“Have you seen him lately?”
She shook her head. “Last time I saw him was two weeks ago. He came into work to tell Sasha—he’s our boss—that he couldn’t work anymore.”
“Did he say why?”
She looked at me then. “No, but he was all banged up. He had a black eye and a cut on his cheek.”
Oh, Jesus. I literally sagged. “Oh, no.”
“He wouldn’t say who did it,” Jing said quietly. “Just that he had moved and changed schools also.”
“Had he ever mentioned his family to you?” I asked. “If his parents were strict or religious or anything like that?”
She shook her head. “No. He never spoke of them.”
I’d already sounded too much like an interviewer and not like a concerned friend. “He just told me once they weren’t cool with a lot of things. They were pretty hard on him.”
“Because he’s gay?” she asked.
I nodded. “Mostly. Did he tell you about Lance? They’d been dating each other for a while.”
Jing shook her head. “No. I gathered he was seeing someone, but we didn’t talk about that stuff. Have you spoken to him, the boyfriend?”
“Yeah. He hasn’t heard from him either.”
She frowned. “Oh. Well, that’s not good.”
I leaned back and sighed, certain this was another dead end. “Thank you for talking to me, Jing. I appreciate your help.”
“Do you think you’ll find him?”
I looked at her and answered honestly. “I don’t think he wants to be found right now. He’s changed his phone, jobs, schools, and didn’t tell anyone where he was going.”
“Do you think he’s okay?”
I looked her right in the eye. “I hope so.”
Jing stood up. She looked as though she was warring with a decision in her head. “I um, I don’t know if I should tell you this… but I can see in your eyes you are concerned.”
That wasn’t pretend. The more I heard about Yanni, the more I was concerned. “Tell me what?”
“I heard he went to Pol’s, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
“Pol’s?”
Her eyes narrowed a little. “You know, Pol’s Academy.”
“Oh, of course. Sorry, of course.” I had no clue what she was talking about, but under my pretence of being a friend who had classes with Yanni, I realised a little too late that I should have known such things. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I’ll try there. Thank you so much.”
She walked a few steps from me, then stopped. “If you find him. Tell him I said hi.”
I smiled at her. “I will. Thank you.” I sat there for a little while longer, turning my phone over in my hands, wondering what on earth I was going to tell Lance. He was strictly my boss for this job, and I owed it to him to tell him what I’d found. I never promised him good news.
I went through my contacts, found his number and dialled. I wasn’t surprised it went through to voicemail but didn’t want to leave news of Yanni having a black eye over the phone. “Lance, It’s Spencer Cohen. I might have found something on Yanni, though it could be another dead end. I’ll need to follow it up. It’s the last hope I’ve got. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know.”
I took the next bus home and spent the afternoon helping Emilio in the shop, grateful for the distraction.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I spent the next morning doing some research on Pol’s. Which, as it turned out to be was a smaller acting school. From what Google street view showed me, it looked like an ordinary storefront on some backstreet and not like a school or college at all. It was the polar opposite of the college Yanni used to go to.
Was this his parents’ compromise? Was this his punishment?
It was hard to put any pieces of the puzzle together for a guy I’d never met or even laid eyes on for that matter. I called Lance again, and this time he answered.
“Spencer,” he answered.
“Yeah. I left a message yesterday.”
“Yes, I worked late,” he explained. “Sorry I missed you. You found something?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. Can we meet?” I asked. I didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone.
“I’ve got appointments all day—” I heard voices in the background. Lance said something to them that sounded like “Be there in five minutes” and then he spoke back into the phone. “—which are about to start actually. I won’t be done until after dinnertime. Can we talk now?”
“Sure. I went to his old school and spoke to someone he used to work with.”
He paused a moment. “And?”
“No one has seen him.”
He sighed into the phone. “Oh.”
“I know. It’s like he’s disappeared.”
“You have a lead though?”
“I do. It could turn out to be nothing. I just wanted you to know that I’m still trying, but this is it. If I turn up nothing in the next day or so, I’ll call us done.”
He cleared his throat. “That’s a shame.”
“Well, it’s not exactly a typical case I’m used to. I haven’t even seen this guy.”