Shark Lover

by Marie, Gracie

  “Not exactly, Ms. Montanan. It’s our procedure to ask family, friends and significant others of the missing individual first. Once we narrow down the inner circle, we then look outside of the missing person’s closest contacts and start searching elsewhere.” He took a deep breath before questioning again. “What was his tone like when you last spoke to him? Was he depressed? Did you notice any sign of different behavior?”

  She paused for a moment to catch her breath. She was still astonished from the news that Marc had gone missing. “The last time I spoke to him in person was about a week ago or so. He seemed fine to me. We were at the beach and then we went back to his apartment for dinner. Marc was happy and enthusiastic at that point. He did mention something about being depressed about his father and not surfing anymore, but I think it was just him telling me something about his past that he thought I should know. I didn’t take it to mean that he was depressed now. His behavior was the same as always. He was calm and laid-back. May I ask who filed the missing person’s report?” She enquired with fear.

  “His mother, Sally Porter, filed the report late last night. She says her son calls her every night to check in on her. She has a hard time getting around since she has developed arthritis. He calls to make sure she is doing alright and she started getting worried when she didn’t hear from him for a few days. Sally said that wasn’t like him and that she was troubled that she couldn’t get ahold of him,” Officer Sanchez stated with some emotion in his voice. “Thanks for the information Ms. Montanan, we appreciate it. Do you have any further questions or information?”

  “That definitely doesn’t sound like him. He does always check in on his mother. I’m starting to get really concerned now too. Has anyone seen him since a few days ago?” She asked in spite of herself. She wished she would have put aside her homework or her work at the aquarium to check in on Marc. It would have only taken a second, but she had just been overworked this week and hadn’t been able to get away from her busy schedule.

  “We’ve checked in with all of his friends and family, but they haven’t seen him since a few days ago or longer. We’ve taken on the standard procedure of looking through his apartment, tracking his phone and his license plate. We can’t pick up any signal on the phone and the car was tracked to a towing place. Sadly we don’t have any leads yet, but we will let you know more information as soon as we know more. Is this a good number to reach you at Ms. Montanan?”

  “Please let me know more information as soon as you get it. This is really important to me. Marc is the love of my life. I’m going to go help in the search,” She said as she popped out of bed and started to dig through her drawers to find some decent clothes to wear. “Yes, this is a good number to reach me at. Thanks for letting me know Officer Sanchez.”

  “Alright, Ms. Montanan. You better be careful though if you go looking for him. We are still not sure if foul play was involved. We will be in touch. Have a nice day.” He hung up the phone as Cathy heard the dial tone still ringing in her ear.

  She threw on her clothes as quickly as she could. She got her keys and starting running out of the house. Finding Marc was her number one priority. Later she would call the aquarium and let them know what had happened. They would understand. Her best friend, lover and boyfriend was missing. They would have to apprehend that something like this was important and that she would need the day off to go look for him. She would find him no matter what. Marc was going to come back to her, no matter what.

  As she got to her car, she pulled out her phone. There was no way that she was going to go through this all alone. She needed her partner in crime, her other best friend, her sister. Carly answered on the second ring and sounded groggy.

  “Cathy? Is that you? Do you realize that it is only 6 o’clock in the morning? Human life isn’t even up yet and we shouldn’t be either.” She said sleepily as she was about to hang up before Cathy chimed in to stop her.

  “No wait, Carly! This is an emergency. Marc is missing. I need your help to find him. Nobody has heard from him in days and a missing person’s report has been filed. I’m so worried about him.” She appealed with exclamation.

  “Wow! That’s horrible. I’m up now and I am ready to help you. Where should we meet? Where do you think he would have went? He’s bound to turn up somewhere.”

  “I don’t really have a clue. Let’s just start at the university? Maybe he might have been working on a project or something there. He may have just gotten caught up in a project. I know how that is. It happens to me all of the time. Then if we don’t get any answers there we can always check the beaches. I’m sure Officer Sanchez will eventually call me back with more information, but I’m just not sure of when yet. That’s the problem. I just hate waiting for the answers. I want to know now.”

  “Well, let’s just meet at the university and start there. I think that’s the best idea. We’ll go from there. I’m just as worried as you are. Let’s go now.” Carly got out of bed and started heading towards the door, eagerly set to help her sister find her long lost lover again.

  Carly had always loved a good mystery. When she was young, The Nancy Drew series had always been her favorite. She would find herself getting lost throughout the pages day after day. Now she had finally found her own mystery to solve. She jumped at the chance to solve the mystery first before the police could. Marc would turn up eventually. There was no chance anything bad had happened to him. From what Cathy had told her, he wasn’t the type to act on a whim. He wouldn’t have risked losing his life or putting himself in any type of danger. She was almost one hundred percent sure about that.

  * * *

  When they had both arrived at the university, Carly hugged Cathy showing her sympathy. They both ran into the building as fast as they could. Cathy knew that time was running out. If Marc needed her help, she would try to give her all to find him and help him out in this situation. Once inside the building, she tried to think of who would be most helpful in their search. She knew they both had professor Tyson. Cathy wasn’t looking forward to talking to him. She knew he wouldn’t be too thrilled to help with the search. She pushed Carly in the direction of his office. They had to keep the pace going and not give up. Cathy entered his office as he looked up at her dully.

  “Cathy, do you need something?” He asked monotonously looking back down at his papers. He was sitting at his desk, the window right behind him. Cathy wasn’t surprised that he was here this early in the morning. He was obsessed with his work and didn’t ever take a break from it. She often wondered why the school kept him around since he wasn’t good with the students, but she could tell his work ethic was what kept him on as a professor at the school.

  “I was just wondering if you had any information on Marc Porter. He’s been missing for a few days now. I was hoping he was possibly working on a project up here at school and maybe you saw him around.” She stammered while losing her voice. Cathy shivered realizing how nervous Professor Tyson actually made her feel.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” He began, not sounding so sorry. “But no, I haven’t heard anything or seen anything. Sorry. I hope he turns up. Now if you girls will excuse me, I have a lot to do before my morning class comes in.” He turned away from Cathy’s gaze and got up to open the door for them. He practically threw Cathy and her sister out of the office.

  “That was so rude!” Carly exclaimed. “That guy is your professor? He didn’t even answer the questions and just took us out of the office. I feel so sorry for you.” She put her hand on her chin, thinking of another possible reason the professor had thrown them out. “That was also very suspicious. Do you think he had something to do with Marc’s disappearance?”

  “That’s just the way Professor Tyson is. I don’t know how to explain it, but after a while you just get used to him. He is rude at times, I guess he’s just really devoted to his work. Now that you say that, it could actually be a possibility. He might know something that we don’t. But wouldn’t he have told Offic
er Sanchez?” Cathy grabbed her sister’s hand and starting leading her to another part of the building.

  “Maybe or maybe not? He wouldn’t have told if he had something to do with it or if Marc told him confidential information. Did he like Marc?” She questioned. “And where are you taking me next?”

  “He did like Marc, that’s why it would be hard to blame him as a suspect. He might have confidential information about Marc that he’s not sharing or worse yet, he may just not care at all. It’s too hard to tell at this point, but we will keep him on our radar. Next I am taking you to the bio lab. It could have been possible that Marc told a student where he was going or what he was doing a few days ago. It’s the last place in this university that might have some clues. After we try that out then we can go to the beach and ask around there. I’m thinking Ocean Beach first.”

  “Sounds like a plan. This looks like the lab. Let’s go in.” Carly hurried in first with Cathy following.

  “Let’s ask him. That’s Ken. He pretty much lives in the lab. He’s not only the lab monitor, but also a dedicated student.”

  “He sounds like a big nerd.” Carly rolled her eyes.

  “Hey, he’s not a nerd.” Cathy playfully shoved her sister. “You might as well just call me a nerd too then.”

  “You are a nerd Cathy. We all know that. Now let’s get to the chase and ask this Ken guy what he knows about Marc.” She practically pushed Cathy into Ken before retreating from the lab to get a drink of water.

  “Hey Cathy. What are you doing here so early? Do you need some help on a project or something?” Ken looked up from his microscope at Cathy and smiled. He always loved helping a student. Working in the bio lab was not only his hobby and passion, it was his one true career path.

  “I’m actually here to ask you about another student. Marc Porter has gone missing and we are trying to uncover his whereabouts. Have you seen him and when was the last time that you saw him if you did?” She asked in an authoritive tone. Cathy was getting used to questioning people now. It was her need for information that kept her going at the fast pace she was running with.

  “I haven’t seen him for a few days. The last time I saw him was about three days ago. He came in to use a microscope and then he left abruptly. It looked as if something was troubling him. I did ask him if he needed help, but he said he was fine so I just let him work independently. I haven’t seen him since that day. How long has he been missing for?” He asked with alarm.

  “He’s been missing for about three days. Nobody knows where he went or where he is. Whenever we call him, the phone just goes straight to voicemail. His phone can’t even be tracked. His mother filed the report late last night. It’s not like him to just disappear, that’s why we are all so worried.”

  “That’s awful. I don’t even know what to say.” He put down a magnifying glass that was in his hand and sat down. “I haven’t seen him since that last day I told you about. I’m really sorry. I hope you find him. I’ll keep an eye out for him. I really hope he’s okay.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it. I’ll keep you updated. I hope he’s okay too.” She sighed disappointed in the new information that she had found out. If Marc had been here three days ago and hadn’t showed up since then, that did not help his case. Cathy wanted more information. She knew it wasn’t Ken’s fault that he didn’t have any more data, but she just wanted something that would help trace her back to Marc. “Carly? Where did you go?” She called out looking for her sister. A few minutes later her sister’s blond curly hair emerged in the hallway and Cathy felt relief running through her. She had already lost Marc, she didn’t want to lose her sister too.

  “Did you find out any new information? I went to get a water. I figured he would talk more if it was just you in the room.” She explained carefully.

  “Unfortunately, no. All he said was that he saw Marc a few days ago and he didn’t seem to be in a good mood. Marc’s never been in a bad mood since I met him. I know I have only known him for a few months, but he’s just a happy-go-lucky person. Something must have been wrong before he disappeared. If only we could find out what.”

  “That’s not a good sign. If he was in a bad mood, anything could have happened. It would be great if we could figure out where he went next. We already kind of know what happened the morning he went missing. He woke up, he went to the lab and then the trail goes blank. Don’t worry we will find out what happened next. Let’s go to the beach, Cathy. It’s our next lead.”

  “That’s true, we do know that much about his day. You’re right, we need to find the other missing pieces. He probably would have gone to the beach. His daily plan is usually consists of lab time and then running the beach. To Ocean Beach it is. I’ll drive. Let’s go.”

  Cathy and Carly ran out to her car as the rain softly fell down on their heads. Cathy didn’t welcome the rain. She knew it would just back up the traffic even more and she needed to find Marc. It was almost as if the universe was crying that Marc was missing. The rain made her feel even more depressed than she already was. She tried to think of the positives. They did have a plan mapped out and they had started to figure out Marc’s schedule for that morning. She would find him, no matter what it took. On her way to Ocean Beach, she prayed that she would find some answers here that would help her get closer to Marc.

  Chapter 12

  The wind was blowing through her hair as she parked the jeep near Ocean Beach. She was determined to find him. Cathy and Carly headed towards the beach, eager to find the answers to Marc’s disappearance. Cathy threw off her shoes and held them in her hands as Carly followed suit. They both walked at a face pace, still out of energy from the last search at the university. Both of them wore determined expressions and eyes with purpose.

  “So who are we going to ask first Cathy? We don’t really have a plan set so far,” Carly said. “I know we are kind of just acting on a whim, but we have to really plan out who would be the most beneficial person to talk to on this beach. They would have had to have been here in the last few days and have a good view of guests coming onto the beach.”

  “That’s a good question. You’re right, I haven’t really thought about who to ask first. Ever since I got that phone call this morning, I have been going non-stop. But yeah we need to think about this strategically. Obviously we can’t just ask beach-goers since they could just be vacationers or they may not frequent the beach every day. I do have an idea of how we can help them to identify Marc though.” She took out her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and pulled up a picture of the two of them on the beach together. “We’ll show them this picture and ask if they saw this guy a few days ago or lately.”

  “Awwwww that’s a cute picture of the two of you,” Carly replied holding the phone closer to her eyes to see the picture better in the glowing sunlight of daybreak. “This will be pretty helpful for them to identify him. As far as asking people, how about some of the daily surfers? Surfers come out to this beach daily. The water was made for surfers and only surfers basically.”

  “Brilliant idea,” Cathy said as her eyes widened. Carly could tell just by looking at her that she was already thinking ahead. “I don’t know many surfers here though. Do you? Maybe we could just start asking them. Whenever we see a guy in a wetsuit who looks serious about surfing we’ll just ask him if he saw Marc recently.” She paused for a minute while thinking. “We could also ask the National Park Service since this beach is a part of the ground that they cover. That’s also an idea. Although it’s more likely a surfer would have had a better chance of seeing him.”

  “I don’t know any surfers, although I wish I did at a time like this. I think we should stick with the surfers for now. There’s a few down by the shore with wetsuits and boards, we could start out by asking them. They might have some information. And sorry for bringing this up right now, but the guy with the dark long hair is really cute.”

  “Carly! Really? You’re seriously thinking of hitting on guys at a time like t
his?” Cathy rolled her eyes again and put her hands on her hips in a scolding motion towards her sister.

  “No, I was just giving my opinion. Sheesh. Sorry I’ll keep my thoughts to myself then.” Carly retorted still staring at the good-looking surfer.

  “Carly, you’re drooling.”

  “I am not!”

  “You are too, now let’s go over there and show them Marc’s picture and see if they have any information,” Cathy said as she started heading in the direction of the surfers. “Carly are you coming?” She peered behind her shoulder and asked. Her sister had been just standing there and gawking at the cute surfer. Cathy was fine with her sister having little crushes, but now was not the time or place. She needed to find Marc and Carly was supposed to be assisting her, not slowing her down.

  “Have you seen this guy in the picture? He’s been missing for a few days and we are trying to find out where he went.” Cathy asked a blond surfer, cutting straight to the chase. When she wanted something, she made sure that she got it, no matter how it made her look or what the consequences would be.

  “Nah, I haven’t seen that dude. I would have remembered his curly, brown hair. So who are you?” He ran a hand threw his dark blond hair and winked at her.

  “I don’t have time for this. I am trying to find my missing boyfriend.” She said in a firm voice. “Come on Carly, let’s go ask another one.” She called to her sister who was still trailing behind her.

  They walked a few miles until they approached a surfer with short brown hair. He looked so similar to Marc, Cathy could feel her heart jump in her chest. “Excuse me sir, I have a question,” She said trying to gain the attention of the man. He wasn’t paying attention and was waxing his board. “Excuse me. I need to ask you something it’s important.” He still didn’t even look up at her and she turned towards her sister for support. “Carly? Help me? He won’t even look at me.”