{Becky} "Missing" Chapter 2 - Book

Chapter 2

Raven looked across the table at Sarah, who gripped her hot mint chocolate with both hands. Her fingerless gloves made her fingers look like pink sausages poking out of white bread.
Sarah's looks were the exact opposite of Raven's; golden blonde compared to Raven's black hair, her eyebrows plucked thin while Raven left hers thick and naturally arched. Sarah's eyes were blue, Raven's were brown.
In the background, the buzz of conversation and the grind of the coffee machine played with Raven's head. The sounds were so ordinary, comforting; not like the conflicting emotions that were attacking her.
Sarah looked so concerned. 'Are you feeling better now? I thought you were going to faint or something.'
Raven nodded. For a moment there, she hadn't been sure herself.
'Drink some more hot chocolate.' Sarah followed her own suggestion. 'You're supposed to have something sweet when you've had a shock.'
'Why?'
'I don't know. My mum thinks chocolate is the answer to everything.' Sarah looked at her hot drink. 'Maybe she's on to something.'
Raven smiled. Her dad often said her smile could light up a room; and with good reason. Her orthodontist had probably bought a yacht with the money he had earned making her teeth look perfect.
'Teeth are the first thing people notice.' Raven heard her mum's familiar words in her head as clearly is she were sitting beside her. Appearances were important to Mum. But there was other special things to look for when you first meet someone, like kindness or a sense of humour. To Mum, qualities like those were small change on the stock exchange of human value.
Guilt nudged Raven. Her mum wasn't unkind and she could laugh. She used to laugh. Before. Maybe she would again. If Dad came back. Raven corrected herself; when Dad came back.
Sarah touched Raven's hand. 'I'm sorry. I wish it had been your dad.'
'That coat and hat, I can't stop thinking about them. They were just like Dad's. I've seen him wear them a million times.'
'There were probably stacks of coats like that.'
'It wasn't new. There was a mark on the coat's collar and sheen on the fabric that you only get from wear,' continued Raven, deep in though. 'And don't you think that chance of someone picking exactly the same combination of hat and coat as Dad's is kind of small?'
'Maybe.' Sarah tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. 'I wore the same outfit as Rochelle to Klaudia's party and I had to go home and change.'
'But wouldn't you have been surprised if you'd rocked up with the same dress and hat as Rochelle?'
'Totally. I don't wear hats.' Sarah rolled her eyes. 'But I was surprised to start with. Anyone as big as Rochelle should never wear that style. Girl obviously doesn't own a mirror.'
Sarah was a loyal friend. But sometimes she drifted off the topic.
Raven leaned forward. 'There is something ... I don't know, an atmosphere in that store.'
'Maybe the poor guy isn't used to stranger girls attacking him.'
'I didn't attack him,' protested Raven. Although it wasn't that much of an exaggeration. No wonder the man had looked so confused and surprised.
Her mood sank even lower. If she could convince Sarah, who still liked the idea of a tooth fairy, then it might be impossible to convince anyone the coat and hat meant something.
And maybe it didn't.
Four days, and not a word from Dad.
Just a big silence that was rapidly filling up with fears. Raven looked out through the wide café window. The city was still in peak-hour madness. A bus pulled up with a squeal of brakes. The line of commuters began to shake up the steps and inside. She ran her eye along the queue, then back again, stopping at a man who was about to board. He turned his head and Raven had a clear view of his lush moustache.
'Sarah!' She grabbed her friend's wrist. 'There he is.'
Sarah jumped. 'Who?'
'the man from the store. In the bus queue. Third from the front.'
'You're not obsessing, are you?'
'Totally.' Raven stood up. 'But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.'
'But he's not wearing a coat or a hat. Where are they?'
The queue shuffled forward and the man was about to board.
Raven snatched up her smartphone form the table and tapped the camera icon. One, two shots of the man, then she took another of the bus. Too quickly, the doors closed and the driver steered the bus from the kerb.
Her only clue had vanished, as surely as her father.