I groaned and buried my face under the pillow.
I could have handled the day if she’d been there, but as it was, not having her there made the hammering in my head increase.
Maybe if I laid there a little longer…
I contemplated the idea long enough that I slid back into sleep.
I wasn’t sure for how long.
I woke up again when it was clear I had to piss or risk my bladder exploding.
After a long, staggering trip to the bathroom, I stood with my shoulder against the door jam and my eyes searching the bedroom.
There was no sign of Maya, but that wasn’t a surprise. She was almost obsessively neat. By contrast, I was a total slob.
It was enough to make me smile, because unlike most others, she called me on it, tossing shirts and jeans and even underwear at me when she found it lying wherever I might have dropped it.
Nobody else I’d ever been with would do such a thing. The only person who might call me on being so lazy was Mrs. B—and she was practically a second mother to me, so she didn’t really count.
Groaning, I eased away from the door and waited there, listening a little as I waited for my head to stop spinning. It took a minute, but eventually, the room centered and took focus.
Once it did, I started forward.
The remembered lectures from Maya had me pausing by the bed to straighten to it. Not that I expected I’d turn into a neat freak, but she’d said she’d marry me.
I wanted to show her that it mattered; that I’d try to be a better person.
As I flipped the sheets back, something gold glinted in the light.
I paused, staring down at the bed.
Gold. Small. Round.
My heart jumped into my throat as I reached down.
The room spun again.
But this time, it had nothing to do with the champagne I’d chugged.
It was because of the small object I’d seen.
The small, gold, glittering object—the engagement ring.
Maya’s engagement ring.
“I’m sorry, sir.” Mrs. B twisted her hands as she looked at me. “She’s not here. I’ve checked everywhere twice.”
She took a deep breath and looked away. “I also called your drivers. They haven’t talked to her.”
I nodded at her, still gripping Maya’s ring in my hand as I stared outside.
“What should I do now, sir?”
She hardly ever called me sir. I didn’t know what to tell her. I knew what I needed to do, but I couldn’t speak and I didn’t know to tell Mrs. B, somebody I considered family—sometimes, I thought she might be my only family.
“Call the hospital,” I said finally. “I don’t want Florence knowing that you called. But make sure she didn’t go up there to visit.”
Neither of us mentioned that it was unlikely Maya would have made that two hour drive up to see Florence—after all, she didn’t drive. None of my cars were missing. None of the drivers had seen her.
But I needed to have something. What else was I going to do?
Once Mrs. B was occupied, I went to my office and locked the door. I had to make a phone call and I dreaded it, but what else was I going to do?
Blowing out a breath, I reached for the phone and turned the dial.
It seemed forever before a polite, distant voice came on.
“Yes, hello. I need to speak with the police, please. My…fiancée is missing.”
“Of course, sir. May I ask your address?”
I gave it, feeling like another being had taken my body over.
The phone went silent and I waited, staring outside.
Maya was missing.
She wasn’t anywhere in the house.
She was gone.
“I’ve already answered these damn questions!”
The man across from me, Captain Tom Ridley, lowered his notepad and studied me with big, tired-looking eyes. He smiled at me, although it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
I could see the real thoughts shooting through those tired eyes, and they weren’t too nice. His partner was younger, and his features offered much more concern. He held up a placating hand.
“Mr. Jackson, I know you’re frustrated. I understand, trust me. If my fiancée had disappeared in the middle of the night, I’d be frustrated, too.” He gestured toward his partner, Captain Ridley. “Ridley, here—he’s married, got two daughters. If one of them were to disappear, he’d be just as upset, wouldn’t you, Captain?”
“You bet I would.” He nodded at me, that fake smile still plastered in place.
“But we can’t help if we don’t do our job, and part of our job is asking these questions—and yes, we have to ask them several times over.” Detective Lewis Broad gave me a commiserating look. “You never know what small detail could be missed. So, we go over it until we have everything down. You don’t want to miss any detail that could help find Maya, right?”
I sucked in a breath and looked away. “Right.” Of course, I didn’t want to miss anything that could help lead us to her.
But what else could I tell them?
I asked her to marry me.
We had champagne.
She fell asleep next to me.
When I woke up, she was gone.
She was the only thing missing.
“What was she wearing the last time you saw her?” Broad asked, head bent over the notes he was making. He seemed to take them more diligently than his boss.
Face hot, I looked away. I didn’t like talking about Maya like this. Both of them had given me the side-eye when I told them Maya had been living with me for two months.
“She was wearing a…” I waved a hand in the air. “One of those girlie night things. Negligee. Silk and lace.”
“And you’d just asked her to marry you. She had the engagement ring on when you fell asleep?” Ridley asked, voice pointed. “She said yes? Not ‘we’ll see’, or ‘let me think’, but ‘yes’?”
“Huh. Let me think,” I said sourly, glaring at him. “Yes, damn it. She said yes! She threw her arms around my neck, laughed and kiss me and said yes. It’s kind of hard to forget when the woman you love is excited when you propose.”
Ridley went to fire something back at me—I could see the retort burning in his eyes. Then he stopped, shaking his head.
“Of course. I can still remember when my Beth said yes.” He reached down and picked up the engagement ring I’d showed them, the one I’d found in the bed. “Of course, I couldn’t afford a rock like this. Why would she leave it in bed?”
“She wouldn’t!” Fuck, why were they still asking me questions?
Why weren’t they out there looking for her?
I hadn’t realized I’d said any of that out loud until Broad got to his feet and blocked me as I started to pace. “We’ve already got men out asking questions, Mr. Jackson. We are looking for her, I promise.”
His sincere expression didn’t make me feel any better.
“Why don’t you take a look at her things, see if there are clothes or books, anything like that missing?” He hesitated, then offered, “Maybe she got nervous and decided to take a few days. Have you checked to make sure she didn’t borrow one of your cars?”
“She won’t drive one of my cars.”
But I hadn’t thought to check, and now I felt a little sick.
I’d have to get Mrs. B to check. The drivers hadn’t taken her anywhere, but what if she’d decided to go for a drive? Maybe she had needed to think, to clear her head. Everything had changed for us so fast. If she’d gone for a drive and gotten lost, or the tire had gone flat…
I went to the hall and called for Mrs. B, explaining in a low voice what I needed her to do.
“Sir, I’ve already checked,” she whispered, shaking her head.
The cops were watching us closely. We both ignored them. Moving in closer, I ducked my head. “You checked?”
“Yes. As soon as I realized she wasn’t in the house.” She twisted her apron in
her hands, looking dejected. “I know she isn’t comfortable driving in the city, but I thought maybe she’d changed her mind, or needed time alone. Sometimes I do that—I need to think and be by myself. So I went to the garage. All of the cars and your motorcycles are accounted for, Glenn.”
Her shoulders heaved on a hard breath and I thought she might be fighting the urge to cry.
I rubbed her arm. “Thanks, Mrs. B.”
“She’ll turn up,” she said, offering me a smile.
“Of course, she will.”
I wonder if either of us believed it.
I wasn’t quite ready to say it yet, but I was getting scared.
Twenty-four hours later, I was ready to admit it.
I wasn’t just getting scared.
I was fucking terrified.
Nobody had seen her.
There was a movie mogul who lived across the street who’d dealt with the near-kidnapping of his only daughter, almost ten years ago. It had made him reclusive and paranoid, and his estate—nearly double the size of mine—was protected by a massive wall, with guards who regularly patrolled the perimeter alongside burly dogs.
There was a gatehouse at the entrance, and more than once, as I drove up, I’d hear those idiot dogs baying like somebody was trying breech Fort Knox—instead of me just driving to my own home.
But none of the guards had seen anything last night.
No cars approaching.
The dogs hadn’t gone crazy at the sight of some unknown stranger.
There was nothing new or unexplained to account for Maya’s disappearance.
If she’d left and walked out the front door, then the guard across the road hadn’t seen her, and the dogs hadn’t picked up on her presence, either.
It was almost as if she’d disappeared from our bed. Just…vanished.
Now, as I sat on the couch, listening to the updates from Detective Broad, I nodded, feeling numb inside.
The fact of the matter was, there were no updates.
I was bracing myself for what he had to say. Dreading it to my very core.
“I think we have to consider the possibility that she left, Mr. Jackson. Maybe she just…wasn’t ready to settle down.”
Slowly, I tightened my fist around the ring. I’d searched for nearly two weeks before I’d found the right one. I hadn’t wanted one that was big and gaudy—it needed to be delicate. Elegant, yet fiery and bright. Just like Maya.
Now the diamond glinted at me with cold, cool distance and I wanted to hurl it across the room.
Instead, I squeezed my fist tighter until the edges of the stone cut into my palm.
“She didn’t leave,” I said quietly. “She wouldn’t.”
“Are you certain?” Broad hesitated before pressing on. “How well do you really know her? Where did she come from? What sort of family did she have? Had she ever been married before?”
“Stop.” Over the past two days, I’d tormented myself with those very questions, and the fact that I couldn’t offer any answers was a burning rub. But that didn’t change the fact that I knew Maya—I knew her in my blood, in my heart, in my soul.
She hadn’t just left.
Broad was quiet for so long, I looked up to see if maybe he’d left.
He hadn’t.
But now that our eyes met, I wished I hadn’t looked at him at all.
The damn bastard was too insightful, and I could tell he was all too aware of my doubts.
“Just get the hell out,” I said, voice raw. Jerking my head toward the door, I said it again. “Get the hell out! Don’t come back unless you actually have something worth telling me.”
Eying the yellow, crinkled piece of paper I’d pulled from my pocket, I looked from the address I’d circled to the building in front of me. I’d made some calls, talked to a few people—but none of them seemed to think anything other than what the cops were saying.
She probably left. If the cops aren’t finding anything, that’s probably because there’s just nothing to find, Mr. Jackson.
But one of them had voiced different concerns.
Nobody across the street saw anything. There are no signs of forced entry on your home. No note. No ransom demand. She was just there when you went to sleep, then she…disappeared?
I’d answered yes.
Are you a light sleeper?
The cops hadn’t asked me that. But yeah, I was a light sleeper. I usually heard when she got up, whether it was to slip into the bathroom or go get a drink. It didn’t really wake me, but I was…aware.
I hadn’t been aware of anything the night she disappeared.
I’d relayed that, feeling even more uneasy, still expecting to be shot down, expecting another trite response: Listen to the cops, Mr. Jackson. Let it go.
But instead, the private investigator had surprised me for the second time.
That first time had been when she had answered the phone—she. The number listed belonged to a Randall and Randall—I’d asked to speak to one of the investigators and assumed the woman who answered was a secretary. She’d simply identified herself as Hannah Randall, and proceeded to hammer me with questions.
Now, with an appointment scheduled with both Randalls, I blew out a breath.
Hannah had told me to come in and talk to her and her brother. I asked if they were going to take the case. She’d said come in, then added, I’m not buying that a woman would walk away from a house, that far out of town, in the middle of the night—right after her man proposes.
She said her brother wasn’t so certain, and he’d probably handle most of the investigation—after all, girls weren’t taken seriously, she’d added caustically. But she wanted me to come in and talk to them—no charge.
Hannah Randall was the only one who hadn’t just totally written me off. Although I had to admit, the sleazy looking building in front of me wasn’t filling me with a lot of confidence.
“Fuck. Just go inside,” I muttered to myself.
Grabbing the handle, I twisted it so hard, it almost came off in my hand. Inside, I heard people yelling—two people. A man and a woman.
And the voices were coming from behind the door marked, Randall and Randall.
Great. Just…great.
The faint hope I’d felt since talking to Hannah started to fade away, but that didn’t stop me from pushing the door open. The yelling continued for a brief moment, neither of them taking notice of me right away.
“The girl probably just walked away, Hannah! Why are we wasting time on this? You got any idea how much a big-time movie star can ruin us? We’re just getting on our feet,” the man said, his voice harsh and angry.
“And what if she didn’t walk away? The cops aren’t even really looking.” The ‘girl’ was far from a girl, I had to admit. She was curvy in the best possible way, and probably a couple of years older than me. with a short, bobbed haircut. The strands were curly and dark brown, shot through with threads of a lighter soft gold. Her eyes were a snapping blue, and she glared at her brother, her soft jaw set. As she crossed her arms under a full set of breasts, she lifted her chin, bracing that steel backbone. “We got into this to help people out, remember?”
“Hannah…” He stopped, blowing out a breath. He went to shove a hand through his hair and stopped, finally catching sight of me. As he turned to face me, his face went ruddy with embarrassment.
There was no denying the two of them were related. Their eyes, the color of their hair—they could have been cut from the same cloth. But while she was all soft and feminine curves, he looked like he was a solid, brick wall. He was shorter than me, but broad and stocky, with a jaw that looked like it could—and had—take a hit.
“Mr. Jackson, I assume,” he said after clearing his throat.
“Yes.” I slanted a look at Hannah. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“No, please…interrupt.” She gave her brother a dark look. “Please forgive my brother’s rudeness.”
She came forward, a hand outstr
etched. “Can I get you some coffee?”
“No. I’d like to just…get this done.”
“Of course.” Understanding lit her eyes, and she stepped to the side. “Please come in. Have a seat. I’ve updated Clive on the information I have, but if you could start from the beginning, it would be helpful.”
Angling a glance at Clive, I studied him for a quick moment, debating. He had his hands in his pockets and was making a pointed effort to not look directly at me as he rifled through a file on his desk. “Am I wasting my time?”
“No.” Hannah’s voice was emphatic.
But I didn’t want an answer just from her and Clive seemed to get that. After a few more seconds of a heavy silence, he looked up and met my eyes. “No, Mr. Jackson, you’re not.”
Three
Maya
The internet was proving to be a bust.
People who thought you could find everything online clearly hadn't tried to discover anything about time travel. Legit time travel.
Oh, there were plenty of websites about theories behind it, and I spent more than a few hours trying to figure out if I was just as crazy as some of the so-called time travelers I discovered when trying to research the possibility.
There was one site where the author tried to convince the visitors that he was a traveler from 2143, and he’d to come back to prevent a catastrophic event that would take place in his time if we didn’t ‘fix’ things. But he didn’t elaborate on ‘things’, and the little counter on his site—seriously, who still used those?—showed he’d only had 1163 visitors, including me, since the site went active nearly three years earlier.
I guess humanity was doomed if he was real.
It was a depressing thought, and one that made me start focusing more on the 1960s and Florence, Glenn and whatever else I might glean from research.
Finding information or articles on Florence was easy. She’d had an extensive online presence, had even kept an online blog up until four years ago. The final entry had been from her daughter, letting her fans know that Florence was stepping back from public life to focus on her family and staying healthy, at the advice of her doctors.