Today, she couldn’t seem to care less. All she could think about was Sal and his men attacking Joe. What if there were a dozen men?
Damn, she needed a distraction. She looked at her watch again—it was almost two—and decided it was time to call Sunny. She should have been here by now. Or at least called or texted. Mae went to her desk and fished her cell phone from her bag. She punched in Sunny’s number but it went straight to voicemail. She tried again. Then she tried her house number. No answer. After three rings, it went to her answering machine. Mae left a message.
If her nerves weren’t already shot from all the Sal the Snake intrigue, they’d be frayed now with worry over her friend. It was no surprise that she let out a yelp when her cell phone rang.
“Ms. Monday, this is Lou from the Hyatt. We’re working with Sunny Seaver on an event and, well, we’re concerned.” Mae’s gut churned.
“How did you get my number?”
“Ms. Seaver put you as her emergency contact in our contract. We’ve included the provision for instances such as this.”
“What do you mean,instances such as this?” She kept her voice calm, but she sat on the edge of her desk and closed her eyes to the dizziness and nausea.Don’t panic. Stay calm.
“We had a meeting at ten this morning. And you know Sunny—she’s always prompt and communicative when something comes up on those rare occasions where she’ll be late or needs to reschedule. We’ve called both her cell and home phones dozens of times to no avail. We were wondering if you knew her whereabouts or where else we could check?”
“No.” She whispered the word. “I-I’ll have someone check her house though,” she said, louder. “I’ll get back to you. She’s probably caught up somewhere and her phone died.” Mae infused whatever hopeful notes she could into her voice. But somehow she felt responsible, like this had something to do with her problem with Salvatore Vito. Lou thanked her and she switched gears.
Standing, she punched in Joe’s number and went to the window of her office where she could see the studio gate in the distance. Joe answered on the first ring.
“What is it?”
“Sunny. She’s not here.”
“Explain.”
“I called her yesterday and we made a luncheon date today—don’t worry, we’d planned to eat here at the studio. She had a business meeting in LA this morning and planned to come over afterward.” Mae took a deep breath to slow her heart beat and schooled her voice to tell just the facts, as if she were Joe Friday or, better yet, Joe Temple. “Lou from the Hyatt—her business meeting from this morning—just called and told me she never showed. Neither of us can get hold of her.”
“This is your friend in San Diego? How well known is your friendship? Do you post photos in social media together?”
“Yes—”
“Mae, I’m afraid Sal might have found another way to get to you. I’m going to go to her house now and check on her. What’s the address?”
Everything in Mae felt frozen, but miraculously her mouth still worked well enough to give Joe Sunny’s address.
“Joe, I want to come with you.”
“Not happening. You stay put. Do not leave that studio lot.”
“Maybe we should call Detective Harvey.”
“Not yet. There are millions of possible reasons why Sunny is late. We’ll wait until I check her house. I’ll call you when I get there.”
* * *
If Mae’shunch was right, and he suspected it was, then Joe wouldn’t need to return to Mae’s house to wait for Sal and his men. He drove down the street where Sunny lived and saw the house. It was quiet. The whole neighborhood was quiet. He slipped in the back door with no trouble bypassing the alarm. The instant he stepped into the kitchen he knew that Sal and his men had been here. There’d been a disturbance in the kitchen: drawers open, knives out, kitchen chair in the middle of the room with duct tape still stuck on the legs and back. Joe moved through the room quietly and opened the door to the garage. Sunny’s car was still there. Not good signs.
If they questioned Sunny they’d know she was meeting Mae at the studio and they’d be able to use Sunny to get on the lot.
Damn. Joe had no idea how far behind Sal and his men he was, but he needed to get back to the studio as fast as his car could take him. Even if he had to outrun the police the entire way.
Sal had Sunny as hostage and he was planning to get what he wanted from Mae.
He thought of calling Detective Harvey, but he wasn’t sure if he could trust the man to use appropriate caution with one and maybe two women hostages, wasn’t sure if the man’s zealousness to nab a collar would influence his judgment and endanger the women. Endanger Mae.
Retrieving his phone as he punched the accelerator of the sports car and maneuvered to the left lane, he called Mae.
She answered before the first ring finished.