With Robbie gone, Becca set out to “win” high school, with that same single-minded determination she did everything, joining all the clubs, landing a spot on the varsity cheerleading squad, and taking every AP class her schedule would allow. A few months into freshman year during a trip with her friends to the Grove, LA’s attempt at a mall, complete with a musical fountain, a talent agent approached Becca and asked if she might be interested in auditioning for a deodorant commercial. Before long Becca had an agent, and Virginia was driving her to auditions. Becca’s life was so full, she barely had time to miss Robbie. On the few occasions that they spoke, he confessed the academics were harder than he expected. He came home for Thanksgiving, bringing along his freshman roommate, Anthony, a computer whiz from New Jersey. Anthony made them all laugh with his spot-on Sopranos impressions and even entertained Becca with his close-up magic tricks.

Becca was thrilled when Robbie landed an internship at a tech start-up that summer. Each morning they’d wake up at dawn. Sometimes they’d hike Griffith Park, other days they’d walk around the Silver Lake Reservoir. There were times when Robbie seemed moody and distant. He always blamed work; the hours were long and the work was challenging. Looking back, there were endless signs he was struggling. She tried to tell herself she was just a kid. How could she have known what was going to happen to Robbie? When he returned to Stanford for his sophomore year, something shifted. He began calling Becca at all hours of the day and night. He confessed he wasn’t sleeping, worried someone was trying to break into his apartment. “Don’t let them know where you hid the crown jewels,” Becca teased, not realizing there was something more serious at work.

As the weeks went by, Robbie began sending rambling e-mails, insisting his roommate Anthony didn’t like Mexican people and that he was plotting to have him deported. Becca thought these e-mails were jokes and responded accordingly. When Robbie e-mailed her with elaborate tales about people following him, she told him to talk to their parents. Sometimes he would call and Becca didn’t even pick up. She was too busy to get sucked into one of his rambling phone calls. It wasn’t until she came home after school one day and found her parents in a full-blown argument that Becca realized there was real trouble.

“I don’t care what you say, Rafi. Robbie hasn’t called or e-mailed in days. Becca hasn’t heard from him either. Call it intuition, I just can’t shake this bad feeling,” Virginia said.