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Tom returns Ryland’s text with a call. The wording Ryland had chosen gives a sense of urgency. Like something is wrong. Tom hopes that assumption is proven incorrect. He can tell immediately that any hope of his is unfounded when Ryland answers the call.
Ryland’s voice shakes with distress, “T-tom?”
“Sweetheart,” Tom responds, softly. “What’s going on?”
He’s trying to keep his voice stable. Trying not to freak out. It’s difficult to do so as Ryland explains what has happened. Ryland sounds so very afraid and distraught. On the verge of panic. Tom feels inadequacy at the fact that he is too far away to provide real comfort. He feels guilt. Knowing that Ryland wouldn’t have ever been in this kind of situation if it weren’t for him. He swallows both of those feelings now. That Tom is not who Ryland needs right now. Ryland needs him to be strong. He keeps himself in check even as he listens to Ryland.
Ryland’s apartment had been broken into. His safe space, stolen from him. His landlord is letting him move units. Ryland admits that he won’t feel safe with the change. The school is having him take a sabbatical. Ryland won’t be able to afford his apartment.
The reality is that Ryland was in serious danger. Ryland could’ve been hurt. Could’ve been killed. Tom would’ve been too far away to do anything about it. He might not have even found out till much later. Those are the thoughts that truly make Tom almost lose it.
He can’t allow himself that luxury right now. Later he tells himself. He can spiral later. When Ryland isn’t depending on him. If he’s afraid, Ryland must be absolutely terrified. Tom can offer comfort and solutions. He tries to console Ryland. Offers apologies for how rotten this whole situation is. Ryland didn’t deserve this. Doesn’t deserve having to change his whole life and lose opportunities over circumstances that are simply not his fault. He speaks softly. Heartbreaking a little bit each time he hears even the slightest hint that Ryland is crying. Even something as small as a sniffle makes his chest ache.
Tom offers Ryland help in all the ways he can. Ryland tries to push back on a few, but ends up relenting as Tom reassures him that it's okay. That Ryland isn’t an inconvenience to him. He offers his financial support. He can help cover the cost of Ryland’s apartment. Ryland won't have to worry about losing it. Not again. Tom had already been planning to take some time off after wrapping this project. He offers Ryland a change of scenery. Ryland agrees. They pick a date a few weeks out to allow time for Ryland to get things in order. Tom buys the tickets. At the end of the month Ryland will join him in Sydney.
For as unfortunate as the circumstances are, Tom can't help feeling a little excited at the new step in their lives. Cohabitating had crossed his mind before. Every time the thought came he had pushed it aside. Made up excuses for why it wouldn't work. They're too busy. There's no way Ryland would want that. This feels like it could be a good trial run. If it goes well, maybe they could find a place in San Francisco together. He could cancel his lease in L.A. if need be. Tom isn't about to ask Ryland to upend his life.
Tom is getting ahead of himself. First and foremost is getting Ryland here. Getting him somewhere safe. The rest can be decided later.
They text and call almost everyday. Time zones sometimes make it difficult. Sometimes they miss each other. Tom hasn’t heard anything in three days though. Not even a good morning or good night. He tries not to be too concerned. Ryland has had a lot on his plate. Maybe he just got busy with preparing to leave the states. It's a big change.
Tom checks the arrival time for Ryland’s flight as he sits in the short term lot of the airport. Almost 5pm. It should be touching down in about 20 minutes. The website says it's running on time. He feels a sense of dread. It’s strange that Ryland hadn’t texted him before getting on his flight. He almost always did. Tom taps his fingers on the edge of the window as he waits. He’s trying not to panic. He’s trying to stay rational and not assume the worst. It's difficult considering what happened less than a month ago. His brain can’t help but bring forth scenario after scenario. Ryland could be hurt. Ryland could be dead. Tom wouldn’t have known. Tom couldn’t protect him.
The arrival time comes and passes. He checks again. The flight arrived 10 minutes ago. Still nothing from Ryland.
Tom walks inside. He can only go so far without breaching security and potentially getting in trouble. No sign of Ryland. Ryland’s not here. Did he even board the flight? Tom goes to the closest help desk. He bought the ticket so maybe they’ll tell him.
They ask for the name on the boarding pass, the confirmation number and the credit card used for the purchase. He’s able to provide all three. After a few minutes, during which Tom’s anxiety and stress only grow, they confirm his worst fears. Ryland never boarded the flight. He stiffly thanks the representative for their help before returning to his car.
Tom negotiates with himself. He’s going to allow himself five minutes to freak out. Then he’ll pull himself together and figure this out.
Tom books the soonest flight he can that will get him to L.A. It's not till the next morning unfortunately. It's the best he can do. It’ll delay him to do so rather than go straight to San Francisco, but he wants access to his car. He doesn’t know where this will all lead him. He packs a small bag with a single outfit and a couple toiletries, just in case. He calls his new assistant, Cora, to let her know he’s leaving the country again. To take care of his pets. Until his flight he refuses to sit around and wait. He needs to do something or else he’s just going to go back into the spiral of panic from before.
Tom follows up by finding the number for and calling the local law enforcement in Ryland’s area to do a wellness check. It should be early afternoon there at this time. He describes the situation to them as thoroughly as he can. In his statement he includes the recent break-in that led to Ryland wanting to leave San Francisco. He hopes it spurs some urgency in them to go complete this check. That it will make them be thorough.
While Tom waits for a call back he goes through old messages. Maybe somewhere in there Ryland indicated he wasn’t planning to come to Sydney anymore. Or possibly there’s some clue about his last known whereabouts. The last text he’d received showed that Ryland was going to pick up his personal belongings from the school. It gives him somewhere to start if the police don’t turn anything up. As he scrolls back further, he doesn’t find any evidence that Ryland wanted to back out. In fact most of their messages seem to show the exact opposite. Ryland was excited to get away. For a change of scenery. They had talked and texted about all sorts of plans. Ryland asked about the beaches. Tom offered to try to teach Ryland how to surf. Tom asked if Ryland might go to the club with him. Ryland said only if Tom helped him look cool. Like Tom would need to do that at all. Not a single reason to believe that Ryland had gotten cold feet.
Tom doesn’t know what else to do with the time until the police return his call. He spends it pacing between rooms. Checking his phone every few minutes hoping for a text or call from Ryland to come through. Nothing. He swaps between feeling absolutely drained and anxiously high-strung. This holding pattern is less than ideal, but until he has more details it’s all he can do.
Tom almost fumbles his phone when the police finally call back a few hours later. They came up empty handed. There was no sign of a break-in. No evidence to suggest anyone was home, either. Without any probable cause to do so they can’t enter the apartment without a warrant. They had asked neighbors if they knew anything. They all lacked any details. The landlord only confirmed that he had left on his bike three days prior. The bike was not in the usual spot that the police were told they could find it. Before ending the call, they ask if he wants to file a missing persons report. Tom does. He can finish the process by providing a photo later.
Tom knows that he’s about to have a rough couple days. Possibly more. He tells himself that he needs to hold it together. Ryland is his top priority here. As long as he keeps that in mind, he can stay motivated.
The plane touches down at what is technically 14 hours from his departure time of 9:30 am, however due to time zones it is actually the same day at 6:30 am. Tom knows he will probably crash later, but he refuses to waste too much time. He is used to functioning on little to no rest. He needs to make a pitstop at his apartment before the minimum 8 hour drive to San Francisco ahead of him. It’s extra time, but it can’t hurt to check either. He doubts it, but maybe Ryland is at his apartment. Either that or maybe there’s something he could’ve left behind.
The apartment is a dead end. Ryland is not here. He still has some personal items here from weeks before, but nothing new. He finds one of the few printed photos he has of Ryland. It’s the one he keeps on his nightstand when Ryland isn’t around. He’d packed and brought with him to Sydney. It's simple. Taken at his apartment on the balcony. He had called Ryland’s name to get him to look over, before snapping the photo. He’s leaning on his hand with an amused look on his face. Tom packs it up in a larger bag along with additional clothing in case they are needed. If the hoodie he grabs on his way out happens to be Ryland’s instead of his own, no one else needs to know that. He’ll take what little comfort he can get at the moment.
Pulling up to the school, Tom leans forward letting his head rest on the steering wheel. He closes his eyes and heaves a sigh. At the halfway point of his trip he had decided to call ahead just to be safe. He’s cutting it close, but someone in the office had promised to be there till 5 pm. Other than the meagre bit of sleep he had managed on his flight he’s been running almost entirely on anxiety and caffeine. Probably not a great combo. He can worry about that later.
Tom pulls himself back and runs a hand through his hair as he opens the car door. With one final big stretch he starts up to the main entrance. Behind the desk in the office is a single woman. She doesn’t notice him immediately engrossed with some task on her computer. He looks at the nameplate sitting on the counter. Mrs. Nina Hernandez
“Mrs. Hernandez?” he calls. He doesn’t really know where to begin. He hadn't exactly been forthcoming about why he needed to speak with someone in his call.
She looks away from the monitor. Recognition dawns on her face as she fixes her gaze on his face. She looks a bit taken aback and blushes slightly. He begs that he's not dealing with a fangirl. Then thinks again. It could be useful.
“Mr. Ryder. What… um… What can I help you with?” she shyly looks away.
“You can call me Tom,” he returns casually, leaning on the counter. “I'm actually here to ask about Ryland Grace.”
She somehow goes even more starry-eyed. The realization hits that she might not just be a fan of him, but rather a fan of them. It's not unexpected. Regardless this is the first time he’s encountered it in the wild so to speak. Still, it might be just as beneficial, if not even more.
“I usually can’t discuss personal details like that,” she begins, looking conflicted. Tom tilts his head slightly and tries to add a bit of sadness to his eyes. He doesn’t want to be over the top with it and make this an entirely too awkward interaction.
“Please, Nina? If there’s anything you can tell me…” He begs as he puts his hands together. “It’s really important.”
The conflict all but vanishes from her face. She smiles softly, “Okay. One second,” she types on her keyboard a little bit. “Mr. Grace was here a few days ago to retrieve his things. He had a visitor.”
“A visitor?” Tom furrows his brow. “Do you have a name?”
“Yes. She signed in as Eva Stratt,” Mrs. Hernandez looks back up at him. The name is not one he remotely recognizes. Ryland has never mentioned it, that’s for certain.
“Can you write that down for me?” he asks. She hands him a sticky note. “Thank you. That’s incredibly helpful,” Tom takes his leave.
On his way out he finds Ryland’s bike still parked at the rack. He doesn’t have a way to transport it. Even if he did, it's still locked in place. He takes the box off of the rack on the back. It seems like it hasn’t been tampered with, fortunately. There might be a spare at Ryland’s apartment, but he doesn’t have a key for his new unit yet. For now it's secure enough. He loads the box in the back of his car and heads for the police station.
Tom walks into the police station and right up to the desk. He hands over the photo for them to scan. When they go looking for the report, something odd happens. It’s nowhere in the system. Like it’s been deleted. Tom makes a new report, but leaves feeling less than confident. He had already planned to keep searching and working on this separately. This just adds to the urgency.
He ends his night at a nearby hotel. A reasonable distance from both the police station and Ryland’s apartment. Once he is settled, laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling, he pulls out his phone. There’s one specific person he can think of that might be able to help him right away. Alma picks up on the second ring. She’s been nothing but reliable since he promoted her to his PR manager. She had made his transition to more indie and variable genre works a seamless transition. Her posts on his behalf always had a high retention. The couple of people she had hired to the team had also been excellent. Tom also knows she has an additional talent that could be exceedingly helpful. She knows how to dig up information like no other. If there’s anything to be found about this Eva Stratt, Tom trusts Alma will find it.
“Hey, Tom, What’s up?” Alma answers.
“I need you to do something for me,” Tom responds.
“Depends what it is,” Alma returns. Tom respects her for that. She never agrees to anything before she has all the details. She is a solid negotiator.
“Ryland never boarded his flight. I haven’t heard from him in three… no four days,” the realization of that added day sparks his unease. Three already felt like too many. “I have a lead that I was hoping you could follow up on.”
“Ryland’s missing? Yeah I’m on it. What do you got?” Alma worriedly responds. Tom knows that for the few times she and Ryland have met that she has a bit of fondness for him.
“Just a name, Eva Stratt,” Tom spells it for her as well.
“Got it. Did you place a report already?” Alma asks.
“I did, but I don’t know what good it’ll do. I had to place it twice, because they lost the first one,” Tom reveals. “I’m going to call to follow up on it, but I’m not feeling super confident.”
Alma starts strategizing immediately, “If nothing turns up in a few days, we can post to your socials about it. If we do that it’ll likely gain enough traction to get media attention.”
“I knew I hired you for a reason,” Tom compliments with a yawn.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she brushes him off. “You go to bed okay. Call your agent and manager in the morning to let them know what’s going on. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have an update.”
Tom acknowledges the instructions and bids her goodnight. He is so exhausted he doesn’t even bother changing. He takes one last run through his phone looking at messages and calls, before transferring that to the charger. He falls into a tense but much needed sleep.
Tom feels better rested in the morning. Still not great, but enough that he can function. Everything else still weighs heavily upon him. He had only found a single lead yesterday. It’s better than nothing, but feels entirely inadequate. He feels inadequate. The thrum of anxiety in his chest makes itself known underneath everything else. He follows Alma’s instructions and calls his agent and manager to get them up to speed. He had already planned for some time off so this isn't really an inconvenience. They remind him that he does have a contractual agreement to fulfil in about a month. They each give him their condolences before wrapping up the call.
Until Alma sends him information on Eva Stratt he doesn’t have a lot to do. He decides to head over to Ryland’s apartment complex. The landlord kind of recognizes him. She still refuses to give him a key to Ryland’s new place. He goes up anyway. He breaks in like it’s second nature. Another dead end. It's expected while still disappointing. He looks through all the keys on the hooks and tries them on the door. He finds the spare and takes it with him. There’s also what appears to be a spare key for the bike lock. He snags that too. It's at minimum one thing he’ll be able to do for Ryland while he waits for Alma to finish up. He makes quick work of grabbing Ryland's bike and returning it to the apartment rack where it normally resides. The dead end at the apartment leaves him with only one truly viable option. He doesn’t want to go too far in case he gets a call. He also knows he can’t ignore the brother sized variable of Colt Seavers. It feels unlikely considering how Ryland and Colt had left things several months ago. He tries calling. If Colt doesn’t answer Ryland’s calls Tom has no reason to believe Colt will answer his own. Not that it matters. Colt apparently got a new number. He’s going to have to see him face to face.
During a pitstop on his drive back to L.A. he receives an email with a description of Eva Stratt from Alma. He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. She worked for the ESA. Has a bachelors in history. Recently received a position from the United Nations. There's nothing specific about it. The pictures Alma found of her along with the descriptions paint a very stern, no-nonsense figure. Someone who is very goal oriented with a strong will to get things done. Did she need Ryland for something? If so, what?
He drives to what he hopes is still Colt's place. Colt's truck is present. That's enough of an indication that Colt lives here still. It also means he's likely to be home. Tom covers the peephole so Colt can’t use it to find out he is here. He bangs on the door hard a few times. He hears some shuffling, before the sound of a chain lock slides and the door begins to open.