"Hey, Toosk, look at this."

I walked over to Bebe, who was reading a magazine in the living room. I sat on the sofa next to her and peered at the page she had her eyes on. All I saw were a bunch of advertisements on the edge and an article down the middle.

I faced her. "What is it that you want to show me?"

"This." Bebe pointed to an advertisement on the top right.

I turned back to the paper and leaned closer to read what it was showing. It was just an advertisement for an art exhibit. "You wanna go see art?" I faced her with raised eyebrows.

"Yes. With you." Bebe looked up at me with a warm smile.

I gave her an are-you-serious-look-? "Really? You want me to come along?" I asked flatly.

"Please?"

I shrugged with a sigh. I guess it would not hurt to go to some other art exhibit. "Okay, if you say so."

"Cool, thanks." She flashed me a huge grin.

"But when is it?"

"Tonight..." She peered back down at the newspaper and read off: "...at seven-thirty."

"Okay, that's fine." I then gave Bebe a hug.

***

We arrived at the art exhibit at eight. It was your typical art exhibit with clean, white walls and lights decked with delicate forms of art and paintings; fancy-dressed people waltzed around the building with appetizers and chutes of alcohol that was being served.

Bebe took me to many 'masterpieces' and explained to me the story behind each one. One thing about Bebe is that she loves art.

While we were walking around, we bumped into a couple: Lance and Jackie.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here!" Lance patted my back with a grin pasted onto his face. "Toosk Mjalmersson and his wife!"

I kind of blushed at bit with embarrassment. Kind of.

"What a pleasure to see you two here!" Jackie gave Bebe and me a hug.

"What brought you here?" Lance placed his hands in his dress pants' pockets.

"Bebe," I told him, nudging toward her.

"Ah..." Lance nodded his head slowly. "You're the last person I thought I would meet here."

I chuckled. "If I didn't have Bebe around, then yeah."

"So, Toosk, what is your favorite masterpiece here?" Jackie turned to me and asked.

"Uhhh..." I shrugged. "I like all of them...I equally like all of them--no favourites."

She nodded her head. "Well, that's the first time that I heard that answer."

"So, what brought you here?" Bebe asked Mrs. Sawyer, redirecting her attention.

"Well, tonight is Lance's and my date, so we just decided to head here because it seemed like a nice place to spend some time in, you know, just relaxing..."

"You go on dates?" Bebe laughed. "Even when you guys are married?"

Jackie smiled. "It's fun, very fun. It keeps our bond tight."

"That's a great idea..." Bebe gave me that look that make me feel ashamed of myself.

Well, I'm sorry if I don't think the same way Lance does...

"Toosk--" Jackie faced me with some concern. "--why are you standing alone?"

"Oh...um..." I gazed around for Lance, but I could not see him in sight. "I guess I forgot that...um..." My voice faded away as something dawned upon me. "Where's Lance?"

Jackie gazed around her surroundings. "Well, look at that!" She threw her arms in the arm. "We lost Lance. Let's go look for him--he must've had wondered away..." She sighed with a shake of her head and walked away.

"Come on, let's go follow her." I grabbed Bebe's hand and we began to walk with Mrs. Sawyer.

After looking all around the building, which was not really big, we still had not found Lance. We ended up at the same place we started, which was in the centre of the building.

"Gosh darn it!" Jackie crossed her arms with a miffed frown.

"I even looked in the bathrooms, but he wasn't there," I told Jackie with a sympathetic frown.

"Thank you for that..." Jackie looked at Bebe. "Any luck?"

Bebe shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Sawyer."

"Maybe...he left the place...," I suggested.

Jackie nodded her head in consideration. "That's a pretty good idea..." She paused in her motions for a moment. "Let's go to the car." She turned around and began ambling toward the back of the building.

We followed Mrs. Sawyer through the warm, bright building and out into the cold, dim night.

Once outside, we were greeted by squeals of tires as a black car about five yards away from us was taking off in a rush into the night.

Bebe had a surprised look on her face. "What was that all about?"

"Wait!" Jackie clamoured down the concrete steps and onto the place where the car was once at; she picked up something black, which shining bluntly in the yellow light of the light posts; she ran back to us. "This is Lance's wallet..." She flipped the wallet over, revealing a cracked iPhone that was strapped to the wallet. "...and he also left his phone behind...," she finished off with disappointment.

I felt my stomach sinking and my face growing pale as a bad thought popped into my mind. "I think I know what happened..."

Bebe and Jackie looked at me, pleading me for an answer with their looks.

"I hate to say this but it just makes sense: Lance has been kidnapped."