No Return (20 page)

Wes thought for a moment. “Have you checked inside his room?”

Alison shook her head. “Just knocked.”

He scooted over, picked up the motel phone, and dialed zero.

“Front desk,” the woman on the other end said.

“Can I speak to the manager, please?”

“That would be me, sir,” she said.

“I need to check on a friend. He’s not answering his phone or his door, and we’re worried he might be sick or something. Could we get you to open his door for us? Just to check.”

“Of course,” she said. “What’s the room number?”

Wes moved the handset away from his mouth. “What’s Tony’s room number?”

“One seventy-eight,” Alison told him.

“One seventy-eight,” Wes repeated into the phone.

“I’ll meet you there.”

THE MANAGER ARRIVED AT TONY’S ROOM ONLY
a few moments after they did, and pulled an electronic keycard out of her pocket. But before she slipped it into the lock, she knocked.

“Motel management.”

No response.

She put the key into the slot, then turned the knob and pushed the door open. “Hello, motel management.”

Wes craned his neck so he could see around her, but the room was dark.

“Hello?” the woman said again.

She flipped on the light switch and took a step into the room, Alison, Anna, and Wes crowding in behind her.

“Tony?” Alison said.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” the manager said.

The bed was made and the room was neat.

“Has housekeeping come in yet?” Wes asked.

“I checked that before I came over,” the woman said. “They haven’t done this room yet.”

Wes could feel a chill in his spine.

“Tony?” Anna called out.

She stepped around the manager and headed toward the bathroom.

“I’m not sure you should be in here,” the woman told her.

“Tony?” Anna said. She disappeared into the bathroom, but stepped back out a moment later. “Not there.”

“Does it look like anything’s missing?” Wes asked.

Anna pointed at the bag sitting by the desk. “His suitcase is still here.”

“His hiking boots, too,” Alison added.

“Wes.” Anna was standing next to the bed, looking down at the nightstand.

Wes moved out from behind the manager. “What is it?”

She reached down and picked something up.

“You shouldn’t touch anything,” the manager chimed. “That’s not your property.”

Anna looked at the object for a moment, then held it out so they could all see.

It was a cellphone.

“Tony’s?” Wes asked.

“Looks like it,” she said. “Hold on.” She fiddled with it for a few seconds, then glanced at Alison. “Try calling him again.”

Alison pulled out her mobile and made the call. There was a delay of three seconds, then the phone in Anna’s hand started ringing.

“Oh, God,” Alison said.

“Doesn’t mean anything,” Wes said. “Just that he went to the bar without it.”

“But he wouldn’t have left it here all day, too. He’s supposed to be on call. Even on the days off.”

She was right. Being a PA for
Close to Home
meant being available 24/7.

“Your friend isn’t here,” the manager said, moving toward the door. “I think we should all leave.”

Wes nodded. “Thanks for letting us check.”

Anna joined them, still holding the phone.

“I think you should leave that here,” the woman said.

“We’ll give it to our friend as soon as we see him,” Wes promised.

The manager didn’t look happy, but she made no further protest as she ushered them out, then closed the door and left.

“This is not good,” Alison said, her eyes darting every few seconds back to Tony’s door. “He wouldn’t have left his phone.”

Anna was looking down at the cell and pushing a series of buttons. “He only made two calls yesterday, and received one. All Dione, so work related.”

Alison let out an exasperated breath. “I’m telling you, something is seriously wrong.”

“Maybe we should call the police,” Anna suggested.

Wes thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.”

The officer who answered the call put Wes through to a familiar voice.

“Detective Stevens.”

“Hello, Detective. It’s Wes Stewart. The man whose motel room was—”

“I know who you are, Mr. Stewart. Did you find something else missing?”

“I’m not calling about the break-in.”

A pause. “Okay. What can I do for you?”

“A colleague of ours, Tony Hall, he’s missing.”

“How long?”

“The last time anyone saw him was around one a.m.”

“So just about twelve hours ago.”

Anna and Alison were both watching Wes, concerned.

“Yes. He hasn’t been back to his room, and he left his—”

“Are there any signs of trouble?” Stevens asked.

“Not exactly, but he left his cellphone behind and he’s supposed to be on call all day.”

Both women nodded in agreement.

“How old is he?”

“I don’t know.” Wes glanced at Alison. “He’s probably about twenty-four.”

“Twenty-three,” Alison said, correcting him.

“Twenty-three,” Wes told the detective.

“Where was he last seen?”

“Delta Sierra.”

“The bar?”

“Yes.”

A pause. “I’ll note that you called,” the detective said. “If he’s still missing tomorrow, call me back, but for now I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s probably just sleeping it off somewhere.”

“But what if something bad
has
happened?”

The line was quiet for a moment. “Have you considered the fact that this friend of yours might be responsible for breaking in to your room?”

“What?”

“It’s a possibility, isn’t it?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“You can call me in the morning if he’s still missing,” Stevens said, then hung up.

Wes held the phone to his ear for a moment longer, surprised at how the conversation had gone. When he lowered it, Alison immediately asked, “What happened?”

“You’re not going to believe this. He suggested that Tony might be responsible for breaking into my room.”

“Are you kidding me?” Alison said.

“That’s ridiculous,” Anna said. “No way it was Tony.”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Wes agreed.

“Are they at least going to look for him?” Anna asked.

Wes shook his head. “The detective said he wouldn’t do anything until the morning.”

“But what if Tony’s in trouble?” Alison blurted out. “Tomorrow might be too late!”

“Unless we have evidence that something’s wrong, I don’t think they’ll do anything yet.”

“What about his cellphone?” she asked incredulously. “That’s evidence!”

“It is,” Anna said, her tone calmer than Alison’s. “But it’s really only evidence that he doesn’t have it with him.”

“So we’re just supposed to sit around and do nothing?” Alison threw her arm out in frustration, but she misjudged her position, and her fingers rapped loudly against Tony’s window.

The noise reverberated through the empty courtyard, silencing all three of them.

Alison’s shoulders dropped. “Sorry.”

“We’re all upset,” Anna said.

Wes hesitated, then said, “It probably won’t do any good, but we could look around for him ourselves.”

Alison’s face brightened. “That’s a great idea.”

As they were exiting the courtyard and heading to the parking lot, Wes’s cell rang.

Alison looked at him as he pulled it out. He knew she was hoping it was Tony, but the name on the display was
DIONE
. He shook his head, and tapped
ACCEPT
.

“Finally,” Dione said. “I’ve been trying to reach you for hours. Your phone was off.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“Did you get the hard drive?”

“No.”

“I was afraid of that.” She paused. “Okay, I’ll get one on my way out of town. Probably means I won’t—”

“We’ve got another problem,” he interrupted her. “Tony’s missing.” He gave her a quick update.

“Jesus, Wes. Maybe I should head up there right now.”

“That’s up to you,” he said. “But I doubt there’s much more you could be doing.”

She let out a frustrated groan. “Call me the second he turns up.”

“Will do.”

He hung up and looked at the other two.

“Let’s go.”

THE MAN CALLED TO REPORT IN, BUT AFTER FOUR
rings he was sent to voicemail. He hung up before the beep.

No messages. Nothing recorded. If the call was not picked up, he was to try again later.

Great
, he thought. The one time he needed to have an immediate conversation, and there was no answer.

Minutes earlier the target and two women—one identified as the target’s girlfriend, the other a coworker—had come out of the motel and walked over to their SUV.

It looked for a moment as if they were all going to get in, then the target had said something, and mounted the motorcycle while the women got into the Escape. When the vehicles left, the SUV headed north and the motorcycle south.

The question was, should the man follow the motorcycle, the SUV, or just stay where he was?

“Dammit,” he said.

He contemplated his choices for half a second, then started the car.

If it was the wrong decision, he’d hear about it later. But he knew he had to do something.

When in doubt, he thought, keep the target in sight.

WES HOPPED ON THE TRIUMPH, NOT WORRYING
about any potential ticket. With two vehicles they could cover a lot more ground. He’d braced himself for an objection from Anna, but she hadn’t said a word.

They agreed to check in with each other every fifteen minutes, then took off in opposite directions.

Where the hell are you, Tony?

He stopped at bars and restaurants, and cruised around fast-food places, looking through the windows for the show’s missing crew member. But so far, nothing. The periodic check-ins with Anna revealed that she and Alison were faring no better.

Wanting to make sure they covered everything, Wes headed over to Burroughs High. The school was within the Ridgecrest city limits, but was tucked up against the base, with a chain-link fence separating it from Navy property.

The last house Wes and his family had lived in before relocating into town had been in a housing tract known as the B K-parts on the other side of the base fence. Now where there had once been lawns and homes, there was only desert and asphalt streets leading nowhere.

He tried to remember exactly where his house had stood, but even the trees that had been planted throughout the neighborhood were gone. He visualized the walk he used to take home every day, watching his imaginary self make the journey again.
There
, he thought after a few moments.
Right there
.

Maybe
.

The truth was, without any definitive markers he was only able to approximate its location. He felt hollow, like a part of his life had never existed.

He turned his attention to the still-standing school.

There were only two cars in the faculty parking lot, a Honda Accord and an old Dodge pickup. Both had faculty stickers in their windows, the pickup also sporting a Burroughs Burros booster bumper sticker on the tailgate.