The Night She Disappeared

At 10:00am, the Pete’s Pizza employees attend a mandatory meeting with Sergeant Thayer. As they wait for Thayer, Drew thinks about his last shift with Kayla. He can’t remember the last words she said to him before leaving. He notices that no one is sitting near him and wonders if his coworkers blame him for letting Kayla take the delivery. Gabie arrives and sits next to him.

Thayer appears and rehashes the facts of the case. He again dismisses the idea that the kidnapper was after Gabie, believing Robertson mentioned Gabie’s Mini Cooper to throw police off the scent. Drew recalls a day that he and Kayla shared a joint in the fridge. He wanted to kiss her but resisted because she was still dating Brock, a popular jock. Gabie is not part of the popular crowd, even though her family is wealthy, because she is reserved and observant, like Drew.

Pete, the owner, announces that to keep the women safe, the boys will take on all deliveries going forward. Drew doesn’t have a car, so his hours have been cut drastically. This a big problem because for Drew, “[his] hours mean food on the table and lights that come on when [he flips] the switch” (50).