Yana," he said and took a moment to just take a breath to continue. "I gotta be takin' some time off from work. I gotta go home to Kentucky. Family emergency."
Illyana held up one finger as she finished what she was doing, then turned her chair towards her coworker. "Do you require portal or are you taking siblings and vehicle? Will you have signal for cell and tablet? Will make certain Warren does not bother you during time for trivial things even if I must bring demon to pin him. Or brother." She smirked at the thought of Colossus sitting calmly on Warren at her request. "Is not trouble, put request in portal and it will be approved." She paused for a moment. "Online work portal, not swirly experiment," she clarified, just in case Jay had somehow been infected with the particular strain of sassy dumbass that was endemic at the mansion. "If you need portal to arrive faster, I do not mind. Just point me at best place to get food after."
"It's mighty kind of you to offer to portal, but I ain't sure how many people are goin', and don't know how many you can take with ya." Jay didn't acknowledge Illyana's joke. "Yana... You're a heavy hitter and I'm gonna be real frank with you. On'a my baby sisters done gone missing and run off with an older man and a cult. I... Sam's people are comin' to help."
He stated into her face before saying, "Would you be wanting to come?" He really, really hoped she said yes.
"Of course, Jay." She thinks about the disastrous accidental trip to Limbo, and nods. "This is wise. I can portal things easier than people. If X-Factor is coming..." she trails off. "That and siblings is too many to be safe, but I will join you and save your sister from cult." Her face darkens, and her fingers itch, an involuntary twitch as if she has Soulsword in her hands. "I know charm of older being too well. The young, innocent ones are easy prey to sweet poison in the ears." When she grins at Jay, there's a brief superimposition, outlining horns and casting something a little otherworldly over her face.
Jay felt so much more confident in Joelle's assured safety for a moment with the superimposition- a surety down to his bones that he would have to examine once this was all over.
Having a Devil Queen on your side was something to make everything seem like it'd turn out alright. Especially a Devil Queen with the best intentions.
"You're a good friend," he told her. "Thank ya for agreeing to come." He didn't thank her for the implications to destroy whoever hurt his sister. He didn't need to.
Sam talks to his coworkers about joining the search for his sister.
Sam was visibly shaking in the office, nervous as all get out. He knew his coworkers would be understanding and would probably even offer to help, he knew that, but it still somehow felt selfish to ask. It had only been a few months ago that everything had gone down over Christmas and he’d been working remote right after getting hired. It’s not like he was a stable presence around the office yet.
“So.” He started, coughing awkwardly around the lump in his throat. “In the never ending nightmare that is my family life, my fifteen year old little sister back in Kentucky has gone missin’. Accordin’ to my Mama she thinks she’s shacked up with some guy ten years older than her…..and my other siblings think she’s joined an anti-mutant militia cult that’s formed in the caves near town…. An’ I was-“ Sam swallowed hard. “I was hopin’ y’all would be understandin’ of me heading down to Kentucky again and that maybe y’all’d be willin’ to help me get her back? Make sure she’s safe?”
Quentin, who had been leaning over Arthur's shoulder to review something on his computer screen, glanced up at the young trainee and sneered. "You're fired." It was a threat delivered on average once every couple weeks, yet Sam continued to receive assignments and a paycheck, so it was typical Quire bluster. One day he would follow through, probably.
The blond man next to Quentin, however, was doing his best not to look ecstatic. Arthur's eyebrows danced with an unspoken 'are we doing a bit?' as his head bobbled back and forth as he tried to get a read on the dynamic. "Q's right," Arthur said with his best sympathetic smile, "we're fired up to help! That's a lot of thinking, though." His sour expression illustrated his opinion on that. "What do we know?"
Hope was already pulling over one of the whiteboards that floated around in the space, reaching over to grab a marker. "So your mother is saying that she is possibly living with an older man. And your siblings suggested she is involved with an anti-mutant militia." Quickly she noted 'living with older man' and 'involvement with anti-mutant militia' on top, under lining each of them and adding the source just below. "Did your mother or siblings offer any other information?"
“Both are well within the realm of possibility.” Sam said, sighing. “She ain’t been responding to nobody for weeks…..there’s plenty of armed folks who ain’t too keen on mutants back home and plenty-a places to train. Hell the coppers are probably part of it so ain’t nothin’ gettin’ done. And-“ he paused, swallowing hard. “-it ain’t exactly abnormal for teenagers to be seeing folks too old for em back home. And Elle…..she- I can see her gettin swept up into some shit by an older guy who makes her feel special. Too many damn kids in my family and Mama favors the boys too much for her to feel that way at home…..Thanks.”
"If the cops, or anyone out there is in on it then there are probably texts or something that we could use to find her. I assume you don't care so much about...doing things legally, not when it comes to getting her back right? Shouldn't be too hard to crack into some phones and find her, and him, and if we're not going to a judge..." Sue let her voice trail off, this wasn't about taking someone to court but personal, saving a friend's family. It wasn't like any of them were averse to that, people like that tend not to hide, but when they go missing, no-one really cares too much."
"I reckon Sue's maybe gettin' a bit too far ahead of us on that count," Inez said from her position, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, "but count us in f'r findin' the piece of crap that's takin' her, and then we can worry 'bout exactly what we're goin' t'do with him, an' whether anyone will find him or not." She smirked a little, her mind not too far off from Sue's truth be told, but then her visage softened a little. "Elle is her name, y'said? Can y'tell us a bit more about her?"
“Joelle. I call her Elle or Ellie….” Sam said, swallowing hard. She hadn’t let him call her Ellie in years. “She’s fifteen, bout to turn sixteen…used to play viola, she loves softball… she’s- she’s-“ Sam tried and failed to keep his voice steady. “She’s my little girl- I- I taught her to ride a bike, and helped her with her homework, did all her bed time stories, bought her Easter dresses, learned how to braid her hair…I- she ain’t always the best at realizin’ how great she is. Gets real down on herself and thinks she ain’t nothin’ special and with Lucinda bein’ how she is….it ain’t easy for her. And I know it got harder when I left and then Paigey left and then Jay n’ Mel….she ain’t been respondin’ to me for a few weeks but she gets into spells of ignorin’ me. Tryin’ to punish me for leavin’ I guess….I miss her.”
"I hate to say it, but she could very well be quite susceptible to people who make her feel special, who boost her sense of self worth. Especially at her age. Both scenarios we have, make a lot of sense in that light. An older boy or man who gives her the attention she yearns for... the anti mutant group who tells her she is special too, next to her mutant siblings." Hope kept her voice gentle.
Arthur had been all of the appropriate and attentive gestures of empathy and listening over the past discourse, but what had started as a casual finger tap had developed into very pointedly staring at the compiled notes. "Lots of solid ideas and potential here, but how long has Elle been missing? Do we have a date?" He tried to temper the criticism with a smile. "Just getting facts. Who in your family last saw her, and when? That'll give us a start." His words did not say, 'was your mother more specific,' but he might as well have been psychically projecting it.
Though Quentin maintained his typical disdainful expression, he was internally beaming with delight at how his team had jumped right into things. Was this pride? At other people? What a weird sensation. He kept that all to himself as Sam answered Arthur.
"Unfortunately we got this news from my mother, which means we don't know shit about fuck." Sam grumbled. "But she prolly saw Lizzie last, or at least when I talked to Liz she thought she mighta been the last one to see her and that was about two weeks ago she said. But Liz's been out and about with her softball team most of that time so she ain't too sure of the timeline. This time of year it's pretty normal for Liz to not be home too much."
Sam sighed. "That's about all we know for sure. Now, I've got some ideas on where she might be and with who that I can fill y'all in on durin' the drive down... My siblings an' I are plannin' on leavin' first thing in the mornin, we can meet y'all at the cars at seven?"
Jay returns Lucinda's call
Jay dialled his mother's number once he was on the roof and about to fly home. He waited for her to pick up. "Hey Mama, sorry I couldn't answer your call earlier. I was in a meeting for work. What's going on?"
"You can tell that brother o'yers to answer the dang phone," Lucinda snarled over the line. "The family needs y'all and yer brother is too high-falutin' now to answer his phone? Maybe sendin you n Melody to the city with him was a bad idea, iff'n that's the sorta bad habits he's passin along." Paige wasn't mentioned. Girl has always thought herself above her station, and far as Lucinda was concerned she could stay in the city and do her psycho-analyzin there instead of bringin that nonsense back with her.
Jay ignored most of what his mother was saying and it was easier than he had expected. If Mama was upset with Mel she could tell her herself. And while he didn't like that Sam hadn't given Mama his new number, there weren't anything he could say to change his mind. Instead he caught onto the most important thread and pulled it. "What's wrong, Mama?" Because something had be real wrong for Mama to be getting like this without even saying hello first.
“Yer sister, Joelle, ain’t comin’ home. Got hersself some no good unemployed boyfriend and thinks she ain’t gotta be part of the family no more.” Lucinda almost yelled, voice taught and frustrated. “I told her that boy was no good but she don’t listen and now she won’t come home.”
"Mama, Mama," Jay said placatingly as he tried to find a piece of paper to write all the details down. "Go back a bit, would ya? When'd 'Elle leave? What boyfriend? She never told me she was seein' nobody-" Then again, there was that older boy she sometimes got rides from. "Wait, it ain't that man Sam's age with that blue fastback are it?"
“A bit ago. Figured she was stayin’ with one of her girlfriends.” Lucinda answered quickly. “Yes Preacher, I told her a man with no job ain’t a good match and couldn’t provide for ‘er the way she’s used to but she didn’t wanna listen. And now she’s done runned off.”
"We'll come down," Jay said, slightly annoyed with his how his mother was handling this but much more concerned about how Joelle was. "You know where he and she mighta gone?"
Lucinda relayed what she did know. It wasn't as much as she oughta, but by the time she hung up with Jay there was a plan in place at least, and she could do something that wasn't just spinnin her wheels. She pulled the littles in to help, gettin the house aired out and ready for Jay and a whole passel of visitors.
Where'n the heck was she gonna put 'em all?
Jay fills his siblings in on the situation.
Jay was grateful it wasn't hard to get all his siblings together. He was windswept, having just flown home and gathered them as soon as he could. He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and looked to Paige and Mel first. "Mama called. It's about Joelle."
Sam's stomach sank. That was his little girl. "What was it? Did she manifest? Is she okay?"
"She up and left with that no good older boyfriend a'hers," Jay said, practically spitting in his anger. "There's a new hateful group that he's gone and caught her up with. Mama thinks he took her into the caves with all the rest of 'em."
Sam's chest felt tight and his hands started shaking. "Shit." Why were all his kids turnin' out like him?
Paige’s heart sank. “Joelle runs off and Mama calls us to come home and fix it?” Who knew what would happen to their sister in the time it took them to get home and find her. Why didn’t anyone try to step in before she ran off?
"She don' want Lizzie or the kids gettin' involved, and Mr. Holder is lookin' around," Jay said, defending his mother as an instinct he didn't have to think of. "But we gotta get gone now- 'Elle could be hurt! Who knows what that man's down with her!"
"What if I ask my coworkers for help." Sam said quickly. "They- this is what we do. We find people and get 'em safe. I'm sure they'd- I know they'd wanna help. The more folks we got the more ground we can cover."
Mel bit at her nails anxiously. There was a flurry of emotions in her chest- the main one being guilt. If she had stayed home maybe this wouldn’t’a happened… “Is it really a good idea to involve them in this? Joelle’ll be embarrassed enough if we come down to get her, let alone half the mansion.”
“If she’s wrapped up with some hate group, we should probably have some back up.” Paige started running through a list of things she’d have to pack, trying to focus on something productive. Maybe she should make a bag she could just grab the next time they needed to run home on a moment’s notice.
“I guess….” Mel said, still unsure. Elle wasn’t going to like this either way, but she feared that involving Sam’s work could needlessly escalate the situation.
"She might be embarrassed but I'd rather her be safe," Jay said, leaving no room for argument. "If I'd'a been home maybe..." He trailed off and shook his head. "We just gotta get Elle safe."
Sam squeezed Jay's shoulder. "Ain't no use in thinkin' bout if's. We gotta get Ellie safe, and she's already mad at me, we can tell her that involvin' other folks was all my idea. All I care about is knowin' she's alright."
“We just want to keep her safe.” Paige wrapped her arm around Mel. “Come on, I’ll help you pack.”
Mel leaned into Paige’s shoulder. “Alright.” She had a bad feeling about all of this, but they had to get their little sister home.
Jay talks to Illyana about going to KY
Jay looked exhausted already when he caught up with Illyana. He found her in the chapel and sat heavily in one of the other chairs. "Hey 'Yana," he said and took a moment to just take a breath to continue. "I gotta be takin' some time off from work. I gotta go home to Kentucky. Family emergency."
Illyana held up one finger as she finished what she was doing, then turned her chair towards her coworker. "Do you require portal or are you taking siblings and vehicle? Will you have signal for cell and tablet? Will make certain Warren does not bother you during time for trivial things even if I must bring demon to pin him. Or brother." She smirked at the thought of Colossus sitting calmly on Warren at her request. "Is not trouble, put request in portal and it will be approved." She paused for a moment. "Online work portal, not swirly experiment," she clarified, just in case Jay had somehow been infected with the particular strain of sassy dumbass that was endemic at the mansion. "If you need portal to arrive faster, I do not mind. Just point me at best place to get food after."
"It's mighty kind of you to offer to portal, but I ain't sure how many people are goin', and don't know how many you can take with ya." Jay didn't acknowledge Illyana's joke. "Yana... You're a heavy hitter and I'm gonna be real frank with you. On'a my baby sisters done gone missing and run off with an older man and a cult. I... Sam's people are comin' to help."
He stated into her face before saying, "Would you be wanting to come?" He really, really hoped she said yes.
"Of course, Jay." She thinks about the disastrous accidental trip to Limbo, and nods. "This is wise. I can portal things easier than people. If X-Factor is coming..." she trails off. "That and siblings is too many to be safe, but I will join you and save your sister from cult." Her face darkens, and her fingers itch, an involuntary twitch as if she has Soulsword in her hands. "I know charm of older being too well. The young, innocent ones are easy prey to sweet poison in the ears." When she grins at Jay, there's a brief superimposition, outlining horns and casting something a little otherworldly over her face.
Jay felt so much more confident in Joelle's assured safety for a moment with the superimposition- a surety down to his bones that he would have to examine once this was all over.
Having a Devil Queen on your side was something to make everything seem like it'd turn out alright. Especially a Devil Queen with the best intentions.
"You're a good friend," he told her. "Thank ya for agreeing to come." He didn't thank her for the implications to destroy whoever hurt his sister. He didn't need to.
Sam talks to his coworkers about joining the search for his sister.
Sam was visibly shaking in the office, nervous as all get out. He knew his coworkers would be understanding and would probably even offer to help, he knew that, but it still somehow felt selfish to ask. It had only been a few months ago that everything had gone down over Christmas and he’d been working remote right after getting hired. It’s not like he was a stable presence around the office yet.
“So.” He started, coughing awkwardly around the lump in his throat. “In the never ending nightmare that is my family life, my fifteen year old little sister back in Kentucky has gone missin’. Accordin’ to my Mama she thinks she’s shacked up with some guy ten years older than her…..and my other siblings think she’s joined an anti-mutant militia cult that’s formed in the caves near town…. An’ I was-“ Sam swallowed hard. “I was hopin’ y’all would be understandin’ of me heading down to Kentucky again and that maybe y’all’d be willin’ to help me get her back? Make sure she’s safe?”
Quentin, who had been leaning over Arthur's shoulder to review something on his computer screen, glanced up at the young trainee and sneered. "You're fired." It was a threat delivered on average once every couple weeks, yet Sam continued to receive assignments and a paycheck, so it was typical Quire bluster. One day he would follow through, probably.
The blond man next to Quentin, however, was doing his best not to look ecstatic. Arthur's eyebrows danced with an unspoken 'are we doing a bit?' as his head bobbled back and forth as he tried to get a read on the dynamic. "Q's right," Arthur said with his best sympathetic smile, "we're fired up to help! That's a lot of thinking, though." His sour expression illustrated his opinion on that. "What do we know?"
Hope was already pulling over one of the whiteboards that floated around in the space, reaching over to grab a marker. "So your mother is saying that she is possibly living with an older man. And your siblings suggested she is involved with an anti-mutant militia." Quickly she noted 'living with older man' and 'involvement with anti-mutant militia' on top, under lining each of them and adding the source just below. "Did your mother or siblings offer any other information?"
“Both are well within the realm of possibility.” Sam said, sighing. “She ain’t been responding to nobody for weeks…..there’s plenty of armed folks who ain’t too keen on mutants back home and plenty-a places to train. Hell the coppers are probably part of it so ain’t nothin’ gettin’ done. And-“ he paused, swallowing hard. “-it ain’t exactly abnormal for teenagers to be seeing folks too old for em back home. And Elle…..she- I can see her gettin swept up into some shit by an older guy who makes her feel special. Too many damn kids in my family and Mama favors the boys too much for her to feel that way at home…..Thanks.”
"If the cops, or anyone out there is in on it then there are probably texts or something that we could use to find her. I assume you don't care so much about...doing things legally, not when it comes to getting her back right? Shouldn't be too hard to crack into some phones and find her, and him, and if we're not going to a judge..." Sue let her voice trail off, this wasn't about taking someone to court but personal, saving a friend's family. It wasn't like any of them were averse to that, people like that tend not to hide, but when they go missing, no-one really cares too much."
"I reckon Sue's maybe gettin' a bit too far ahead of us on that count," Inez said from her position, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, "but count us in f'r findin' the piece of crap that's takin' her, and then we can worry 'bout exactly what we're goin' t'do with him, an' whether anyone will find him or not." She smirked a little, her mind not too far off from Sue's truth be told, but then her visage softened a little. "Elle is her name, y'said? Can y'tell us a bit more about her?"
“Joelle. I call her Elle or Ellie….” Sam said, swallowing hard. She hadn’t let him call her Ellie in years. “She’s fifteen, bout to turn sixteen…used to play viola, she loves softball… she’s- she’s-“ Sam tried and failed to keep his voice steady. “She’s my little girl- I- I taught her to ride a bike, and helped her with her homework, did all her bed time stories, bought her Easter dresses, learned how to braid her hair…I- she ain’t always the best at realizin’ how great she is. Gets real down on herself and thinks she ain’t nothin’ special and with Lucinda bein’ how she is….it ain’t easy for her. And I know it got harder when I left and then Paigey left and then Jay n’ Mel….she ain’t been respondin’ to me for a few weeks but she gets into spells of ignorin’ me. Tryin’ to punish me for leavin’ I guess….I miss her.”
"I hate to say it, but she could very well be quite susceptible to people who make her feel special, who boost her sense of self worth. Especially at her age. Both scenarios we have, make a lot of sense in that light. An older boy or man who gives her the attention she yearns for... the anti mutant group who tells her she is special too, next to her mutant siblings." Hope kept her voice gentle.
Arthur had been all of the appropriate and attentive gestures of empathy and listening over the past discourse, but what had started as a casual finger tap had developed into very pointedly staring at the compiled notes. "Lots of solid ideas and potential here, but how long has Elle been missing? Do we have a date?" He tried to temper the criticism with a smile. "Just getting facts. Who in your family last saw her, and when? That'll give us a start." His words did not say, 'was your mother more specific,' but he might as well have been psychically projecting it.
Though Quentin maintained his typical disdainful expression, he was internally beaming with delight at how his team had jumped right into things. Was this pride? At other people? What a weird sensation. He kept that all to himself as Sam answered Arthur.
"Unfortunately we got this news from my mother, which means we don't know shit about fuck." Sam grumbled. "But she prolly saw Lizzie last, or at least when I talked to Liz she thought she mighta been the last one to see her and that was about two weeks ago she said. But Liz's been out and about with her softball team most of that time so she ain't too sure of the timeline. This time of year it's pretty normal for Liz to not be home too much."
Sam sighed. "That's about all we know for sure. Now, I've got some ideas on where she might be and with who that I can fill y'all in on durin' the drive down... My siblings an' I are plannin' on leavin' first thing in the mornin, we can meet y'all at the cars at seven?"
