“Mom!”he cries out when he catches sight of me.
My head barely clears his shoulder as he wraps me in a bear hug.
“Any news?”I ask, releasing him.
He shakes his head.
“Hey, do you know if your brother is seeing someone?”
“Remi?I don’t know.Why?”
“Frank says they saw him talking to a blond girl in the stands.”
“Yeah, I saw him sitting with Katie Van Buren, she’s Jacob’s sister.He’s our center guard.Remi better not be messing around with her, or Jacob will pulverize him.”
I have a vague recollection of a blond guy built like a Mack truck on Linc’s team.
“Can you chase him down and see if you can get a number for Katie?Maybe there is something Remi mentioned to her.”
“Yeah, sure.”
As he pulls out his phone, I turn to scan the field and the stands.I notice a security guard walking along the perimeter of the field on the far side, where it borders the woods.Another one is ducking in and out from under the metal bleachers, appearing to be searching.
On the other side of the stands is the sports building, where the public washrooms and team locker rooms are housed.I catch sight of Frank circling the building.
“Mom…”
I swing around.
“I’ve got her number.Jacob says he just got in but she’s not home yet.”
“What’s the number?”
I dial as he recites it, and listen to it ring and ring before I am bumped to voicemail.
“No answer.I want you to wait here, Bud, while I go talk with Agent Laliberté, okay?”
As I approach, I notice all the windows on this side of the low-slung, single-story, cinder block building are narrow, and set just under the roofline, so you can’t really look in or out.I don’t know if there are windows on the backside of the building as well, but if they are like these, I don’t think Remi would’ve been able to get out that way.
“Frank,” I call out when I see him exiting the ladies’ room.“Anything?”
The public restrooms are only accessible from outside the building.
“I could swear Remi went in and never came out, Tessa.I was watching him like a hawk.I’ve been through the locker rooms and bathrooms several times.The only place I haven’t been able to get into yet are equipment rooms and a supply closet at the back of the building.They’re locked tight, so I got hold of the janitor and am waiting for him to get back here.He was around earlier, but had to leave shortly after the end of the game.”
I pull open the door and head inside.A hallway runs to the back of the building, with two men’s locker rooms on the left, and two women’s locker rooms on the right.At the back, the hallway turns into a T, with three doors sporting key locks along the back wall.
Even though I’ve been told they’re locked, I still have to try for myself.When there’s no budge in the first door, I bang on it.
“Remi!”
“I tried that,” Frank states behind me.
I ignore him and press my ear against the door, but am met with silence.Moving on to the next door, I go through the same routine, and by the time I get to the last, I’m just going through the motions, not really expecting anything to come of it.But just as I am about to walk away, I hear something move on the other side of the door.
“Remi?”I repeat.
“Mom…”
