by Jeanne Tosti
Ruth whispered a message to the couple sitting next to her in their party. It was passed down the row from person to person until it reached Sarah who was sitting at the other end. Ruth’s message was that she had received a text from her babysitter. One of the kids had been jumping on the bed and fell off. He hurt his arm and the sitter thought it might be serious. Ruth and Eric had to leave and take him to the hospital for an x-ray. She apologized, but they would have to cancel dessert at their house after the play.
Sarah looked down the row and caught Ruth’s eye. She nodded that she had received the message. Sarah then whispered a response to the person sitting next to her who passed it along down the row. Sarah’s message was, “Is that story true, or did you make it up to get out of sitting through another hour and a half of this misery?” Ruth got the message, smiled and nodded in agreement. Then she and Eric left.
The actor on stage continued to drone on. After about ten more minutes Ben whispered to Sarah, “I can’t take any more of this. If he keeps this up, somebody in the audience is going to storm the stage and do him bodily harm. Would you like to go get a coffee or something?”
Sarah looked down the row and could see that several of her friends were getting ready to leave. She really hated to walk out in the middle of a performance, but this was an exceptional circumstance. It was definitely the worst production she had ever seen in her life and every minute it became more excruciating to watch.
“Coffee sounds good,” she said. She found her purse and they rose to leave.
They had been sitting near the front of the theater. When she turned to look at the seats behind her she saw that the once full theater was now more than half empty. They made their way down the aisle to the rear of the theater and several stalwart members of the audience nodded their heads in agreement as she passed. Meanwhile, the actor on stage remained seated on his metal chair and droned on about his joyless life.
They reached the lobby and Ben let out a loud sigh of relief. “O.K., that was the worst! I think this will be opening and closing night all wrapped into one.” They both laughed. “So, where shall we go? I’m not familiar with the options around here.”
Sarah moved out of the way of others escaping the theater and answered, “I know of a little place within walking distance. We might even get some dessert there.”
“Sounds good! Lead the way.”
They went outside and walked down the street about a block and then turned down a side street. A few store fronts from the corner was a small restaurant advertising deli and bakery treats. Sarah led the way inside. At the front of the shop was a large glass display case showcasing several shelves of luscious looking pies, cakes, chocolate éclairs and other sweet treats. Ben stopped to look, but Sarah motioned him to follow her to an empty booth along the wall.
“My office is not too far from here,” Sarah said. “I come here for lunch sometimes. They have great desserts—all made here in the shop. I can recommend all of their pies. The carrot cake is really good too.”
“I am a sucker for desserts. I don’t do much cooking and anything that even resembles home cooked food has my vote.”
The server brought fresh coffee and took their order. Ben had a hard time choosing, but finally decided on one of his traditional weaknesses, apple pie a la mode. Sarah picked her favorite, a huge piece of carrot cake.
“You know, don’t you, that they put that display case full of goodies at the front door just to tempt you,” Sarah said as she took a bite of her carrot cake.
“Yes, and it works. If I was going home to my own apartment, I would certainly buy something to take with me. Seriously—it’s nice to find a place with good food. My new condo is not too far from here. I’m going to keep this place in mind.”
They talked for a while and traded details about their work and background. After a while Sarah decided she should probably head home. Then it hit her that she had not arranged a ride home with anyone. She decided to call Jordan, to see if he had finished with his business dealings for the evenings and could pick her up. If not, she would take a cab.
She dialed their home phone number. It rang six times and then their answering machine picked up. She did not leave a message. She then dialed Jordan’s cell phone number. It rang a number of times and then put her into voicemail. She was puzzled. She knew Jordan should be home, he said he was going to be working on his computer doing something with international transactions all evening.
It occurred to Sarah that Ben may not have a ride home either since he was staying with Eric and Ruth. “I’m going to walk up the street to the corner and see if I can find a cab. Do you have a way home?” she asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about me. My car is here. Had to go to a business meeting downtown before the play. If your husband is not available, why don’t you let me drive you home? I wouldn’t mind at all. There’s no one home at Ruth and Eric’s so I’m not anxious to go back there for a while.”
Sarah thought for a moment and then said, “O.K. If you’re sure you don’t mind. It might be hard getting a cab this time of night anyway.”
They walked to the garage where Ben had parked his car and then he drove her home. He pulled up in front of her townhouse and Sarah thanked him profusely for the ride. She got out of the car and noted that the townhouse was all dark. That’s odd, she thought.
Ben saw Sarah’s hesitation as she stood on the sidewalk. “Everything all right?” he called from the car window. “Do you want me to walk you to the door?”
“No, no. Everything is all right. I was just surprised that there are no lights on in the house—but maybe Jordan decided to go to bed.” She glanced at her watch. It was just eleven o’clock. Too early for Jordan to be in bed—he was a night owl. “Thanks again for the ride. We may bump into each other again since you’re staying with Ruth and Eric for a while.” She waved goodbye and then let herself into the dark house.
Chapter 9
AFTER HE WAS sure that Sarah was safely inside the door of her townhouse, Ben swung his car around and headed for Ruth and Eric’s house. He enjoyed his evening tonight despite the awful play. In fact, the awful play made it even better. If it hadn’t been for that, he would have never had a chance to spend some time with Sarah. Too bad she was married. Just his luck, he was a few months too late. It was still a nice evening, even so.
Ruth and Eric lived in the suburbs of Chicago. They had a good sized house, with a nice yard and a double wide driveway—something you could never find in the city. Ben pulled into the driveway and parked his car. He saw that both Ruth and Eric’s cars were in the garage so he assumed that the excursion to the Emergency Room had been completed. They had given him a key to house and he let himself in. Eric was sitting in the living room sipping a beer.
“So, how did it go at the Emergency Room?” Ben asked. “Is Brandon, O.K.?” Brandon was Eric and Ruth’s four year old son. They also had a two year old daughter named Kaye.
“Brandon was great. He thought the hospital was one big adventure. The Emergency Room was hell.” He punctuated his statement with a swig of beer.
“What did you run into that made it so bad?”
“Apparently, a kid with a broken arm is pretty far down the list when it comes to priorities. Every time we thought we were going to be seen by the doctor, they would wheel someone in on a cart and tell us that we would have to wait another half hour because the other case was more urgent. Heart attack, stroke, gunshot wound, and some guy having a psychotic breakdown or something. It took forever to be seen. The nurse said it was pretty typical for a Saturday night.”
“That’s too bad, sounds like you and Ruth had a rough evening.”
“Bottom line—he broke his arm, nothing complicated, but he’ll be in a cast for a couple of months. On the bright side—he thinks he’s a super hero with an arm of steel now. He’s fine, I’m exhausted.” Eric took another big gulp of beer and leaned back into his recliner. He was relishing the peace and quiet of his own h
ome after the pandemonium of the emergency room.
Ben smiled. “Actually, we were all jealous when you and Ruth had an excuse to leave the theater. That play was awful. I was waiting for the audience to storm the stage. We couldn’t take it anymore and left shortly after you did. By that time, half of the audience had already run for the hills.”
Eric laughed. “Maybe I had the better night after all. So, you’re just getting home now? What did you do after extricating yourself from No Life, No Friends hell?”
“Oh, Sarah and I went to a deli near the theater and had coffee and dessert. She’s really very nice. Wished I had met her a few months ago. Before she met Mr. Wonderful.”
“Yeah, well, everyone was taken by surprise by that one. The guy appeared out of nowhere. We all warned her to slow things down and take her time. He was really pushing her. The next thing we knew, she came back from a long weekend and said they were married. I don’t like the guy, but that’s just me. Ruth says I should give Jordan a chance.”
“I guess she sees something in him. Anyway, we had a nice evening over coffee and dessert.”
Chapter 10
SARAH OPENED THE front door to her townhouse and gave a last wave to Ben who was in his car at the curb. Ben returned the wave. Once she was safely inside, he pulled away.
The house was completely dark. As she entered she called out, “Jordan, I’m home.” There was dead silence. She fumbled for the front hall light switch and clicked it on. Everything looked normal. She turned on a lamp in the living room and then called out again for Jordan, but there was no answer. She walked through the living room into the kitchen. Then she went upstairs. There was no sign of Jordan. She didn’t see his computer anywhere, either.
Where could he be? She checked her cell phone, but there were no texts or messages. She went back downstairs to see if he left her a note, but after searching every room, she found nothing.
She sat down in the kitchen and searched her brain. Did he tell me he had to go somewhere? She rejected that notion since the only plan they had for this evening was dinner and the play. Maybe something happened with his investment deal and he had to go out of town suddenly. But why wouldn’t he call me or leave me a note? Then after some pondering she decided, Kyle Mason probably talked Jordan into going out for a beer or to play pool. She found Kyle’s number on a pad of paper on the desk where Jordan had jotted it down. She called it.
Kyle answered immediately. Somehow he recognized her cell phone number. “Sarah, is that you? What’s up?”
“Yes, Kyle, it’s Sarah. I just came home and Jordan’s not here. Is he with you?”
“What do you mean he’s not there?”
“He was supposed to be working at home this evening on some business deal. We had plans to go out, but he couldn’t go because he had to monitor some international transactions on his computer.”
“Maybe he just ran out to the store. Is his computer still there?”
“No. I’ve been through the whole house. He must have taken it with him,” Sarah said.
“Son of a bitch!” Kyle muttered into the phone.
“What’s that?” Sarah was confused because Kyle sounded angry.
“Oh, nothing. Did he take anything with him like clothes, money, credit cards?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t looked. He always has some money and credit cards with him in his wallet. Maybe he had to go on an unexpected business trip.”
“Yeah. Sure. A business trip. Did he leave you anything to keep for him? A small package? Maybe an envelope of some sort?
“No. What are you talking about?
“Nothing, nothing. How about I come over and maybe we can figure out where he went.”
“No. I don’t think that will be necessary. I was only calling to see if he was with you. I’m sure he will call me tonight. I need to go now.” The last thing Sarah wanted was to have to deal with Kyle one on one without Jordan there.
“O.K., if I hear from him, I’ll let you know. I’ll check in with you tomorrow morning,” Kyle said.
Sarah didn’t answer, she just ended the call. Where could he be? The logical part of her brain told her that this was probably just an urgent business trip, and he didn’t call because he didn’t want to disturb her while she was out with their friends. But that did not explain why he didn’t leave a note. The goblins of fear were starting to gnaw at the edges of her logic. She found herself tormented with what if scenarios—What if he went out and was in a car accident? What if another intruder broke in and he was kidnapped? Or worst of all, What if he just decided to leave her?
She searched her memory for any indications that Jordan was unhappy. She came up with nothing. He seemed stressed from work, but otherwise, they were happy. Their dinner tonight was wonderful. There was no indication that anything was wrong. No, it has to be something else.
She sat on the couch waiting and hoping that Jordan would walk through the door any minute. She couldn’t go to bed. She needed to know he was safe. She kept replaying in her mind everything that had happened in the last few days, looking for a clue as to where he could be, but to no avail. Several hours past. She fell into a fitful sleep crumpled into a ball at one end of the couch.
She awoke at dawn when the sunlight began streaming into the front window. Her neck and back were stiff and she felt like she had not slept at all. She immediately went up to their bedroom hoping that Jordan had come home during the night, perhaps not wanting to wake her. Their bed had not been slept in. It was neatly made just as she had left it the previous morning.
Sarah went back downstairs. It was 6:15 a.m. on a beautiful Sunday summer morning and she felt like her whole world was falling apart. She wanted to talk to someone, but there was no one to talk to. She couldn’t even call Ruth at this hour. She made a pot of coffee only because she didn’t know what else to do.
She sat on the couch thinking and staring at her coffee cup. Then she went upstairs to the bedroom. She began carefully going through all of Jordan’s dresser drawers. The ammunition clip that had been in the top drawer of Jordan’s dresser was still gone. She found nothing else out of the ordinary, but she notice that some of his underwear was missing.
She went to Jordan’s closet and searched through his clothes. Several pair of pants and shirts were missing. She immediately began to look for the small bag that Jordan had used when they went to the hotel after the break-in. It was usually stored in the spare bedroom closet. She threw open the closet door and her heart sank. The open space on the closet floor told her what she did not want to know— Jordan had packed a bag of clothes before he left. He had no intention of returning last night.
Her mind spun back to the previous evening. They had eaten dinner last night at 6:00 p.m. and she had said goodbye to him at the restaurant a little before 8 p.m. He acted completely normal at dinner and told her he would see her at home. There was nothing that would indicate he was leaving. She was home by 11:00 p.m. What could have happened in those three hours between 8 and 11?
She went out to the garage. Jordan’s car was parked in its usual spot on the left side of the garage. Why didn’t he take his car? she wondered. She searched through his car looking for anything that might give her a clue as to what was going on, but found nothing.
She went back into the house and sat down at the kitchen table numb and confused. After a long while of just staring into space she was startled by a loud knock at the front door. It was 7:15 a.m. Jordan! No, he wouldn’t knock. Could it be about Jordan? Thoughts went racing through her head. Maybe he was in an accident. She ran to the front door with a feeling of hope and dread. She opened it. Kyle Mason was standing outside.
“Hi, Sarah. Have you heard from Jordan? You sounded so upset last night that I thought I should come over and check on you. I brought doughnuts and coffee.” He held up a paper bag from a local coffee shop and smiled.
She didn’t want to, but she felt obliged to invite him in. I should at least talk to him, she though
t. He was Jordan’s best friend. Maybe he knows something that will help.
“Hello, Kyle. No, I haven’t heard from him yet. I’m very worried. Please, come in.” She led the way to the kitchen.
Sarah took a plate from the cupboard and placed it on the table for the doughnuts. Kyle reached into the bag and pulled out two cups of coffee. He place one in front of Sarah and dumped the doughnuts onto the plate. He then pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Sit down and let’s talk.” he said. “Maybe we can figure out what’s going on with our boy, Jordan. You seem pretty upset. It will do you good to talk to someone.”
Kyle was right about that. She needed to talk to someone. She wasn’t sure that Kyle was that person, but he probably knew Jordan better than anyone other than herself. She was at wits end. Maybe there was a chance he’d be able to make some sense out of all this.
“Alright. I don’t know what to tell you. We went to dinner last night and everything was fine. We were together until a little before eight o’clock. We were supposed to go to the theater with friends, but Jordan had some business transactions occurring last evening and he needed to be home on his computer. He told me to keep the date with our friends, so I did. I came home about eleven o’clock; the house was dark and he was gone.”
“No messages or notes?”
“No, nothing. I looked everywhere. No notes, no voicemails or texts. He just left without a word.”
“Did you notice anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?”
Sarah hesitated for a moment and then said, “His overnight bag and some of his clothes are missing. There is something else that doesn’t make sense—his car is still in the garage.”
Kyle’s fist hit the table and rattled the doughnut plate. It startled Sarah, but Kyle immediately regained his composure.
