It all didn't make any sense. No matter how angry his parents were over yesterday's party, they shouldn't have done this to him, under any circumstances. How could they just disappear? Go somewhere without leaving any message? And take Veronica with you? He felt stupid, but nevertheless rang the doorbell of the Jamesons next door. He still hoped the whole thing could be easily explained, that he had forgotten something, such as a dentist appointment or something, and that any moment his mother would turn off the street into the front driveway. He felt like the last idiot, but he could only blame himself for it. He started chattering in a wound up when Mrs. Jameson barely opened the door. He said that when he woke up, no one was home, and at school he found that Veronica did not show up at all that day, while his mother ...
A neighbor tactfully interrupted him and announced that his mother had probably gone shopping. He walked her home but cast a suspicious glance at the newspaper still packed beside the door. Together they looked around the floor, then went down to the garage and checked the back yard.
"It is really strange," said Mrs. Jameson finally. She obviously did not know what to make of it, for she was reluctantly calling the police station. The officer who responded to the call also tried to disregard everything at first. Soon, however, other policemen appeared, and by the evening his house was swarming with police cars. Alan listened with one ear as the cops dictated descriptions of both his family's cars over the radio and made contact with the hospital's emergency room. He watched the policemen walking from one house to the next questioning his neighbors.
- Surely they didn't mention that they are going out of town somewhere? asked the guy who introduced himself as Detective Raimond and who, unlike the others, wasn't wearing a police uniform. Did he really suspect he might forget something like that? He could not stand it and exploded:
- Ah, yes, I remember already! They were going to visit my mother's sister, Aunt Lucy!
- You see? the detective muttered. "It doesn't seem like your parents were in a hurry to pack up, picked up your sister and drove off in an unknown direction." After all, they left all their clothes and bags
travelers are lying on the shelf in the basement.
He was inundated with questions. When was the last time he saw his parents? What time did he go to bed? What's the name of his friend with whom he spent the evening? He tried to answer calmly and in turn, even admitting that he had argued with his parents in the evening, although he did not explain that the reason for the argument was his experience with an excess of alcohol, which caused him to throw his mother and father in the face that he did not want to see them again. The detective found him quite sympathetic because he refrained from the questions he most feared. Why would his parents, together with his sister a year younger, disappear without saying goodbye? Where would they go? And why without it?
Suddenly, in a fit of frustration, flooding with tears, he began to turn the kitchen upside down, rearranging plates, looking under all the appliances, and even into the gaps between the cupboards.
- What is going on? the detective asked softly. - What are you doing?
- Where's that note card? he turned to him in a pleading tone. - There must be somewhere. My mother doesn't leave the house without leaving a message.