"Um, the other one says...um...Jarvis," she slurred. "I need help, Alex. I don't like him."
"Liz, one sign says Jarvis. What does the other one say, sweetie?” I said, dropping my voice to a comforting tone. "Tell me what the other sign says."
"It says Pauline." She sighed as her voice faded. "Pauline is such a nice name, isn't it?"
"Paulina?" I asked as I looked up the cross streets on my phone. "You're at Jarvis and Paulina? Who took you there, Liz? Who is the guy you're with?"
"Dunno, he's some guy," she slurred. "He had good stuff. He's handsome."
"Who is he, Liz?" I asked. "Have you met him before?"
"No, nice guy, I saw him hanging around campus a few times," she said sounding a little more cheerful. "He gave me flowers once."
"Do I know him?" I asked, wondering if I'd met this guy before and if I could identify him to the police.
"Nah, uh, don't think so," she said, fading out again. All of a sudden, I heard a loud noise in the background and Liz shrieked in my ear.
"What are you doing, bitch?" a male voice demanded. "I thought you took her damn phone, you idiot!"
"No! NO!" Liz screamed. There was a loud bang before the phone went dead.
"Oh God, no," I whispered in horror as I stared at my phone. I quickly dialed the number again, but it went right to voicemail. Seconds later, my phone rang again. The number was unlisted, but I answered it.
"Look, I've got your friend and she's a massive pain in my ass," a male voice on the other end said. "Come get her and get her the hell out of my house."
"Who are you?" I asked. "Why did you take Liz?"
"I didn't take her, lady," the man said. "She came with me and now I want her out of my house. Come get her or I'll dump her ass in an alley and let her figure out her way home herself. I'm sick of her whining."
"Where are you?" I asked, thinking his voice sounded vaguely familiar. "I'll come get her right now, please don't hurt her."
"Lady, I'm not into hurting chicks." He laughed. "It's the apartment building on the Northwest corner of Jarvis and Paulina. Ring apartment 3A. Just get her quick, would ya? She's really getting on my nerves."
"I'm on my way," I said before I hung up. I needed to get up to the North Side of town and fast. I hailed a cab, gave the driver the intersection, and told him to step on it. He gave me a funny look before shrugging and heading north. The whole ride, I tried to figure out what would have possessed Liz to go anywhere with someone she didn't know that well, and all I could come up with was drugs. It had to be drugs.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up in front of a rundown apartment building. The driver looked at it then back at me skeptically before asking, "You want me to wait?"
"No, this might take some time," I said as I ran my card through and paid the fare. "But thank you."
"No problem," he said as I got out of the cab and headed to the front door. The neighborhood was shabby, but not completely rundown, and as I rang the buzzer and waited for someone to answer, I saw two young women pushing a stroller covered by a heavy blanket and wondered where they were headed.
"What?" a voice said over the speaker.
"I'm here to pick up my friend," I said, adding, "I talked to you a little while ago?"
"Come up. Third floor," the voice said before buzzing me into the building. I walked into the lobby and was surprised to see an intricate tile mosaic depicting a mermaid deep under the sea on the floor. The walls were painted in a light lavender giving the space a light airy feel. I marveled at the creativity as I waited for the elevator and wondered who'd put such time and effort into the project in such an odd place.
I found the apartment, knocked on the door and was surprised when someone I recognized opened the door.
"Victor, what are you doing here?" I asked. Without saying a word, he reached out, grabbed my arm and pulled me into the apartment, slamming the door behind me.
"Shut up," he said as he squeezed my arm and dragged me down the hallway to a back room.
"What are you doing?" I shouted as I struggled to pull away. Victor clamped down harder on my arm and then wrapped his other arm around my waist and lifted me off the floor. I screamed, "Stop it! Stop it! You're hurting me!"
"Not even close, sweetheart," he sneered as he marched down the hall. "But if you don't shut the hell up, I will."
"Why are you doing this? Where's Liz?" I asked, trying to will myself to stay calm. The tone of his voice told me that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt me if he needed to, but I couldn't figure out why.