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“Seriously?!” Kevin tossed his phone onto the coffee table and stared aimlessly at the television. The Wildcats were up by twelve points, but even the promise of an impending win wasn’t enough to keep his mind on the game. He was worried about Howie.

“Still nothing?” Brian wandered into the living room and handed Kevin a beer. He paused to look out the window at the heavily falling snow. “I still think that he must’a had car trouble or somethin’.”

Kevin shook his head. He accepted the beer from his cousin’s outstretched hand and took a long swallow. “He would have called.”

“It’s bad weather.” Brian sank down onto the couch next to Kevin. “Maybe he didn’t have reception. He could have gotten stuck in the tunnel.”

Kevin shook his head again. He knew that Brian was only trying to be helpful, but his forced blasé attitude was getting annoying. “I’m gonna give Leigh a call.” Kevin leaned forward to retrieve his discarded phone from the coffee table. “At least she will be able to tell us if, or when, he left New Jersey.”

“He could be sick.” Brian continued to make excuses as Kevin brought his phone to his ear and waited for Howie’s wife to pick up. “Maybe he’s sleepin’.”

The lines around Brian’s eyes deepened as he chugged his beer and turned his attention to the television. Kevin knew that Brian wasn’t really paying attention to the game. He had spent more than enough time with his younger cousin to know when he was hiding his true feelings. Kevin watched as Brian drummed his fingers against the now half-empty bottle of beer in his hands. He could practically feel the nervous energy radiating off of him; Brian was just as worried about Howie as he was.

“Hey, Kev?” Leigh answered the call with a question. “What’s going on? Everything okay? Are you guys still at the studio? I was expecting Howie to walk in the door any minute ...”

Leigh’s words were enough to make Kevin’s heart stop. Howie wasn’t sick. He wasn’t at home. His wife didn’t know where he was.

“I’m actually – I’m actually calling because Howie never showed up.” Kevin struggled to get the words out. “We thought – we thought that maybe he was sick and forgot to call us.”

“What do you mean he never showed up?” Leigh’s response came after almost a full thirty second pause. “He left – he left this morning to go to the studio ...”

“We waited for him.” Kevin continued. He could see Brian draining the rest of his beer out of the corner of his eye. “We tried texting and calling him, but he didn’t answer any of us. We were at the studio for almost two hours, but we ended up scrapping the rest of the session when he didn’t show up.”

“Oh God ...” Leigh’s voice caught in her throat. “He must have had an accident! I told him not to drive in the snow! I told him!”

Kevin tightened his grip on the phone. He was already regretting his decision to call Howie’s wife. He should have tried to figure out where Howie was before he got Leigh involved; to save her from worrying. He had just been so sure of the fact that Leigh was going to tell him that Howie was safe and sound at home that he hadn’t even considered what he was going to say if she told him the opposite.

“So, where are you guys now? Are you sure that nobody has spoken to him? Have you done a search for his car? Have you called the police? Do you want me to call the police?” Leigh was peppering Kevin with questions; her voice rising exponentially with every word. She was on the verge of completely losing it.

“Brian and I are at his apartment. Nick and AJ went back to their hotel ...” Kevin trailed off after answering Leigh’s first question. He really didn’t want to tell her that, so far, he had done absolutely nothing to attempt to locate her missing husband.

“Kevin?!” Leigh shrieked; reading into his silence. “Are you seriously telling me that none of you have done anything to try and find Howie?! He doesn’t show up for for a recording session and the four of you just go on with your day as if nothing is wrong?!”

“I guess we just assumed that he was sick ...” Kevin trailed off for the second time. “But, don’t worry; Brian is finding out how to locate Howie’s car right now.” Kevin wacked his cousin on the arm and motioned for him to grab his laptop off of the coffee table.

Brian shot his older cousin a dirty look as he set his empty beer bottle down on the table and reached for his laptop. Kevin should have known that calling Howie’s wife was a bad idea. What had he been expecting; for Leigh to react to the news that her husband was missing with a smile?

“Well, I don’t actually know how Brian was planning to find his car without knowing the licence plate.” Kevin smacked his cousin on the arm for the second time and mimicked that he needed a pen. He hastily peeled the label off of his beer bottle and turned it around so that the blank side was facing up. “Of course, I’m ready to write it down!”

Brian resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he bent down and retrieved a random Sharpie from underneath the coffee table. He had no idea how long the marker had been lying there, but he prayed that it still contained useable ink. His arm couldn’t handle being wacked for a third time.

“Yes, I’m paying attention. A ... D ...” Kevin snatched the marker out of Brian’s hand and began scribbling Howie’s licence plate number on the back of the beer label. Leigh’s voice was shaking as she delivered the information, and the tremor in her speech was making Kevin feel even worse than he already did.

“You’re going to call me as soon as you hear anything, right?” Leigh questioned as soon as she was done relaying all of the information about Howie’s car. “I think that I’m going to go – to go ahead and call the police.” She paused. “I really wish that you had called me sooner, Kevin.”

Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose and fell back against the couch cushions. He had no excuse. He should have trusted his gut and called Leigh as soon as Howie failed to show up at the studio. Howie was never late. Kevin should have known better.

“I’m really sorry, Leigh. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Kevin answered honestly. “I don’t even know what to tell you.”

“It’s okay.” Leigh’s voice softened considerably. “It’s only been a few hours. He’s probably just had a fender-bender and is stuck at some stupid collision reporting centre somewhere. It wouldn’t be the first time that he’s put a dent in a brand new car.”

“Yeah.” Kevin agreed half-heartedly. Something inside of him was telling him that the situation wasn’t that simple, but he didn’t want to put any more fear in Leigh’s already worried mind. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what’s happened. I bet the storm is interfering with his cell reception.”

“I know that I’m being paranoid.” Leigh forced a laugh. “Howie always tells me that I worry too much.”

“Make sure that you call me if the police tell you anything that I don’t already know.” Kevin could still hear the pain and the fear in Leigh’s voice. “I’m sure he’s fine ...”

“Of course, he’s fine!” Leigh faked a confident tone. “He’s totally going to laugh at us for overreacting.”

“For sure.” Kevin glanced at Brian who was staring at him with raised eyebrows. “I gotta go, Leigh. I’ll call you soon. I promise.”

“She’s freaking out, isn’t she?” Brian asked as soon as Kevin disconnected the call. “You shouldn’t have called her.”

Kevin resisted the urge to shove his cousin off of the couch. He loved Brian to death, but sometimes he angered him more than words could describe.

“Did you figure out if Howie’s car has been in an accident?”

Brian gestured towards the laptop screen. The Google search bar was still blank. “What would you like me to type?”

“I don’t know!” Kevin sighed; exasperated. “Use your fucking brain.”

Brian clenched his teeth to keep from snapping back at his cousin. God, Kevin was annoying. Why did he always have to act like he was smarter than everyone else?

“Fine.” Brian grabbed his iPhone off of the end table and shot Kevin a nasty look. If his cousin wasn’t going to help him, he would just have to ask someone else for help. “Siri, how do I find out if a car has been in an accident in New York City?”

“Are you fucking serious?” Kevin’s mouth fell open as he listened to Brian direct his ridiculous question to Siri. “You’re a dumbass!”

‘Okay, here is what I found on the web for: ‘How do I find out if a car has been in an accident in New York City?”’ Siri’s mechanical voice sliced through the tension produced by Kevin’s words.

Brian dropped his eyes to the screen and smirked before spinning his phone around to show his cousin. The very first result that Siri had generated was a link to a website that would allow you to search a list of all of the vehicles that had been picked up by tow-trucks in NYC over the last twenty-four hours.

Kevin narrowed his massive eyebrows. Of course, Brian’s stupid idea had worked. “You’re still a dumbass.”

“You’re just jealous that you don’t have a special relationship with Siri.” Brian retorted. He jammed his finger down on his phone screen to open the link and wiggled his free hand in Kevin’s direction. “Hand me the plate information.”

Kevin pressed the torn beer label into Brian’s fingers and waited with baited breath while his cousin typed in the information. What if he found something? What if he found nothing? Kevin didn’t know which way he wanted things to go. Neither option was exactly ‘good’ as far as Howie’s well-being was concerned.

“I got a hit!” Brian moved his fingers across his phone screen to make the text bigger. “Howie’s car was picked up by a tow-truck at 12:40 this afternoon.”

Kevin let out the breath that he didn’t even know that he had been holding. He didn’t know if the knot in his stomach was growing out of relief, or worry, or both. “Does it tell you where the car was taken?”

Brian brought the phone closer to his face; squinting to make out the rest of the information. “An Audi dealership on 11th Avenue. There’s a phone number.” Brian lowered the phone in order to look into his cousin’s face. “Do we wanna call it?”

Kevin nodded, even though calling the dealership was the last thing that he wanted to do. He had a feeling that whoever answered the phone was going to give him news that he didn’t want to hear. But, he held his tongue and dutifully punched the number into his own phone as Brian rhymed off the digits.

“Audi Manhattan, service department.” A bored sounding receptionist answered the call before Kevin could even look to Brian for support. “This is Stephanie. How may I direct your call?”

“Uhhh, yeah, hi.” Kevin stammered. “I’m actually calling to check on the status of a vehicle that was brought in by a tow truck several hours ago. It’s a white A7, registered to Howard Dorough.”

“The vehicle is here, and it has already been looked at by one of our service advisors.” Kevin could hear the receptionist typing rapidly on the other end of the line. “Do you want us to go ahead and book it in to the body shop for the repairs?”

“Umm, well, actually, I was just wondering if Howie – if Mr. Dorough came in with the car when the tow-truck dropped it off?”

The typing stopped.

“I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Kevin. I’m Mr. Dorough’s ... brother ...” Kevin looked to the ceiling for help. Technically, he wasn’t lying; they always referred to themselves as brothers even though they weren’t officially related by blood.

“Oh.” The receptionist paused just long enough to make Kevin’s heart skip a beat. “Nobody accompanied the car when it was dropped off. The tow-truck operator indicated that the driver had paid cash at the collision scene. If nobody follows-up to agree to the necessary service within the next five days, the vehicle will be taken to an impound lot and the associated towing cost will be billed to the address of the registered owner.”

“I see.” Kevin wiped at his forehead with the palm of his hand. He was starting to sweat. “Th-thank you for your time. I’ll make sure that How – that my brother follows-up with you.”

“No Howie?” Having listened intently to his cousin’s side of the conversation, Brian already knew the answer as he watched Kevin lower the phone from his ear. “But his car is there?”

“No Howie.” Kevin swallowed hard against the dryness in his mouth. “No Howie.”