Absence of Alice

by Sherry Harris

  “Emil,” I called. He jerked up, the tray tilted, and meatballs rolled all over the place. All I could do was watch as meatballs plopped to the floor in small splats. Some of the group ran over and managed to catch them as they rolled off. A woman helped steady the tray.

  I clapped my hands to my mouth. Angelo’s mouth formed a wide O, and Rosalie started laughing. Fortunately, everyone else joined in.

  “Sorry about that,” Emil said to the group as he set the tray on the table. He looked at me. “Give me a minute to wash my hands.”

  “I didn’t think you’d be having a class this early,” I said to Angelo.

  “We moved the time up because of Emil’s schedule today. He has something going on later this afternoon.”

  I watched as Emil walked over to the sink, soaped his hands into a foamy lather, and then rinsed. He grabbed a hand towel as he walked toward me. I pulled him over to a corner of the restaurant as everyone got back to the meatballs.

  “I need your help. The kidnapper called me. He said—he said that this was just the beginning. That the game was still on. He even said he let me find Stella.”

  Emil flung the towel over his shoulder and studied my face. “How are you?”

  “I’m furious. He said that no one I cared about is safe.” I took a deep breath. “I have to go to the police. I’m playing by my rules this time, not his.”

  “Okay.”

  “I don’t want to face the police alone. Will you go with me?”

  “Of course.” Emil paused, looked up at the ceiling. “Do you want to go in the front door of the station or arrange a meeting elsewhere?”

  I thought it over. “Elsewhere since we still don’t know if the kidnapper really has inside information with the police. He knew about what happened to my client Alice Krandle.”

  Emil frowned. “What happened to Alice?”

  I quickly explained.

  “My car’s parked out back. Let me put this towel away and grab my jacket.”

  As soon as Emil left my side, Rosalie rushed over. “Is everything okay?”

  “No, but it will be.” My voice shook a little.

  “You come back for our family supper tonight.” The meal they had after the restaurant closed at nine thirty.

  “If I can, I will. Thank you.”

  Rosalie patted my arm and went over to the counter to help a customer. It gave me a minute to call Seth.

  He answered almost immediately.

  “I heard from Stella’s kidnapper again.” There was a long pause. I took the phone away from my ear and looked at it. We were still connected. “Seth?”

  “Sorry. I closed my office door. You have to come stay with me. The guards are still with me around the clock. You’ll be safe.”

  That was tempting. Nothing sounded better than hunkering down and hiding some place. Especially if it involved Seth. “I can’t.”

  “You have to.”

  “I need him to think I’m doing what he wants. I think it’s the only way to catch him. For the police to catch him.” That sounded better. “Emil is setting up a meeting with the police right now.” Seth made a snorting sound. “I take it you don’t like him.”

  “The jury is out on him. But he has nothing to do with you staying with me.”

  I wasn’t going to argue about Emil with Seth. I needed Emil right now. “Mike is next door. There’s always someone outside his door. I’m fine.”

  Another pause. “If Mike leaves, you can’t stay in the building by yourself.”

  I didn’t want to stay there by myself. “Hopefully Stella will be back soon. And that means Awesome will be too.” Even though Awesome was mad at me, he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. At least I didn’t think he would. Emil returned to my side.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  “I have to go,” I told Seth.

  “Will talk later. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.” I blushed a little as Emil watched me hang up.

  * * *

  Emil and I were riding in his silver classic Ford Mustang. I was no expert on cars, but even I knew this was a classic car. The engine rumbled as we took off.

  “Nice car,” I said.

  “My passion project.”

  “You restore cars?”

  “A friend does most of the work.”

  “Nice. Where are we headed?”

  “The library. Pellner set it up so we can use their meeting room.”

  Emil had accomplished a lot while I was on the phone with Seth. “Isn’t that a little close to the police station if the kidnapper has connections there?” The library was across the street to the right of the police station.

  “It will be okay. Close enough that everyone can get there, but far enough to be out of sight.”

  * * *

  Minutes later we were sitting around a table at the back of the meeting room in the library. That way people who passed by couldn’t glance in and see us. The door was locked, so no one else could get in. Beige carpet, chairs, table, and walls gave this room a dystopian feel. Seated around the table were the two state troopers, Pellner, Harriet—who’d I’d called and asked to join us on the way over—Emil, and me. Awesome stood in a corner even though he was officially on leave. No one smiled. Expressions went from grim to grimmest. Awesome won by a long shot—not that I could blame him. I wanted to run out of here. A vacation was starting to sound like a really great idea, but I had too many sales coming up to take any time off.

  Emil started. “Sarah got another call from the kidnapper. I’ll let her explain the call.”

  I focused on Harriet. She wore a black business suit with a red silk blouse under it. Probably clothes left from when she worked for the FBI. While she looked serious, she didn’t appear to want to throttle me like everyone else did. I once again managed to say everything without adding a lot of emotion.

  “He said no one I cared about was safe.” I glanced at Awesome, who looked directly at me. I thought I saw a flicker of sympathy, but it might have been wishful thinking. I wrapped it up quickly. “I hung up on him.” I paused. “I’m not sure he’s telling the truth about leading me to Stella. I think there’s a good chance his ego won’t allow him to believe anything else.”

  “Now you’re a psychologist along with being an amateur sleuth,” Awesome said.

  “It’s likely Sarah is right,” Harriet said, swiveling in her seat to look at Awesome.

  Under any other circumstances, I would have wanted to say “ha take that,” but this was too serious.

  “We all need to pool our resources to catch him without petty infighting or holding grudges,” Harriet said.

  “And what resources do you have?” Awesome asked Harriet. His voice lacked his usual calm demeanor.

  “I worked on the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation team for twenty-four years.” Harriet’s voice was calm. “I still have contacts, and frankly I’m damn good at what I do.”

  “Oh, are you?” Awesome said.

  “I can hear the frustration in your voice. And I understand it, but we need to work together,” Harriet said. “We all want the same outcome. To catch whoever is doing this.”

  “You were in law enforcement, and yet you kept Sarah’s secret,” Awesome shot back.

  “I gave Sarah my word before I knew the exact situation. And”—Harriet glanced at me—“and as Sarah knows, I didn’t keep my word entirely. I reached out to a few people who were helping behind the scene. They looked into Sarah’s background and people she’s close to.”

  That was news to me.

  Awesome’s shoulders slumped a little. “You’re right. I apologize.”

  I wished that apology would extend to me, but I doubted it did.

  “Sarah, we’ll need your phone,” Kilgard said.

  I pulled it out of my purse and passed it over to her. Maybe I needed to just buy something cheap to replace this one until the kidnapper was caught. I couldn’t keep buying expensive phones only to hand them over to the police even
though I knew I’d get them back eventually.

  “How am I going to keep ‘everyone I care about’ safe?” I asked. I thought about friends here—Carol and Brad Carson, the DiNapolis—friends on base, my brother, my family in California. How long was this guy’s reach? “Warning all of them is going to scare a lot of people. But if something happened to someone because I didn’t warn them . . .”

  “It’s not up to you to keep them safe,” Rodriquez said.

  We developed a plan that included warning my friends and family to take precautions and the police increasing patrols and alerting the security force on base. I agreed to let the police know when I heard from the kidnapper. Pellner gave me the number for a burner cell phone to use to contact him that wouldn’t go through dispatch.

  What I wouldn’t agree to was the idea that Kilgard should move in with me. No thanks to that. Kilgard looked relieved when I balked at that idea. I think it was suggested because no one trusted me to do the right thing when the kidnapper called, and I couldn’t say I blamed them.

  “I saw that you’re having a garage sale event on Saturday on the town common,” Kilgard said. “I think you should cancel it.”

  What? “I’ll think about it. I’ve done a lot of advertising, not just here but all over New England. It may be hard to cancel at this late date.” Face it. I didn’t want to cancel. All the more reason to track down the kidnapper.

  “Just a minute ago you were concerned for the safety of those around you,” Kilgard said.

  “But this is different. Out in the open. The public will be there,” I said.

  “Exactly my point,” Kilgard said. “More people who could be put in harm’s way.”

  “I don’t think there’s much of a risk, based on the kidnapper’s past actions,” Emil added.

  “Is it worth taking the chance?” Rodriquez asked.

  My heart would be broken if I couldn’t celebrate my two-year anniversary. “I’ll consider it. I don’t want anyone hurt because of me.”

  “Anyone else,” Awesome said.

  The weight of my guilt pounded down on me, but at least I knew what I needed to do next.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  At two o’clock I sat in a small anteroom on one of four chairs with nubby gray fabric. The walls were painted grayish blue. The lighting was soft. No buzzing fluorescents in here. Framed degrees from a college in Philadelphia and Harvard. The magazines were all shiny new issues on topics ranging from home décor to gardening—nothing political or controversial unless one was anti-gardening. However, the low-volume music, instrumentals, made me want to plug my ears. I suspect the music was supposed to be calming, but it was having the opposite effect on me.

  I didn’t have an appointment with Damaris Christos, but I hoped she’d make the time to see me. When Awesome had asked if I was playing psychologist, it had made me think about Damaris again. A few minutes later I heard the muffled sound of a door closing, and Damaris came out of her office. She didn’t look happy to see me. However, at this point I was getting used to that from people.

  “I only have a few minutes, but you can come in.” I followed her into an office that looked very much like the waiting room. Fortunately, no music played in here. I selected another nubby fabric-covered chair. Damaris sat next to me, not behind the desk. I guessed this was to show that we were on the same team.

  “The police are probably going to show up here to talk to you about the anti-Sarah group,” I said. I didn’t really know if that was true, but I hoped it was. “I wanted to let you know.”

  “How could you, Sarah?” Damaris got up and sat behind her desk, putting space between us.

  Wow. For a psychologist she didn’t seem to understand her action spoke volumes. Damaris picked up a pen and started clicking it open and closed until I wanted to snatch it out of her hand.

  “I have built up a rapport with my clients and am on the edge of a breakthrough with them. If the police barge in, it could ruin everything.” She set the pen down. “These people already feel victimized by what they’ve been through. This is a disaster.”

  I tamped down my ire as I realized Damaris still hadn’t seen the news and had no idea that Stella had been kidnapped. Now that I thought of it, not much had been in the news. If the kidnapper wanted notoriety, he wasn’t getting it. That might unhinge him even more.

  “Someone is threatening me and people who are close to me. It could be someone from your group.”

  “No offense, but the way you run around town questioning people, there’s probably a long list of people who might threaten you.”

  Well, offense taken. I didn’t run around questioning people like some vigilante in a bad movie. Most of the time anyway. “Please tell me who is in the ‘I hate Sarah’ group.”

  “Again, I can’t. You have to trust that I’m making progress with them. The group is on the verge of disbanding.” She tossed her thick hair over her shoulder with a flick of her head.

  Her hair flicking was dismissive. It made me want to reach over and yank it, but that wouldn’t help anything. I couldn’t pressure her more without talking about Stella. I wasn’t willing to do that, but the police might be. I’d leave the scare tactics to them. This time I was the one who pulled out a card. When she didn’t take it, I put it on her desk. “Call me if you change your mind. Someone wants to hurt me and the people I care about. You don’t want that on your conscience.”

  * * *

  When I got home I heard Stella singing in her apartment. The sound almost made me weep with gratitude that she was back, safe. I knocked on her door, anxious to see her. I hoped she didn’t hate me. When the door flung open, it was Awesome standing there, not Stella. He glared down at me and blocked the door.

  “Who is it, Nathan?” Stella asked.

  He started to close the door. “It’s just a—”

  “It’s me, Stella.”

  “Sarah,” she shrieked.

  She pushed past Awesome, and we hugged. More like clung to each other. When we pulled apart we both looked each other over as if trying to make sure the other was okay. Stella took my hand and pulled me into the apartment. We sat on her couch, turned toward each other.

  “If you can’t be civil to Sarah, go run an errand,” Stella said to Awesome.

  “I don’t want to cause any trouble.” I looked back and forth between them.

  “Any further trouble,” Awesome muttered, but he closed the door and leaned against it. He’d been doing a lot of leaning lately when we were in the same room together.

  “I’m sorry,” I said to Stella. “I feel terrible.”

  “As you should,” Awesome said.

  “Nathan, I mean it. Just stop.” Stella looked over at him, but her expression was soft and loving not angry.

  His face softened in return. The intimacy of the moment made my heart patter harder.

  Stella looked back at me. “Don’t feel terrible. You didn’t do anything wrong. You found me. Saved me.”

  “It’s just that if it weren’t for me—”

  Stella took my hand again. “You stop it too. You are as much a victim as I am.”

  Awesome made a choking noise that made Stella give him another look.

  “Can you tell me what happened? And if it’s too soon, I understand.” I knew that she’d been kidnapped sometime between the time she had scheduled the ride to the airport and the time Elmer Norman had come to pick her up.

  “After I scheduled a ride to the airport, there was a light knock on my door. I answered it, and a masked man shoved his way in. I guess I was tased or something, because the next thing I remember, I was in a room in a house somewhere.”

  I gripped her hand tighter. “You weren’t in the barn the whole time.” That was a relief.

  “No. Not even for a whole day. At least I don’t think it was a day. Time passed differently down there. Then you saved me.” Stella squeezed my hand one more time and let go.

  “Are you back here for good?” I asked. It
was lonely in the building without her. I missed hearing her sing and seeing Tux. I wanted to ask how she was doing, but I knew it would take her time to get over being kidnapped. If one ever got over such a thing.

  “I’m not.”

  “Staying with Awesome?”

  “No. I’m heading out to Los Angeles to explain things to the director in person. It’s too late to do the play, but it will be good to get out of town for a bit.” She glanced at Awesome, and he nodded.

  I assumed leaving town was to get her far away while the kidnapper was still on the loose. It was a good idea even though I would miss her. Stella would be safer there than here, which seemed a little ironic. “Is Awesome driving you to the airport?” I glanced at him. “Because if he can’t take you, I can.”

  “He’s doing more than that. He’s flying out with me and staying for a few days.” Stella smiled over at Awesome.

  Wow. I was surprised Awesome would leave in the middle of the search for Stella’s kidnapper. Either he really trusted his team or his desire to make sure Stella was safe was more important. “That’s good. When are you leaving?” I stood as I asked.

  “This evening.” Stella stood and hugged me. “Be careful. He’s—he’s still out there.”

  “I will.” I planned to be careful, but I also planned to find the guy.

  * * *

  When I got back to my apartment, I looked in my refrigerator to find something to eat. I hadn’t eaten since I’d had the eggs at Alice’s house. I pulled out the leftover pasta I’d brought home from DiNapoli’s the other night and heated it up in the microwave. Once it was ready, I took it over to my kitchen table and started eating. Seth had texted me earlier letting me know he was attending a bar association meeting in Boston tonight. He knew it was going to run late, so he planned to spend the night at his parents’ brownstone in the city. My thoughts kept wandering to Damaris. I didn’t know much about her. I also didn’t know anyone who knew her, so there was no one to ask for information.

  Camping outside her office to see who came and went seemed invasive. Not to mention impractical with all I had to do. But an Internet search wouldn’t hurt. I finished my pasta, rinsed my plate, and left it in the sink to wash later. I grabbed my laptop off the trunk and sat on the couch. I checked to see if there were other people in Ellington with the last name of Christos. There weren’t.