Bad Connection Read Free

weird.”
    “Yeah. Pretty weird.” Okay, that's an understatement. The truth is, I can't think of Kayla today without feeling seriously worried.
    Where is she?

Two
    O livia and i pay the cashier and go fine an empty table, where we sit down and, as usual, bow our heads. We don't pray out loud. But we do pray. And sometimes we take some heat over our lunch blessing.
    Some people call us religious freaks, and one guy likes to call us “the nuns.” But we just laugh it off, No big deal. It might be harder if we had to handle it alone. Having a best friend by your side makes a lot of things easier. I thank God for Olivia on a daily basis.
    “So, if she's not at a friend's house…” continues Olivia, obviously still stuck on the Kayla mystery. “Where do you think she is, Sam? Do you think she's been kidnapped?”
    “Not according to the news the other day.” I stick a straw in my drink.
    “I know. They say she took her purse and clothes and money and stuff and that it looked like it was clearly a runaway situation. Her mom told the news that she hadn't been home all day on Saturday. But isn't it possible that someone entered the house and forced Kayla to get those things, tried to make it look normal?”
    I kind of laugh. “Can you imagine a kidnapper breaking into your house and then telling you to neatly pack your bags?”

    “I guess that sounds kind of nutty.”
    Just then we are joined by Emma and Brittany and a couple of other girls. And although we haven't been that close with these girls during the past year or so, I'm not that surprised they've been hanging with us lately. I know it has to do with our old connection to Kayla. It's like we're all worried and slightly freaked, and something about being together and talking about it seems to help some of them. Maybe it's therapeutic.
    Though to be honest, it makes me uncomfortable. Especially today. And some of the speculations, particularly this latest one from Emma, who never seemed all that concerned about Kayla in the first place, can be rather maddening.
    “Did you guys hear Emma's latest theory?” Amelia Carnes asks as she sits next to me. “About why Kayla is missing?”
    “You mean her little marriage hypothesis?” I venture.
    Amelia laughs. “Yeah, is that nuts or what?”
    “I think she just
hopes
it's true.” Brittany jabs Emma with her elbow as they sit across from us. “That way she won't have to keep competing with Kayla for the attention of Parker Davis.”
    “Yeah, right. Everyone knows that Parker and I are history now anyway.”
    “That's for sure.” Amelia nods over to a nearby table where Parker is obviously, flirting with Corrine Ashton.
    “I couldn't care less,” retorts Emma. “I'm totally over him.”
    “He seems to be totally over you too,” observes Olivia.
    “It's mutual.” Emma blows the wrapper off her straw, right in Olivia's face.
    “So that doesn't have anything to do with your story about Kayla running off to get married?” I ask.
    “Nothing whatsoever.”
    “But why are you so sure of this now, Emma?” asks 9 Amelia. “You never mentioned it to anyone before.”
    “I was at her house last night. Her mom let me get on her computer, and I was reading some old e-mails.”
    “No way!” Brittany leans forward. Actually, I think we're all leaning forward now. “She wrote about it in her e-mails?”
    “Was there really any talk of marriage?” I ask.
    “Well, these were old e-mails,” Emma admits. “We're guessing she may have deleted the more recent ones, to erase the trail, you know. But judging by the old e-mails, we could tell that this guy was really into her.”
    “What's his name?” I ask.
    “His first name is Colby. But we couldn't find his last name anywhere.”
    “Do the police know about this?”
    Emma nods. “Yeah, Kayla's mom has let them go through her room and their whole house. They downloaded everything from her computer and took some other things too.”
    “Still,” I persist,