“Red stockings?” Rogue asked.
Janey shook her head. “Black. Net.”
Rogue pursed her lips in a soundless whistle. “Oh man. Things are definitely going to get interesting tonight.”
SEVEN
When Alex arrived at the apartment, it was empty. He used his key to slip in. The place was as silent as a tomb. On the landing outside, the cat meowed plaintively but wouldn’t come in.
Alex set the food bowl on the balcony, locked the apartment back up, then rushed to the office. He slipped in there. Checked the restaurant. It was still and silent. No sign anyone was there or had been there.
Moving back outside, he jerked his cell phone from his hip and punched the sheriff’s number.
“Yeah?” Zeke answered quickly.
“Janey’s missing.”
There was silence for all of two seconds before Zeke let out a virulent curse. “You called the Mackays yet?”
“That’s my next call. There’s no sign of struggle or trouble, but her car’s still parked outside the office and her cat was waiting on her. Does she have any friends?”
“Not that I’ve heard of,” Zeke bit out. “Call the Mackays. I’ll get an APB out on her. Shit. Dammit all to hell.”
The call disconnected. Alex punched in Dawg’s number. He didn’t want to deal with Natches yet.
“What’s up?” Dawg answered, his voice a slow, easy drawl that almost had Alex wincing. He knew what that sound meant.
“Janey’s gone.”
There was silence. “What do you mean, gone?” Dawg’s voice wasn’t lazy anymore.
“I mean I just checked the apartment and the restaurant. Her car is still here and she isn’t,” Alex snapped, fury burning in his gut. “Get your asses in gear.”
He disconnected as he ran for his truck. God, where was she?
She didn’t have friends. He’d watched her in the past week; other than a few business calls, she didn’t chitchat on the phone. No one visited. She worked, she ate, slept, went to bed. She didn’t socialize and she didn’t just disappear.
Pulling out of the driveway, he called her restaurant manager, Hoyt Napier. The son of a deceased vet, Hoyt was quiet, steady. But he hadn’t seen Janey since work the night before.
Where the hell could she be? He pulled to a stop at the intersection to the main highway, his hands gripping the steering wheel, his teeth clenched.
The ring of the cell phone had him flipping it open quickly at the sight of Dawg’s number on the display.
“Did you find her?”
“Are you f**king insane?” Dawg growled. “It’s been three f**king minutes. Uncle Ray and Rowdy are heading around the lake to look for her. Natches is already in the parking lot gunning that f**king cycle of his. Someone tell him it’s cold. I’m about halfway down the dock still trying to pull my f**king boots on, goddammit.”
“And you’re wasting my time why?” Alex pulled into the traffic, his gaze canvassing the sides of the busy streets as he began weaving through the traffic.
“Because Natches is losing his f**king mind, maybe? Chaya and Crista are heading to Kelly’s car with her. Dammit all to f**king hell. They won’t stay home.”
“Dawg, I’m not chitchatting with you, dammit,” Alex yelled. “Tell me where to look for her. Son of a bitch, where would she have gone?”
He could feel it building in him now. Fear. Complete, unadulterated fear. He should have known better.
He should have stayed on her ass twenty-four-seven. He knew better than to let her out of his sight.
“One nutcase at a time, Alex,” Dawg growled. “I already have Natches freaking out here. Don’t join the party.”
“Get f**ked!”
“Not by you, ass**le,” Dawg assured him. “Now, listen up. Janey wouldn’t have gone anywhere with anyone easy. She’d have left something. Anything.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Alex yelled.
He was losing it. He could feel himself losing control. He hadn’t lost control since he was sixteen years old and nearly f**king killed his father when he came home from school to find Crista running a 104
degree fever and dehydrated.
“Okay. She didn’t leave anything,” Dawg agreed. “We all said someone’s just trying to scare her. She could have left on her own. Fuck, she’s a Mackay, man, whether you or Natches, either one, wants to admit it. And she’s a woman to boot. Expect the unexpected.”
“She would have left a note.”
Dawg snorted, but Alex heard the slam of his truck door and the squeal of tires.
“Janey hasn’t had to leave anyone a note in her life,” Dawg snarled. “Now, use your damned head. If Janey didn’t leave a light on, she’s safe.”
“How the f**k do you know?”
“Because, that was our agreement with her when she moved out from Natches’s boat. She has rules to live by, Alex. Didn’t she tell you?”
“She would have to talk to me first.” When he found her, he swore, he was going to make her understand his f**king rule.
“Okay, here are the rules. If she’s forced from the office or from the apartment, she’ll leave a light on.
Otherwise, all off. Were they off?”
“They were all off. Completely. Not even the porch light was left on.”
“So ninety percent chance she left on her own.”
“Her car is there,” Alex argued. “She didn’t go on foot.”
“And that’s why we’re all out running the roads like f**king jackasses right now,” Dawg retorted furiously. “You sure she didn’t have a date?”
“No. Fucking. Date.” The thought of it had red edging at the sides of his vision.
Janey, on a date? With another man? He’d have killed the son of a bitch.
Fuck. Fuck. What the hell was he doing here? What was he thinking?
“Check the movie theater. Bookstores,” Dawg ordered. “Grocery store. She likes to cook. Crista said she hasn’t been cooking while you were there. She might have decided to. She likes to browse the mall.
She could have taken a cab. Janey doesn’t like driving if she knows she’s going to be stopping somewhere to eat. She likes a glass of wine with her meal and won’t risk driving. She takes cabs a lot.”