“Boston Uncommon, Angie speaking.”
“Hi, Angie. It’s Drake. Is Bliss there?”
“No. I was about to call you. She took off like a bat out of hell when the fire trucks drove by earlier and hasn’t come back yet. It’s busy and we need her.”
“She left you in the lurch? That doesn’t sound like the Bliss I know.”
“You don’t think something has happened to her, do you?”
Drake didn’t know what to say. Should he reassure Angie when he was almost positive something was drastically wrong? Hell.
“I’m going out to look for her. When I find her, I’ll call you and let you know what’s up.”
“Call Anthony. He’s worried about her too. Really worried.”
“Can you put Anthony on the phone?”
“Sure. Give me a minute.”
Drake paced as he listened to the sounds of a noisy bar. A few anxious moments passed before he heard Anthony’s voice.
“Drake. What’s going on?”
“Apparently Bliss is missing. Angie said she ran out during the fire, and I can’t get in touch with her.”
“That much I know. You didn’t see her at the scene, did you?”
“No, but she could have been there. I was focused on the job and didn’t pay much attention to the crowd.”
Anthony hesitated but eventually said, “I followed her scent as far as I could. The smoke may have thrown me off, but on Branch Street her scent just—disappeared. Do you think Zina may have something to do with it?”
Drake swore. “I didn’t want to even entertain the idea, but yeah. It’s quite possible. If she’s the one who set the fire, she may have been nearby.”
Anthony sighed. “I’m sorry, Drake. I said I’d be responsible for her and I feel terrible. I was in my office and didn’t know she was missing for quite a while. I think the staff was covering for her.”
“Don’t blame yourself. Neither of us would have expected she’d run off in the middle of her shift.”
“That’s not much comfort, is it?”
Drake dropped onto his cot. “No. It isn’t.” After a short silence, he said, “I’ve gotta go.”
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“I will, if I think of something. I don’t even know if there’s anything I can do.”
Suddenly Drake had an idea. It might backfire, but it was all he had.
“Talk to you later, Anthony.” He hung up and tucked his cell phone into his pocket. Then he ran downstairs to the street and yelled, “Taxi!”
Chapter 13
Bliss was tied up and gagged. If she weren’t so scared, she’d be amused that the woman seemed more intent on gagging her than tying her to a chair. Bliss’s mouth had always been her best weapon, and yet she hadn’t even taunted the bitch. I could have… Oh, I could have.
Thank goodness she’d thought better of it. All she’d done was try to reason with the woman. Apparently reason didn’t appeal to psychos. Now that Bliss was forced to sit and think, she should have been planning a way to get out of this. Instead she was furious and chiding herself for getting into this predicament at all.
Why did she care if the bank burned? She had her designs on her computer and could have simply created another CD. But for some damn reason, worrying about an arsonist—and knowing all her designs could be lost again if anything happened to her laptop—had her seeing things a little cockeyed.
If I get out of this alive, I swear I’ll make dozens of CDs and mail one to each person I know before Monday’s presentation.
The she-dragon had flown them all around the city before landing in a deserted park. That’s where she found a dirty, disgusting sock and shoved it into Bliss’s mouth. A nasty sweater lay nearby, and the dragon had used that to tie Bliss’s hands and blindfold her. Probably a couple of kids were canoodling in the park and something scared them off before they could grab all of their clothes. Maybe they saw a dragon swooping down on them.
And if they were drinking, they’ll probably never touch alcohol again.
Bliss glanced around the room, trying to figure out where she was. It looked like some kind of warehouse. How clichéd. A forklift and numerous boxes were clearly visible from her vantage point. High windows wouldn’t aid her escape.
She twisted her torso, trying to see what was behind her, but boxes obscured her view of the door. The woman with the long dreadlocks walked out from behind a pile of boxes, zipping up her leather pants.
She halted and stared at Bliss. “What? You didn’t think dragons had to go potty once in a while?”