Lizzie walked back inside the D.B, and went over to a pay phone.
Sliding a quarter into the change slot, she dialed her number.
"McGuire residence." Jo answered.
"Mom, Gordo's gone." Lizzie said.
"What? What do you mean, 'gone', Lizzie?" Jo asked, confused.
"Gone as in disappeared!" Lizzie replied impatiently. She tapped her fingers on top of the phone booth while she explained what had happened.
"How can you be sure that he's not in the building? Have you even looked?" Mom asked, not wanting to believe what she was thinking.
"Well, just a little. But Mom, how could he have gotten up that fast without me knowing it? In the dark? Without telling me?" Lizzie told Jo. "The more I think about it, the more I think that Gordo wouldn't just get up and leave me like that."
"I see your point, Lizzie. And I hate to alarm you, but I think maybe... that Gordo might have been kidnapped.
"What?!"
Toon Lizzie: Kidnapped! Ohmygosh! Of course that's going to alarm me!
"I know this is hard to believe, but that sounds to me like that was what happened. I'll be right there. You keep looking for him."
Jo told her worried daughter, and hung up.
Lizzie also hung up, and walked around in her chunky boots, looking for any sign of her friend. She walked over to the manager. "Ma'am, my friend still hasn't turned up."
"Okay. I'll send an employee to look in the men's bathroom." The manager told her. Lizzie saw that her nametag read, 'Darla Kurtwell'. "Henry!" Darla said, quickly walking over to a waiter.
She explained the situation, and the waiter nodded. He walked in the direction of the restroom, while Lizzie tried to calm down.
After a minute or two, the waiter came out from the restroom. "Sorry, Miss. There's no one in there."
"Oh no." Lizzie said, sinking down onto a chair. By now, everyone at the D.B. was talking about "some kid who was kidnapped".
Jo finally arrived, and rushed over to Lizzie. "Any sign of Gordo?" She asked.
"No Mom! I can't believe this was happening. One minute, we were talking, and then the next, he's gone!" Lizzie said, tears forming in her eyes, threatening to fall down her cheeks.
"Don't you worry about a thing. Gordo will be all right. You go get a glass of water, and I'll call the police." Jo told her.
Toon Lizzie: How can Mom be so sure? She has to say that kind of stuff!
Matt had also come along with Jo. He sat down in a chair, looking depressed. He really liked Gordo. "He was like a big brother to me!" He said to himself, shaking his head.
Lizzie wearily sipped some water out of a paper D.B. cup.
Toon Lizzie: He's so nice. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Why did it have to happen now?
She suddenly realized that Miranda didn't know that any of this was going on. Mom was done talking on the pay phone, so Lizzie rushed over to it. She dug in her wallet to find another quarter.
Jo walked over to her. "The police are on their way." Jo told Lizzie. Lizzie nodded. "Who are you calling?"
"Miranda." Lizzie replied, picking up her quarter, which she'd dropped on the floor.
"Oh honey, I wouldn't get her all worried. We're not even sure if Gordo was really kidnapped yet. Let the police investigates first, okay?" Jo told Lizzie.
"But Mom! She's one of my best friends. She has a right to know!" Lizzie protested.
Just then, Lizzie saw Miranda walk in through the D.B. door. She looked around, confused as to why everything was so crazy.
"Miranda! Over here!" Lizzie called out. Miranda looked up, and saw where Lizzie was motioning for her to come over.
"What in the world is going on here?" She asked, once she scurried over to Lizzie. "Gordo's missing! We think he may have been kidnapped!" She said, and explained the story again.
Miranda was speechless. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open in disbelief.
The police arrived, and starting asking Lizzie a whole bunch of questions. She tried to answer them the best she could.
"We're going to start searching right away." One of the policemen told her. He quickly took out his police cell phone, and asked that a search helicopter be sent out.
"What are the odds of finding him?" Jo asked him.
"If he really was kidnapped, it may take quite a while, Ma'am. In this kind of situation where the kidnapper wasn't seen, it's very hard to try to find them." The policeman told her. "We'll do our best."
Him and the other policemen left. They turned on their car sirens, and started searching. All of this was too much for Lizzie.
She started crying, right there at the D.B. Jo tried her best to comfort her, while Miranda was still in shock. Matt had ordered some apple juice, and was slowly slurping it in deep thought.
"Why don't we go back to the house? We can call around and ask if anyone has seen him." Jo suggested.
Lizzie nodded through sniffles. Jo offered to take Miranda home with them, and she accepted.
Toon Lizzie: What in the world am I going to do if we never find Gordo?
Two Days Later:
Lizzie was sitting in her arithmetic class, looking at the empty seat beside her where Gordo used to site.
There was no sign of Gordo anywhere, and his picture had been posted in the "Missing Child" section of the newspaper. Minutes felt like hours to Lizzie, slowly going by. Even Ethan's sympathy had not cheered her up.
That day she went over to Miranda's house, but didn't have any fun. Both girls looked through Miranda's scrapbook again, remembering all the good times they'd had with Gordo.
At the McGuire's house, all was quiet. Jo had been sitting near the phone all day, with Gordo's mom with her.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Jo quickly picked it up. "Hello?" "This is Sergeant Pixlewerth."
"Yes, hello! Did you find him?"
"Yes Ma'am. But he's in the hospital, listed as in critical condition. I'm very sorry."
"Well what's wrong with him?" Jo asked, concerned. Gordo's mom had her ear up to the phone, also listening to what Sergeant Pixlewerth had to say.
"He has amnesia."
