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JACK'S JOURNEY
PART ONE
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
URI CAMPUS
KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY
The red lights circle around, lighting up the old stone facade of the fraternity building in intermittent flashes. Jack's mother Ginny arrived before the insurance adjuster and her boyfriend did, being so close. She did not tell Jack what the message she got was.
Her eyes are red as Jack and Steve approach and it's clear she's been crying. Ginny stands with her hands in her pockets, speaking with a man in a suit as policemen are coming in and out of the building.
*
The drive to the University had been on wrought with anxiety. It had been clear from Ginny's call that something was wrong, but somehow Jack had remained focused, calm (wish), and, relatively, in control. Arrival, however, presents a different picture.
Stoicism reigns over Jack's features, but the neutrality edges on grim as she approaches her mother. Her paces increase, and she breaks into a run when she sees her mother's expression. Her throat clears and she, rather instinctively, reaches out to embrace her mother. "Mom! What's going on?" She murmurs.
*
Steve looms behind Jack, looking sad, with his hands in his pockets. A couple of the cops and even a pair of fraternity members peek outside to the landing at him, and can hardly believe he's here. They keep it in check, however, because as Ginny is about to note, this is very serious.
"It's terrible, Jack," her mother says quietly. "James never showed up for classes on Friday. The boys started getting worried when they didn't see him on Saturday, and today finally called. No one seems to have seen him."
*
Jack swallows hard. She twitches at the news. "No one bothered to figure out he was missing for days? What kind of crackpot place is this anyways!" Because Rhode Island is clearly a crackpot University now. At least from Jack's vantage point.
"Was there anything left mom? Anything. IT's not… James isn't like this. He's… young, but responsible," enough, anyways. Her cheeks puff out irritably and her gaze turns back towards Steve for a moment before settling back on her mother.
*
"From what I can tell, boys come and go pretty often here. It's not as though they check with each other before they leave campus, ma'am," says the man in the suit. "I'm Detective Lehocky. I'm leading the investigation to find your brother."
Steve tries to give her a reassuring look, but it fails. Instead he comes to stand next to her and places a hand upon the small of her back.
"The last anyone saw him," Ginny replies, "he was at the library. There are officers over there now. I think they have half the force here."
"Most of the time when something like this happens, a boy just met a girl and goes out of town for a long weekend." But James didn't seem to take anything with him.
*
"James isn't like that," Jack insists. "I know my brother. He didn't just meet some girl and take off." Her eyes hone in on the officer in question. While there's still obvious tension in her body, she relaxes some at the hand at her back.
"Did anyone look through his room? Did they look for anything? I…" her shoulders sink. "There's no way James would've taken off without telling someone…"
*
"We investigated his room pretty thoroughly ma'am, and found nothing untoward. We're setting up the library as we speak and talking to witnesses, going through the sign in sheets and the books that were checked out that night. Looking to see if someone saw anything."
*
"I… I could help… do you know what you're looking for?" Jack frowns again as she looks towards the library. "Steve and I — " but she shouldn't get in the way of an investigation. "Do you have a list? Maybe one of his friends — "
*
"You're more than welcome to join us, miss. I'm sure we could always use Captain America's help." Detective Lehocky nods towards Steve, faintly.
"Jack's better at that stuff than I am," Steve says. And he likes to think he's pretty good.
Within twenty minutes, the trio are over at the library watching the policemen work.
Steve inspects the list of books that have been checked out by students. "Did we say about what time James would have been here?"
*
"He never misses class," Jack observes as she leafs through the books that were returned in the last twenty-four hours. "So, he couldn't have been here before dinner. And he's a wimp; wouldn't study without a full belly — " she knows her brother. "I'd say it couldn't be earlier than 5:30, and that might even be a stitch on the early side of things."
Her lips purse.
*
Steve looks at the list. "Hey, look at this." Steve's finger stops on a name, then the same name, then again. "Seiji Kishida was here at 3, at 5:30, and 9pm." Steve looks to Jack with a raised eyebrow. "Guessing they were here the whole time, researching, and checked out books over the course of the night."
*
A quirk of a smile follows Steve's observation. It's not wholly convincing, but Jack is pleased to have a lead — any lead. "Definitely someone we need to follow up with." She motions to the officers, "We need to find this student. I'm pretty sure they were around…"
*
"Should take just a few calls to get the student directory," Lehocky replies.
Within 30 minutes, Kishida is standing in front of them. He speaks with a very strong Japanese accent, but he was here on Thursday night. And he does know James, because James was on the same Thursday night bowling team as one of his friends.
*
When Kishida is brought to them, Jack is pleasant enough. She reaches glances towards the checkout list. "So… hi." She's never asked anyone questions in this kind of investigation before, and her investigations have never felt particularly personal. But she tries to detach herself as much as she can from the words she speaks, "I'm," her throat clear and she straightens her posture, "Jack Pace. My brother, James Pace was here a few nights ago. Thursday." She nods slightly. "Did anything strange or unusual happen on Thursday in general?"
*
"I remember seeing James. He comes in here a lot on Thursday nights because he can get his Differential Equations finished before the weekend. We always laugh because we both have one Friday morning class and then the long weekend. It wasn't strange at all, but I did see him talking to someone towards the end of the night. A girl from one of my stats classes. Her name is Valentina. From what I remember, and it's not clear, they left together."
Lehocky gives a look like maybe this really /is/ just a kid on a long weekend with a girl.
*
"Valentina," Jack nods slightly. "Does Valentina have a last name?" she frowns slightly. She leans forward and emits a soft sigh. "Can you tell me anything else about her?"
*
"Valentina? She's here on a student visa like me. She's Russian or Lithuanian or something like that. She's studying something to do with math. Her last name is Afanasyev."
*
"So she's in stats with you? And is studying math. Not a lot of women study math," and Jack should know; she's like that. "Do you know anything else about her?" A glance is cast over her shoulder at the officer, "Can we track down Valentina? Check in with her… maybe one of her friends has been in touch."
*
"She lives over in Baker Hall. To be honest, I don't really know her that well. She just got here at the beginning of the semester," Kishida says, shrugging his shoulders. "Sounds like we're headed to Baker Hall," Steve says, grabbing his coat.
As they trudge along through the recently fallen snow, Baker Hall is on the clear other side of campus. Once they get there and talk to the worker at the desk, they put in a call to Valentina's room.
"How you holdin' up?" Steve says to her, quietly.
*
Jack is unusually quiet as she walks. Her hands retreat deeply into her pockets. Her posture has her shrinking into herself. But the question draws her from her silence. Her head turns and she watches Steve carefully. "I know my brother. He's not like this. No matter how pretty a face, he doesn't skip class. Ever."
Her teeth chew at her bottom lip. And then, nearly apologetically as she trudges through the snow, she observes quietly: "I just… want him found."
*
"We'll find him," Steve replies with a nod as he gives her shoulder a hug. "I promise we will find him."
The person at the front desk looks worried as she hangs up the phone, "Sarah, her roommate, says that she last saw Valentina on Friday morning. She told Sarah that she was moving out and going home to Russia."
"We'd like to talk to her roommate, please," says Detective Lehocky.
*
Jack frowns deeply. Her body tenses. She can feel every muscle in her body stiffen. Slowly she turns to face Steve. She swallows hard and she leans towards him, feeling her knees buckling beneath her. "He didn't… he wouldn't just disappear. He would never disappear!" he frowns slightly.
*
Steve catches her and prevents her from falling, if that's what she's about to do. "We'll find him. I promise," he repeats. "Detective, if you'd be so kind, I'd like all of the information on this Valentina person. I'm going to go to Russia myself and talk to her. And get to the bottom of this."
*
Jack turns to face Steve and nods slightly. "…I'll go too." To Russia. This can't possibly be a bad idea. "I need to find my brother. And if she was the last one who saw him…" her face blanches. "If he had a history of disappearing, then maybe… but…" no. Her head shakes.
*
Steve holds Jack and kisses her upon the top of the head. "Detective, if I could also get a list of hotels in the area. We'll be staying near the campus tonight."
*
Jack's head shakes slightly. "We'll stay with mom tonight." It's not at all the way Jack wanted to introduce Steve to her childhood home, but the thought of her mom alone tonight doesn't sit well. "Hotels won't be necessary," she issues softly.
In that same whisper she observes, "Not tonight, anyways."
Russia is another story.