The Worry

Although I assumed I would spend most of the Christmas season at home. I didn't even require my co-workers to come over if they didn't feel like it. However, I was on the phone in case something important happened. My secretary liked her job, so she was present at the office anyway. In the opinion of this woman, if only she was absent for one day, my office would collapse.

These were my plans, but Martha was crazy about organizing some party for the New Year slash engagement one for family and it irritated me a bit. To care for my own sanity, I sat at work sipping my coffee. Additionally, Ginny spent days with us all day, so that made everyone pressured too. Both women tended to be over-perfectionist and constantly come up with new ideas.

I was also worried about my eldest son, Hyacinth looked as if he wasn't just overwhelmed by worries about an engagement or a wedding. I was surprised at how quickly they wanted to arrange it. He felt as if he was troubled by something much more serious than this, my father's intuition was usually right, but I couldn't get what it was really about. I tried to talk to him, but he didn't say a word about his feelings.

However, I did not think that anything else would become a priority on my list of worries for the next months. I was sipping my coffee while sorting papers from my old cases. I didn't like to outsource it to someone else. I always preferred to arrange them myself, but sometimes a large number of them accumulated and I needed time to deal with them. I sorted them into folders and cartons. On the one hand, it calmed me down, and on the other hand, it gave me a sense of satisfaction.

I sighed a bit of regret at the times that had passed when in difficult situations I could ask for help from Lucretia, who put my mind in order so that sometimes I caught a detail that was missing from me. I knew that something was up, but this little detail kept me awake at times. Often this happened when Martha and the boys went to visit her parents, the daughter asked me to stay with her. Sometimes I also took her to work when she didn't want to go to school, especially when Victor was sick and spent a lot of time in the hospital, then Hyacinth became a bit more involved in the role of the older brother. Most of all, I was glad that they accepted and loved her, just like me. I treated her like a child and even though I knew that I would never replace Leonard, I felt that he saw me as my father. That was enough for me to be happy.

"Mr. Parker, sorry to disturb you, but your son is here," I heard my secretary's formal tone, as she always uses this way of talking after she knocked softly on my door.

Victor didn't let her finish, he just burst in. There was a young boy behind him who shyly followed him in and greeted me softly. I raised my eyebrows, the younger son could be impulsive, but he respected my work, so I was surprised that he allowed himself to do so. They both looked like they hadn't slept all night.

"Something happened, Victor?" I asked worried, a bad feeling started running through my head.

"Lulu's gone," he signed quickly.

"What do you mean by "gone"? I asked, hoping I had misunderstood something.

Victor fell heavily into a chair, hid his face in his hands, and began to cry, he wanted to explain everything to me, but his movements were chaotic and intermittent. The boy who came with him tried to calm him down by telling him that everything would be fine and it wasn't his fault. I didn't understand what was going on, but I started to worry seriously about my daughter. The secretary had already returned with a glass of water and added in a whisper that she would make sure no one would disturb us.

As she left and closed the door, I could focus all my attention on the descendant, or rather on his companion, who at first seemed scared and nervous, but now seemed to be someone who could think soberly even in a difficult situation.

"David Parker," I introduced myself and point my hand in his direction. He didn't shake it, just looked at me quickly and focused on Victor again, expecting him to point out what he should do.

"Alexander," he replied.

I was surprised that he only gave his name, but it was probably not the time to think about the issues of trust and his personality. But I wanted to know who I am dealing with. I watched Victor let him know he was going to try to calm down while he was able to tell his story.

"What happened, will someone finally explain to me?" I asked, a bit nervous with ignorance. "What do you mean Lucretia is gone?"

"She left the house yesterday morning and has not come back so far," Alexander said. "She's not answering the phone, we were looking for her when she didn't come back for the night, we were going to go to the police, but Victor wanted to come to you first."

I took a deep breath, not wanting the shock to make me lose my right mind. The news shocked me, my heart was already raging with worry for my daughter, but I also knew that if I lost my head, nothing would help anyone, especially since Victor was hysterical and I needed as many details as possible. I took a few deep breaths, and clenched, and unclenched my fist several times. I walked over to my son and put my hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look at me.

"Listen, son, we'll do this. When you calm down, tell me everything you know. We will gather and organize information, and then we will go to the police with it, okay? I think Jim is at the police station today, he will definitely take care of it," I said calmly.

Victor nodded and started wiping away his tears, only now I noticed how tightly with nerves he was squeezing the hand of the boy he had come with. Lucretia must have mentioned to me that he was dating someone, but she refused to tell me any details. And Victor didn't want to brag about anything yet, which was amazing because we usually knew immediately when he was in love. He bragged about it right away and then walked around depressed after the breakup.

"May I know at least what you have to do with this?" I asked Alexander.

"He's my boyfriend," Victor said quickly, huffing around and assuming a defensive face.

"Nice to meet you, a pity it was not in more pleasant circumstances," I announced, smiling slightly.

"Right," the boy confirmed.

We waited for Victor to calm down, meanwhile, I called Jim and told him it was about my daughter's disappearance and that we would be at the police station to deal with it.

"Did you call your mom and Hyacinth?" I asked.

"No," he said and confirmed his willingness to speak.

I prepared a piece of paper and asked him to tell me about Lucretia's last days. I drew a timeline and marked the days and hours to give me a better view of the situation. Alex said something sometimes, I was surprised at how many details he knows. My biggest shock, however, was when Victor told me that Lucretia had told some strange man in the park about her powers and that also the young man I had just met had knowledge about it. I would sooner suspect that my son would tell him this himself, and not that my daughter would propose to reveal her secret herself.

"So Victor again, you saw her for the last time yesterday morning, yes? And did you talk about what she is gonna do?" I asked to be sure.

"She said she was going to the park to meet that man she told about the powers. She was smiling, I think she was happy about it. I only know his name and that he has a dog," he signed. "I was encouraging her to go on this meeting and now she is gone, I should stop her."

"We don't know what exactly happened. We will find her Victor. Every detail is important. Where have you been looking for her already?" I asked, handing Victor a piece of paper to write down the man's name.

"We suspected she would go the same way as usual when we used to go for walks there," Alex replied. "We asked in the cafe, they know her there, but they said she didn't show up there yesterday. There were no traces in the street, we asked everywhere along the way if no one had left any lost items that might have belonged to her. We called and asked people in the park, but it didn't help us." The boy hung his head and pursed his lips. “I know I don't belong to your family, but Lucretia is very close to me and I consider her my friend, which is why I'm worried."

I printed a map of their area and marked there the path Lucretia could take that day and all the places she could visit. Prepared in this way, I took them to the police station, they would have to repeat everything they told me to the officer whom Jim would entrust this case. Only now did I begin to admit the fear that something serious might have happened to her. I was aware that she could defend herself when she could use her powers freely, but if she intended to go somewhere, she must have contact lenses. She would have been looking for a way to contact us, she was Lucretia, and she wouldn't let her worry about us.

The three of us entered the main police station in our city, and we were waiting at the entrance for Jim, whom I had already informed that we were there. I was nervous when I greeted the people working there, I knew many of them and worked with them on many things. Suddenly, I felt Victor tugging on my arm, and I turned around.

"It's him!" he signed. "Now that I saw him, I remembered. Lulu showed me their meeting. She was supposed to meet him yesterday!"

Something burst into me, I stepped on him and grabbed my uniform, started tugging it off, and shouting things like "Where's my daughter?!". Everyone was probably too shocked and for a long moment, no one reacted. The young officer looked at me without understanding what was going on and tried to calm me down, but I was too angry and worried about my little daughter.

"Where's Lucretia?!" I shouted, and only then did I notice a specific reaction, as if the name had some meaning to him. It infuriated me even more, I was about to punch him in the face when my friend's scream snapped me out of my lethargy.

"David! What's that supposed to mean?!" Jim shouted, grabbing my hand. "Go to my office and calm down. You know the way, right?"

I yanked my hand out of his grip and adjusted my shirt, and coat and I headed in the direction indicated. I also heard the man telling the young officer not to leave the police station and wait for the summons to his office. I also wanted to tell this young one that if something happened to Lucretia I would kill him, but among so many law enforcement officers, making threats was not the best solution.