Vicious Valentine

by Patti Benning

“Hey,” Caroline answered. “I’ll be there in about an hour. Are you holding down the fort all right?”

  “It’s not about the restaurant,” Hannah said. “It’s Vanessa. Have you heard from her?”

  “No, she said she was going to the police station,” Caroline said. She sounded distracted.

  “That was almost two hours ago. She called a to-go order in and never picked it up.”

  “Wait, what?” Caroline said. “Sorry, I’m trying to get some laundry done. I realized I had nothing clean to wear to work. Are you saying Vanessa is still at the police station?”

  “I don’t know where she is,” Hannah said. “I just know it isn’t like her not to pick up an order. I tried calling, but she didn’t answer. Your message about the police station came in two hours ago. I don’t think they would’ve kept her for that long, do you?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t really have much experience with that sort of thing. I don’t know how long it usually takes.”

  Hannah sighed. She didn’t either, but this had to be too long, especially since she’d already given her statement about what happened to Rory. This visit was just for her to tell them about the silver car that Hannah had seen coming out of the driveway and her suspicions about Corbin’s attack.

  “As soon as my clothes are out of the dryer, I’ll head into town and see if I can spot her bike anywhere. I’ll also send her a text message, she might be able to answer that even if she can’t answer the phone.”

  “Do you think I should call the police station?”

  “And ask if she’s there? Would they be able to tell you that? I’m sure they have some sort of confidentiality thing.” She heard a long beep and the sound of a metal door slamming from Caroline’s end of the line. “Maybe I’m thinking of doctors, though. I’ll give them a call once I get off the phone. You should just focus on work. I’ll let you know if I get in touch with her, okay?”

  “All right,” Hannah said. She said goodbye to Caroline reluctantly and turned back to the food.

  Usually, whoever worked the evening shift got there around four-thirty so the person who worked the morning shift could catch them up on how the day was going so far and finish the orders they were working on before they left. Hannah kept her eye on the clock, and when it slid past four-thirty to four forty-five, then four-fifty, she began to get worried. Had both of her friends vanished into thin air?

  Frustrated and feeling overworked, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, dialed Caroline’s number, and put it on speakerphone while she spooned a serving of brown rice onto a plate. It rang for so long that she thought it was going to go to voicemail, but at last, her friend answered.

  “Hannah, I was just about to call you,” Caroline said.

  “What’s going on? I hate being left in the dark while I’m stuck here. Did you find Vanessa?”

  “No, not yet,” she said. “Sorry it took me so long. I stopped by the police station to ask if they’d seen her. The woman at the desk said they had, but she left a couple hours ago.”

  “Did she happen to know where Vanessa went?”

  “No. I drove over to your house to see if she was there – I figured she might’ve just lost her phone or something – but I didn’t have any luck. I think we’re going to have to go look for her.”

  “How?” Hannah asked, well aware that the sheer amount of stress she was under was making her snappy. “You’re supposed to have the evening shift today. I’ve been working all morning. Brian has the day off. And Tony’s nowhere near ready to even make a side dish on his own yet, let alone be in charge of the kitchen.”

  “Call Brian in,” Caroline said. “No, hang on, I’ll do it. I’ll tell him that I have a personal emergency I have to deal with – which is the truth – and see if he can cover my shift.”

  “Fine,” Hannah said. “I’ll be here until he comes in to take over, then I’ll help you look for Vanessa.”

  Caroline texted her back a couple of minutes after they hung up, telling her that Brian would be there shortly for the evening shift. Hannah felt guilty, but finding Vanessa was more important. There was no telling what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into.

  As soon as Brian walked through the doors, she shoved a spatula into his hand and tore her apron off. “Thank you so much,” she said. “We’ll make it up to you later. I’ve got to go.”

  He gave her a befuddled goodbye as she hurried to the office, where she gathered up her purse and checked her phone again, this time sending Caroline a text to let her know that she was about to leave.

  I’m in the parking lot, was the response she received a moment later.

  She shoved her phone into her purse and hurried out of the building. Caroline was parked right in front of the restaurant, and Hannah made a beeline for her car, getting into the passenger seat as soon the lock clicked up.

  “Any luck tracking her down?”

  “Not yet. Has she responded to you at all?”

  “No.” The two of them exchanged a long look.

  “She wouldn’t have gone after Helena on her own, would she have?”

  “I hope not.” Hannah bit her lip. “But she might have.”

  Caroline nodded reluctantly. “That’s what I’m afraid of. She’s not… well, she doesn’t always think through the consequences of her actions, especially when she’s angry.”

  “You’d think she would at least tell us what she was doing,” Hannah said, trying very hard not to be irritated at her missing friend. “She might be reckless, but she’s not stupid. Did she leave a note or anything at the house?”

  “I didn’t see one. I just stuck my head inside and yelled for her.”

  “Maybe her phone broke and she decided to leave a message for us,” Hannah suggested.

  “Do you want to start looking there, then?”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  Caroline shrugged. “Not really. I drove by the bar and the bike wasn’t parked there either.”

  “I guess we’d better start at the house, then. Maybe she left a note.”

  Chapter Nine

  The drive back from the restaurant to her house had never felt so long. Caroline parked in front of the garage and Hannah hopped out, punching in the code for the garage door. She walked inside as soon as it opened, then turned to make sure Caroline was following her. She spotted her friend frowning at the garage.

  “What is it?”

  “I didn’t even think to check the garage for her bike,” Caroline said. “I should have.”

  “It doesn’t matter, it’s not here anyway,” Hannah said. “Come on, let’s go in.”

  They went in through the garage door. Hannah went to the kitchen first, which was where they tended to spend most of their time. She supposed it shouldn’t be surprising, since she and Caroline were both chefs. It would be weird if the kitchen wasn’t their comfort zone.

  “I’m not seeing anything. Did you guys clean the kitchen before you left?”

  “We didn’t want to leave a mess for you. I’m not seeing anything in the living room either,” Caroline called back. “Do you think she might have left something in the guest room?”

  “I’ll go check.”

  Hannah hurried upstairs and pulled open the door to the guestroom Vanessa had been using. The bed was neatly made, but there was no sign of a note. She turned to go, then hesitated. Something seemed off.

  It took her a moment before she realized what it was. Vanessa’s overnight bag was gone. Frowning, Hannah made her way back downstairs slowly.

  “Did you find anything?” Caroline asked. Hannah had never seen her look so worried.

  “No,” Hannah said. “No note or anything, I mean. But her things are gone.”

  Caroline frowned. “Are you sure? Why would she just pack up and leave without telling anyone?”

  “I don’t know,” Hannah said. “But I’m even more worried now. Do you think she may have gone back to the apartment?”

  “I don’t kno
w if she would be able to. And why wouldn’t she tell one of us if she did?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s the only place that makes sense. I don’t see why she would pack her things up unless she was going home.”

  “She did mention that she felt bad for imposing on you,” Caroline said. “I told her she was being silly, and that you didn’t mind, but she seemed really concerned about it.”

  “Maybe she went to a motel,” Hannah said as she dropped down into one of the armchairs in the living room with a sigh. “That doesn’t explain why she wouldn’t just tell us, though. It’s not like her to ignore us both for so long.”

  “Let’s go back to town,” Caroline said. “We can check the bar and the apartment. Even if she isn’t at either place, someone might have seen her.”

  While Caroline drove back to town, Hannah called the motel and asked if Vanessa was there. The receptionist swore that no one by that name had checked in, and when Hannah pushed her, she admitted that no one at all had checked in over the past twenty-four hours. Frustrated, Hannah ended the call.

  “She’s not there,” she said. “I don’t know where else she would go except for back to her apartment.”

  “There is one bright point to all of this. The fact that her things are missing makes me think that she is staying away from us on purpose for some reason. If she’d been attacked or kidnapped, she wouldn’t have had time to pack her bags first.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Hannah said. “I just don’t understand why she would do this in the first place. I didn’t do anything to make her feel unwelcome, did I?”

  “Not at all,” Caroline said. “I’m just as baffled by this as you are.”

  Caroline pulled onto Shale’s main street and slowed the car down long before they reached Vanessa’s apartment building.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We’re going to pass the bar on the way to her apartment anyway, we might as well check there first. She might have stopped in for some reason.”

  “All right,” Hannah said. “I still think the apartment is our best bet for finding her, but I guess stopping to check there can’t hurt.”

  Caroline parked along the street and the two of them got out of the car, making a beeline for the bar. It wasn’t dark enough yet for it to be very busy inside, but there were a handful people at the bar and at the tables. Hannah looked around, hoping to spot Vanessa’s familiar dark hair, but if she was there, she wasn’t out front.

  “That guy is her boss, right?” Caroline asked, nodding to an older, balding gentleman behind the bar.

  “I think so,” Hannah said, eyeing him. “I don’t really spend much time here. You’d know better than I do.”

  “I think he is. I’m going to go talk to him.”

  They made their way over to the bar, the man already approaching them before they even reached the counter. “What can I get you two ladies?”

  “Nothing tonight,” Caroline said. “We are actually looking for a friend. Vanessa. She works evenings here a lot.”

  “She took a couple days off,” he said, immediately losing interest in them. “Give her a call if you want to talk to her.”

  “We were hoping she might have stopped in earlier today,” Caroline said. “You really haven’t seen her?”

  “No, I haven’t,” he said. He frowned at them. “I don’t know what’s going on with her, but if she doesn’t want to see you for some reason, it might be best if you stopped looking for her.”

  “We’re her friends,” Caroline began, sounding unusually frazzled. Hannah grabbed her elbow and shook her head.

  “Thanks. Sorry for bothering you,” she said to the bartender as she dragged her friend away.

  “He probably knows where she is,” Caroline hissed as Hannah led her toward the door. Hannah opened her mouth to reply, then froze, spotting a familiar face walking away from one of the tables.

  “Caroline,” she hissed. “Helena.”

  Before the other woman could spot them, Hannah dragged them to the door. Caroline spun on her heel when they were outside, glowering at the building. “Why are we out here when the woman Vanessa thinks is responsible for attacks on two men is right inside?”

  “We don’t want to scare her away if she does have something to do with this,” Hannah said. “We have a plan for this, remember? We spent all morning coming up with it before Vanessa threw a wrench in it. We’ll call Ben and have him come over and talk to Helena. She doesn’t know him well, so she won’t be as on guard around him. He can ask all the leading questions we need to figure out if she knows what’s going on.”

  “Fine,” Caroline said. “Let’s get in the car first. It’s freezing.”

  They sat in the vehicle and ran the engine while Hannah pulled out her phone and called Ben. When he answered, she quickly explained what was going on.

  “Sorry to drag you into all of this, but do you have time to come down here and see if you can chat with Helena? The same plan as before, just try to bring Rory, Corbin, and Vanessa up into the conversation. It’s more important now, though; Vanessa is missing. We’re going to go keep looking for her.”

  “Of course,” Ben said. “I’m on my way now. You should’ve told me that she was missing sooner. I would have come to help look for her.”

  “Thanks,” Hannah said. “You’re the best.”

  They waited, keeping their eyes on the bar’s front door, neither of them wanting to let the building out of their sight in case Helena left. Hannah knew that they might be barking up the wrong tree completely, but Vanessa had been so certain Helena had something to do with the attacks that Hannah was willing to bet she decided to confront her on her own at some point today. Vanessa wasn’t exactly the sort to let sleeping dogs lie.

  “There he is,” Hannah said when she finally spotted Ben’s car. He waved and pulled into another spot a few feet away, coming up to the window to talk to them.

  “You still just want me to go in and start up a conversation with her?”

  “Just like we planned before,” Hannah said. “She works here as a bartender, so she is probably pretty used to chatting with people. I don’t think she knows who you are and she has no reason to link you to Vanessa. Just keep an eye on her responses, and see if any of them seem off. I don’t know one way or the other whether she has anything to do with any of this, but Vanessa seemed pretty certain.”

  “I’ll do my best,” he said. “I’ll give you a call once I’m done.”

  Caroline pulled away from the curb as Ben walked into the building, heading down the street toward Vanessa’s apartment building.

  It was a short drive, less than a minute, but by the time Caroline started hunting for a space in front of the building, Hannah’s phone was already ringing with Ben’s caller ID on the screen.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “I can’t find her,” he said.

  Chapter Ten

  Hannah frowned. “What do you mean you can’t find her? We watched the doors the entire time. She couldn’t have left.”

  “The front, maybe, but she could have gone out the employee entrance,” he said. “I think that’s out back.”

  “Maybe she’s just in the kitchen or something. Did you ask?”

  “I asked the guy behind the counter. He was kind of grumpy, but he said she’s not here.”

  “That’s not good,” Hannah said. At Caroline’s raised eyebrows, she quickly explained the situation to her friend. “Can you just look around a little bit more, Ben? We’re going to check Vanessa’s apartment.”

  “All right. Be careful. I don’t like any of this.”

  “We will be. I’ll let you know if we find her.”

  As soon as she was off the phone, Caroline opened the car door and Hannah had to scurry to keep up with her.

  “Right, we’ll just go up and see if she’s at the apartment. If she’s not, we’ll –” She broke off and nudged Hannah, nodding further down the road. “That’s her motor
bike, isn’t it?”

  “You’re right.” The vehicle was parked in a curbside spot, draped hastily with a cover to protect it from the elements. “She must be here.”

  “Hopefully the police told her she could return and she just lost her phone or misplaced her charger or something before she could tell us,” Caroline said as they started toward the door. “I don’t know what else could have happened. It’s not like her to avoid me like this. I just saw her a few hours ago and she never mentioned a thing about planning a disappearing act.”

  “It’s been a hard couple of days for her,” Hannah pointed out. “Maybe she needed some time to herself.”

  “Yeah, well, she should have told us regardless. She had to have known we were going to worry about her.”

  Caroline pressed the buzzer for the door, but no answering buzz came back to let them in. Sighing, she tried the handle and pulled the door open easily.

  “Great security. Let’s go,” Caroline said, making her way into the building. “I’m not sure if I’m going to yell at her or hug her when I see her.”

  Hannah followed Caroline up the stairs to Vanessa’s apartment door. The crime scene tape was gone, though Hannah didn’t know whether that was because the police had removed it, or if Vanessa had torn off herself. She hoped it was the former; she didn’t want her friend to get into trouble if she wasn’t supposed to be here.

  Caroline pounded on the door. “I know you’re in there,” she called out. “Just come talk to us. We’re not mad.”

  There was no response. With a sigh, Caroline tried the handle, but their luck didn’t hold twice. She knocked again.

  “Seriously, open up. We just want to make sure you’re okay. You don’t even have to talk to us, just open the door enough that we can see you and we’ll go. You can’t go missing like this and expect us not to worry.”

  Once again, there was no answer. This time, Hannah stepped forward and knocked on the door herself, probably a bit too hard, judging from the sting of her knuckles. “Come on, Vanessa,” she said. “We’ve been all over town looking for you. Just let us know you’re all right.”