Chapter Eleven: Rebecca

A few days later, as it was getting dark, there was a loud knock at the door. I glanced at Al, who met my gaze, then sighed and got up to get the door.

"Becca!" I heard him say, sounding surprised. "It's late, you really shouldn't be-"

"Let's take a walk," Rebecca replied, sounding distraught.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Please, Al."

She sounded so upset that I knew Al couldn't refuse. So he grabbed his coat, said, "I'll be back in an hour or two," to me, and left with Rebecca.

It didn't surprise me much. Sometimes Al would be gone before I even woke up, and after he was back from his classes and me from work, when I asked him where he had been, he just said, "With Becca."

I still hadn't decided whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that Al and Rebecca were together. Despite the warnings Roy and Winnie had given me about the girl, Rebecca really made Al happy, and that made me happy. Besides, Al was a lot more reserved with her than he had been that day I first saw them together. I didn't think I had to worry too much about him doing anything that far from ordinary… I trusted him.

It was less than an hour later when Al returned. As he closed the door behind him, I said, "Hey… everything okay?"

He looked thoughtful. "Yeah," he replied. "Becca's just a little stressed out."

"Is there a reason why?"

Without looking at me, he sat down in the armchair opposite where I was sitting. "I don't know," he said. "I mean, it could be nothing…"

I raised an eyebrow. "What could be nothing?"

He finally glanced my way. "I don't know," he sighed, leaning back on the chair. "It's nothing." I smiled and nodded, saying nothing.

Early the next morning, so early that neither Al nor I was awake, the phone rang. I was just about to get out of bed when I heard Al get up and trudge out to the phone. His voice floated through the open door and into bedroom. "Hello?" he asked tiredly. Then, after a second: "Yes." A second after that: "No."… "What? What do you mean?" His voice sounded panicked now. "Are you sure?... Okay. Right. I will…. thank you, goodbye."

"Who was that?" I called tiredly.

"Roy," he said tensely, appearing in the doorway of the room and looking stricken. "Becca's missing."

I sat up. "What?"

"Apparently last night she went home and took a few things and just left," he said, a hand at his head. "He said she's done this before, but usually she's back by now."

I looked at him. "You think she's okay?"

"He said to give her a day to come back," he said. "And if she hasn't by then, he said to start searching for her."

There was silence. Then, I said, "She'll be fine." He shrugged and turned away.

After that, there was no use trying to go back to sleep. I got up and got ready for the day, despite the fact that my eyes kept drooping with tiredness. Al was pacing the whole time, looking very worried. "Calm down," I said to him. "She'll probably be back by noon. It's okay."

It didn't seem like he heard anything I was saying. Eventually, I looked at the clock and said, "Well, I might as well go in early today."

As I put on my coat, Al asked worriedly, "Keep a look out for Becca, won't you?"

"Yeah," I said. "I promise I will." He nodded once and I left.

At the garage, all the doors were open, but there was a 'closed' sign in the window. I walked in. When Winnie, who was leaning against the wall of the office, heard my footsteps, she turned quickly, but when she saw it was just me, she sighed and looked away. "Hello Ed," she said.

"Hi Winnie," I replied. "Where's Roy?"

She glanced into the office. Following her gaze, I saw Roy sitting behind the desk, his elbows resting on the desk, his face in his hands. "Is he okay?" I asked.

"He'll be fine," she said bitterly. "He's just using Becca as another excuse to blame himself for something."

I looked at her. "So… are we closed today, or what?"

"We'll stay open," she said firmly. "There's no reason we shouldn't."

"But what about-"

At her expression, I trailed off. There was something oddly steely about the way she was looking at Roy; but even as I watched her, something flickered across her face, and I knew that she wasn't as undaunted as she appeared.

I got to work. After half an hour, Roy left the office and fiddled with a few cars. He kept glancing out the windows, and every time the door creaked or someone walked past the shop, he would look up hopefully… but Rebecca didn't show up. At the end of the workday, looking beleaguered and exhausted, Roy beckoned me over to where he was standing, wiping his hands on an already filthy rag.

"Ed," he said seriously. "Before we go to the police tonight, we're going to have a look around town to see if we can't find Becca. I-"

"I'll help," I said, without hesitation. "And I'm sure my brother will want to, also."

Roy nodded gravely. "Your brother has a car, right?"

"Actually, it's – well, yeah. He does."

"Good. You should go tell him to roam around a little, to see if he spots her. We'll be looking for a few hours." I nodded, but from the tone of his voice I could tell he didn't expect Al to find her.

"Okay, I'll tell him," I said, picking up all my things and starting to head out.

"Oh, and Ed," said Roy, before I left. I turned around. "I'll meet you back here after you've told him, alright? I need your help with something."

I nodded once again and resisted the urge to salute. "Sure. I'll be back soon." I left then.

When I got back to our apartment, Al was sitting in the armchair, sketching something, a page full of messy writing next to him.

He leapt up when I entered the room. "No," I said, in answer to the question written all over his face. "No sign of her yet. But Roy said that they're going to be looking for her for a few hours, and-"

"Has he informed the police yet? He really should inform the police," he said quickly.

I shook my head. "No, he hasn't yet. But then again, I don't think Rebecca is too popular with the police – she's been jailed several times, you know."

"Yes, well…" he mumbled something incoherent.

"Anyway, Roy said that if you could look around for her, maybe with the car, then that would be a lot of help." His face seemed to brighten a little with the prospect of helping with the search. "I've got to go back, Roy needs me to do something for him, so just look around for a few hours, okay?"

He nodded earnestly. "Of course."

"Alright. Good luck. See you later." I left again.

Back at the garage, Winnie was sitting resolutely behind the desk in the office. When I raised my eyebrow at this, Roy explained, "I want someone here, just in case she comes back."

"Is that likely?" I asked.

He shook his head shortly. "Just in case," he repeated. It was silent for a moment, then he said, "And as for you: well, you're coming with me."

"What?"

He grimaced hollowly. "Just get in." He motioned to the same car we had used in our rocket trip. I glanced warily at him once, but he avoided my eyes; instead, he just got into the car and turned the keys in the ignition.

As I climbed into the car, I asked, "But wouldn't it make more sense for me to look separately?... So we could cover more ground?"

He sighed. "I think I know where she is," he said. "But I'm not about to go running into that part of town without backup."

"Oh great," I groaned. "Let me guess, you're about to drive me into the worst, most dangerous part of town and we're going to have to wrestle Rebecca away from ten men, all of them larger and stronger than us, andtoting some heavy artillery. Am I right?"

For the first time that day, Roy looked amused. "You're a perceptive little bastard, aren't you?"

"Am I right?"

He paused and shrugged, turning down a dark street. "Not exactly. Becca has a pretty shady history… nothing too bad, of course, but, well, she hasn't always made the best choices with who to trust."

"What do you mean?"

He slowed the car down and peered out the windows. In a lower voice, he continued, "Well, her family life was the typical tragedy: her father was killed in the war, her mother remarried a drunk …Becca ran away when she was just a kid, and she doesn't much like to talk about what happened after that, but Winnie… Winnie found her a couple of years later. She was in pretty bad shape."

"Winnie found her?" I asked. Roy nodded, still squinting out the windows.

"Yes. The girls have been like sisters since then, for some inexplicable reason. Every couple of weeks Winnie declares she's never speaking to Becca again, and Becca says she hates Winnie, but they always make up. Don't ask me why they're like that, I have no idea."

I nodded, and took to staring out the windows, like Roy. We were definitely in the rougher part of town. Every now and then there would be someone standing on a street corner, eyeing our car thoughtfully. Once or twice I thought I saw the quick flash of something shiny and metallic being tucked into a jacket.

Suddenly, the car jolted to a stop. "Is that her?" breathed Roy, staring at something in the darkness. I looked the way he was turned, and sure enough, there was a figure that looked a hell of a lot like Rebecca leaning against a grimy wall. It seemed like she was talking to someone else, a man by the look of it. "Come on," said Roy, getting out of the car slowly. I followed suit. "You have to be careful with these kinds of people, Ed," murmured Roy, hovering around the car. "They're completely unpredictable… you got to have the right approach, you know?"

Rebecca and the man were on the other side of the street, and her back was turned, so she didn't see us at first. "So, nice and easy, we just stroll over there, try not to stir up any trouble…Becca'll come with us, I know she will…"

But even as he said that, there was a strangled yelp from the other side of the street; I immediately looked over. The man had Rebecca's back pressed up against the wall, and his lips were at her neck. She hissed something and struggled slightly. I turned back to say something to Roy, but before I could, he had knocked me out of the way and was barreling toward Rebecca and the man.

"YOU GET OFF HER!" he bellowed at the man, wrenching him away from Rebecca and punching him in the face. "DON'T – YOU – DARE!" He punctuated every word with another blow. I just stared, my eyes wide. "Ed, get Rebecca into the car," he said loudly.

"Roy!" she exclaimed, surprised, as I took her by the hand and tried to pull her towards the car.

"Get in the damn car, Rebecca!" he shouted at her, blocking a punch from the other man. Rebecca relented and I dragged her to the car, where she clambered into the backseat, her arms wrapped around herself. I paused, then held out my coat to her. She didn't take it. I shrugged and dropped it on the seat next to her. Then I went back to where Roy and the other man were still throwing punches at each other.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" the other man hollered. He had a strong Irish accent. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the girl's father," replied Roy. "And if you ever touch her again-"

"You're not her pa," said the other man, his eyes narrowed. "I happen to know the man! You, sir, are nother father!"

Roy looked like he was going to hit him again, then shook his head and dropped his fists. "I don't want any more trouble. I'm taking her home. If I ever, ever see you again…"

The other man glared at him in silence. Then Roy turned and jerked his head, as if to say 'get in the car' to me. I obliged. Roy reached out to open the car's door-

Thunk. The other man's fist connected with the side of Roy's head. I leapt out of the car again, but Roy had already taken care of it by then. He had grabbed the man's arm, pinned it behind his back in an oddly militant maneuver, and shoved him against the wall. "Hit me," he hissed, "one more time…and you won't be walking away with your skull intact."

Roy kneed the guy once, then slipped into the car and, before the man could do anything more than rub his aching shoulders, we had driven away.

There was silence. Then, finally, after what felt like forever, Roy said, "Well, Ed, looks like I didn't need you after all. Good thing, too. I don't want you getting into any more fights, especially not for our sake."

I remembered the time I helped out Winnie and Riza. I had walked away sporting nothing worse than a few bruises that time... Roy wiped blood off his chin. "I'll drop you off at your place, Ed," he said quietly. "Hopefully your brother isn't still out."

"Al was looking for me?" asked Rebecca, in a voice that seemed unnaturally strong, considering what had just happened.

"Yes, he was," said Roy icily. "And as far as I know, he was worried sick, just like all the rest of us."

"Well, you know, I'm sorry I disappointed you, Roy, but-"

The car stopped. I got out. "Thank you," said Roy curtly. "And pass that on to your brother, won't you?"

"Yeah," I said. "I will."

As the car drove away, I could hear the two of them arguing loudly.

Al seemed to be sleeping when I opened the door to the apartment, but he woke with a start when I closed the door. "Ed! I didn't find her, I looked all over, I even went to check in at the garage, but Winnie said that she hadn't shown up and neither had you and I was-"

"Don't worry, Al," I said, waving a hand nonchalantly. "It's all okay."

"You found her?"

"We found her."

He let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I want to go talk to her." He stood up.

"Maybe that's not a good idea," I said, standing between him and the door. He looked at me.

"But…"

"She's fine, just a little shaken up. You can talk to her tomorrow."

"Oh…well…that's good, but I still-"

"Just get some sleep," I said. "You look exhausted."

Finally, he relented, and sat back down in the armchair. "Did she say anything about me?" he asked hoarsely.

"Well…she seemed glad that you were looking for her," I said.

"Anything else?"

"No…not really. She seemed, um, a little too preoccupied to talk."

His eyes flashed with worry. "What? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing!" I said. "Nothing, Al, she was just quiet."

"Quiet? Why?"

I sighed. I didn't want to tell him where we had found Rebecca. "You can ask her tomorrow."

"Fine," he replied, and there was silence.

He didn't sleep much that night. He kept glancing out the window, as if waiting for someone…something. He had this strange, edgy atmosphere about him, and jumped when I finally stood up and announced I was going to bed.

The next morning, he appeared fit and well-rested, but he couldn't shake that uneasy look from his eye.

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I love this chapter. The most action I've written so far. Very fun. We're a little less than halfway through the story here, I think.

I'm thinking about getting a beta reader for this story. Not for spelling or grammar, because for the most part I think I'm fine with that. But I'd like to have someone's input on the flow and story elements before the chapters are posted. This is a huge MAYBE, and not at all a definite yes, but if there's any good beta readers out there... you get the idea :D.

Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it. Any more constructive criticism?