“Miss Chapman, sir. I took her to the Metro. I was surprised no one had rung me, but she said Lawrence must have been busy and she was in a hurry.” He hesitated. “I’m just pulling into the driveway now, sir.”
I dropped the phone and ran. I was in the car before it had pulled to a halt, Lawrence behind me.
“Which metro, Steve? And take us there now.”
The gravel spurted under the tires as we spun and began the tortuous journey back. Lawrence pulled out his phone and began dialing. “I’ll get her phone GPS tracked. Hope she hasn’t switched it off.” And he began emailing on his tablet too. “And we’ll check if she’s used her card for a ticket anywhere.”
“Thanks.” I was watching the city as we approached the center.
“Steve. How did she seem?”
He looked at me through his rear view mirror.
“I — I didn’t notice anything, sir. She was quiet, but was busy with her phone. Then she got out and told me to come back to the house to take you to work.”
“What was she wearing?” Lawrence asked.
“Er, dark jeans and a gray top - sweatshirt.”
As we drew up at the Metro, I leapt out. “Wait for us, Steve.”
Lawrence stepped out after me. “Try calling her phone, sir. She may be waiting to see if you ring.”
I looked at him.
“No, I don’t think she’ll answer, either. But you must try.” He looked at his iPad.
I called her number, my eyes scanning the crowd. I was getting some curious looks, as if people were trying to place me. Her phone rang and rang.
“Stop now, sir. She’s not going to answer, and we don’t want the battery to run down. We’ve got the GPS onto the phone, and she’s close by.”
My heart lifted at Lawrence’s words. “Why would she hang around here?”
“I don’t know, sir. But I’m worried that she’s ditched it in a bin somewhere. It wouldn’t be tracking at all if she was on the metro.”
And my heart sank. “We’ve got to find her.”
“Yes, sir. I’ve got a security firm on standby. I need you to come to the office where we can brief them.” He stood in front of me, stopping me scanning the crowd. “We have to go, sir. There’s too much attention. It’ll scare her off if she is here.”
That did it, and we went back to the car.
“To the office, please.”
* * *
I roamed the office that morning feeling desperate. Lawrence came to me at one point. “She hasn’t ditched her phone. It’s tracked her. She’s in this general area now. Why do you think she’d come here? Would she want her app documents?”
“Paul!” I spun around.
“Oh, no. You don’t speak to him. If he’s our best point of contact, then you let me speak to him.” Lawrence was certainly taking the lead here. I needed to take it back. But on this point, he was right.
“I agree. That’s best. But I’ll speak to the security firm boss. And you’ll tell me what’s going on.”
Lawrence smiled. “Of course.”
The PI was sitting with one of his stooges in one of the spare offices. They had maps spread out over the tables, and were deep in conversation when I went in.
“What’ve you got so far?” I didn’t want to waste time with pleasantries.
He was a small, nondescript chap. The sort who nobody would notice even in a quiet place. I was amused. A useful attribute for an investigator. But his first few words showed that he was good at his job.
“We’re not wasting too much time on the phone trace, Mr. Sandiford. I think she may have left it in a cab or something as a sort of decoy. If that’s the case, then she won’t have anyone’s contact details with her. We know she used the ATM just outside the metro station where your driver dropped her. Near a different exit, so that he wouldn’t see.” He looked pointedly at me. “She doesn’t want to be followed.”
I looked at him. “I would respect that decision, except I need to know that she’s all right.” I held his gaze until he dropped his eyes.
“All right, then. Just so’s you know.” He picked up a map. “I’ve got an inside man who’s checking the CCTV around that ATM. She got on a city bus going west.” He spread the map over the table. “That means finding the camera records at each stop until we see her getting off.” His stubby finger traced the bus route to the terminal. “The trail will get colder unless we have a stroke of good luck. My gut feeling is she’ll get out at the next metro and go to the airport that way, using cash. So I’ve sent a man to try and get into the airport security room, see if he can talk them into looking for her on the screens.”