Found Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #14): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel (6 page)

“So he’s not coming in after all?”

“I’m not giving up so quickly,” Lily answered.

Mack, who had been standing back while she comforted her sister made a rough sound. “Oh please. He’s a menace.”

“I don’t want to just give up on him,” she repeated. “I’d like to try again after using a tranquilizer. If I can convince him he’s not in hell . . .”

“Yeah, and you have to wonder why he thought he should go there. I mean what did he do in life that was so bad?”

“It could have been something very minor—if he belonged to a strict religious sect. Or his parents could have drummed the concept of sin into him.”

Mack made a snorting sound. He looked like he wanted to argue. Instead, he pressed his lips together.

“He was scary,” Shelly said.

“I would never let him hurt you,” Lily said, then looked at Anna. “Why don’t you take Shelly down to the ice cream parlor?”

When Art had designed the Mirador, he had copied a hotel he had visited in India. The luxury location had been a nice starting point, but since the patients had arrived, they and Lily had made suggestions for additions to improve the environs where they were confined.

The Ice Cream Shop was one of Lily’s suggestions.

“Can you come, too?” Shelly asked, a pleading tone in her voice. “I thought I was gonna get to hang out with you when I heard you were coming to the hotel.”

Lily debated. There was nothing she could do for Corker at the moment, and maybe spending a little time with her sister after the traumatic incident was a good idea.

She glanced at Mack. “We can take a few minutes, I think.”

“Okay.”

The whole group headed to the other side of the lobby, then out onto one of the covered colonnades that were a feature of the hotel architecture. In the heat of the actual Indian environment they would have provided needed shade. At the Mirador they were purely decorative.

The adults strolled along. Shelly skipped beside them, obviously feeling a lot better than when she’d come into the arrival room.

As they drew near the ice cream parlor, Shelly reached for Lily’s hand.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?” she asked.

Lily looked down at the little girl. “Of course not.”

“But I wasn’t supposed to go into that room.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

They reached the Ice Cream Shop, which was patterned after pictures Lily has seen in an old magazine from the fifties. It had chairs with bent-wire backs, round tables with marble tops, and a black and white patterned floor. White lattice panels decorated the walls.

A young man behind the counter snapped to attention as they came in. He was another one of the staff who had been added to the program.

“Help you?” he asked.

“What flavors do you have?” Paula asked.

“This week we have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate chip . . .”

“Do you have the mocha almond I asked for?” Paula interrupted.

“Yes.”

Shelly got her usual—chocolate chip with various toppings. Paula got her request. Lily chose strawberry, and Mack asked for his usual chocolate. It amused Lily to note that Anna copied Shelly’s choice. Although the simulacrum couldn’t taste the treat, she did a nice job of appearing to enjoy herself.

Recovered from her earlier shock, Shelly chattered about the fun things she’d been doing. Although Lily tried to relax, she was having trouble concentrating. She was still thinking about Corker and what she could do to help him.

Was his brain too damaged to function here? Was there some way to ease him into the environment? Could she arrange therapy sessions for him? And why, exactly, did he think he’d ended up in hell? She’d studied his background and thought he was okay, but perhaps he’d done some clandestine things that made him dangerous to the other patients here.

Everybody was down to the last quarter of their ice cream when Lily’s phone vibrated.

She saw from the screen that the call was from Terry Montrose.

Excusing herself, she stepped into the colonnade.

As soon as she clicked the phone button, Terry’s voice came through low and urgent.

“Lily, I’m afraid we’ve got a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.

“Jenny Seville is missing.”

“What? Did I hear that right?”

Mack had come out and was standing close enough to Lily to hear Terry say, “Jenny Seville isn’t in her bed.”

“That’s impossible.”

“She’s not there.”

“We’ll be right over.” Lily darted back into the ice cream parlor, stopping short when she saw the alarm on Shelly’s face.

“Something bad happened,” the little girl said.

“Nothing to do with you. It’s about the place where I work. I have to go back now, but you can finish your ice cream with Anna and Paula.”

“When will you be back?”

“I’m not sure, but soon.”

Mack was waiting for her outside, and they hurried back to the main part of the hotel. On the way, she called Terry. “Bring Corker back to his bed. We’ll come through the dedicated interface.”

Upstairs in her bedroom, she stepped into the portal that they could use as a passage between the VR and the lab.

Moments after setting the controls, she was back in her bed and sitting up.

And Mack wasn’t far behind her.

The moment Lily came back to her body, she felt a throbbing headache.

Ignoring it, she detached the medical gear and lowered herself to the floor. Mack did the same.

“Where have you looked?” she asked Terry, who was standing beside her bed, his expression apologetic.

“I . . . I was afraid to leave the other patients. Grant is searching the building.”

“Okay.” She wanted to rail at the man, but she didn’t see any point in blaming this on him. All of them had been focused on Corker. And none of them had been paying any attention to Jenny or the other patients.

But now that Lily reflected on it, she realized the young woman had been behaving oddly for some time. Lily had noted she was close to waking up, and she’d assumed the young woman was afraid to rejoin the real world. Apparently it was just the opposite. She’d been planning to rejoin the world—on her own terms.

And the crisis with Corker had given her the perfect opportunity.

“I’m so sorry,” Terry said.

“We all are,” Lily answered before she and Mack headed for the locker room to get dressed. When she stepped inside, she stopped short.

“What?” Mack asked.

“My clothes are missing.”

“Jesus.”

“She must have taken them. I think we can be sure she was planning this for a while.” She went to the supply shelves and took down a pair of scrub pants and a shirt, which she pulled on. When she opened her locker, she got another shock.

Mack was in the process of pulling on his shirt when he heard her gasp.

“What?”

“My purse is missing.”

“Christ.”

Grant strode into the dressing room but stopped when he saw that Lily was still securing the waistband of the pants. “Sorry.”

“I’m decent,” she answered. “Did you search the building?”

He looked sick when he said, “She’s definitely gone. And your car is missing.” He muttered a curse. “And so is a gun from the security desk out front.”

The three of them looked at each other.

Grant made an angry sound. “I knew she was worried about something.”

“All along it seemed like she was hiding out in the VR,” Mack said. “When we all woke up there the first time, she didn’t even want to tell us her name.”

“Yeah,” Grant muttered. “She was using the VR for a bolt-hole. Then she must have decided it wasn’t safe to stay. I guess that’s why she wanted all that self-defense training.” He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I wanted to help her, dammit. But I just couldn’t get her to open up.”

“This isn’t your fault. She obviously had her own agenda.”

“I should have made her come clean with me.” His face hardened. “When I find her I’m going to . . .” He let the end of the sentence dangle because too many emotions were raging inside him. Really, he didn’t know what he was going to do. All he knew was that he was angry with himself for trusting her. Angry with himself for being half in love with her. And angry about what she had just done.

“I guess we’d better assume she had her reasons. I mean, I think it was an act of desperation,” Mack said, obviously trying to take Grant’s anger down a notch.

He answered with a tight nod.

Switching to the immediate problem, Grant added, “She might have taken the car, but let’s assume she’s in no shape to drive far, and she’s smart enough to realize it. We’re right on a major north-south route, with plenty of motels. I’m betting she’s in one of them.”

“She could take any side street,” Grant said.

“She could,” Mack acknowledged. “But she doesn’t know the area. And she can’t be feeling great. I remember how I functioned when I came out of the VR for the first time after being in there for a month. I’m guessing she’s only going far enough to think she’s safe before getting a room.”

Grant sighed. “Okay, you go south, and I can go north.” He turned to Lily, a stark expression on his face. “How much money was in your wallet?”

“She left my money and took Mack’s”

Grant turned to his brother. “How much?”

“I’m not sure. Around two hundred dollars. Why?”

“I’m trying to judge what kind of room she’d get.”

“You think she’s savvy enough not to use Lily’s credit cards?” Mack shot back.

Grant shrugged. “I suppose it depends on how many thriller novels she’s read.”

Mack made an impatient gesture. “Okay we’re wasting time. We’d better get the show on the road. We’ll keep in touch, so each of us knows what the other is doing.”

When he said, “keep in touch,” he wasn’t talking about using their cell phones. He was referring to the ability he had with his twin brother to communicate mentally. They’d had it as boys, lost it as teens, and gotten it back when Mack was in the VR and Grant was in the real world searching for him.

“And I’ll call Frank,” Lily said, looking miserable about having to report the screwup.

             
oOo

Mack started for the door, then stopped and cursed.

“What?” Grant asked.

“Lily and I came in the same car.”

“You can use mine,” Terry said from the main room. “It’s my fault she’s gone,” he added, sounding like a guy on his way to the electric chair. “I should have checked the patients periodically.”

“No,” Grant corrected. “Both of us were watching the action on the screen. She knew it, and she took advantage of the situation. And when Corker went batshit, that gave her even more time to slip away without our noticing.”

“And I should have gotten an extra staffer in here,” Lily added. “But who would have thought Jenny was looking for an opportunity to bolt?” She spread her hands. “There’s no point in our beating ourselves up for what we should have done.”

Grant answered with a nod, but he was already thinking about current strategy. “Probably there’s no point in stopping at the first few motels,” he said as he and his brother headed for the door.

“But I guess we have to do it anyway, in case she suddenly realized she would be a fool to drive far. Or she stayed close like a double fake out,” Mack countered.

In the parking lot, they headed for separate cars. As soon as Grant was inside, he sent a message to his brother.
Can you hear me?

The answer came back almost at once,
Yeah.

When they’d first rediscovered the ability to talk mind to mind, they had only been able to communicate over short distances. But they had been practicing the skill, and now they had a range of several miles. Too bad they hadn’t checked the limit of their power. But there had been no need for long-distance communication until now.

Grant pulled out of the parking lot first and turned right. Mack was behind him and turned left.

He had tried to keep his attention focused on the immediate task. Now that he was alone, it was impossible to hold his emotions at bay.

He hated to admit that he’d been falling in love with Jenny Seville. He’d thought her feelings were similar. Otherwise why would she have finally gone to bed with him after all these months? But was he attributing too much to a few hours in a cabana by the pool at the Mirador Hotel?

Afterwards she’d reverted to her closed-up self. Because she didn’t trust him? Because she was afraid to get involved with him? Or because she thought she was a danger to him and everyone in the VR?

He sighed. Without more input from her, it had been impossible to figure out why she wouldn’t level with him. And now what was he going to do when he found her. Hug her in relief that he’d caught up with her or try and shake the truth out of her?

Maybe it would be better if Mack was the one who located her. That might give Grant time to cool off.

Up ahead was a medium-priced national chain. He slowed and pulled into the parking lot, then stopped under the covered entrance and sat for a minute. They’d rushed out of the Decorah facility so fast that he hadn’t thought about his approach.

At that moment, Mack contacted him, and he was glad of the distraction.

I’m coming up on a Holiday Inn express. How are we going to work this?”

Well, I was thinking I’d ask if Lily Wardman had registered, since that’s the ID she has, and she probably looks enough like Lily to get away with it.

The hair color’s wrong.

Women change their hair color all the time.

True. If they don’t have Lily Wardman registered, we can describe her.

And why are we looking for her?
Mack asked.

Grant thought about it. The reason had to be urgent, but he didn’t want to say Jenny was a fugitive from the law—or an escaped mental patient.
How about, she has a serious medical condition and needs to report back to the hospital.

What hospital?

The Decorah In-Patient Treatment Center. If they need confirmation they can call Lily.

Okay,
Mack agreed.
I’ll phone Lily and tell her she might be getting calls from desk clerks wanting to make sure they’re not talking to an abusive husband.

With the procedure worked out, Grant went into the motel and strode purposefully toward the desk.

A short, dark-haired man standing behind the desk looked up. His plastic name tag said Chuck. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so. I’m looking for a woman who might have come here during the past . . .” He stopped and looked at his watch. “Past hour and a half.”

It was hard to believe that so much had happened in such a short time, but there it was. Introducing Jonas Corker into the VR had looked like a catastrophe. It had been a snap to contain, compared to this.

When the clerk waited for Grant to go on, he said, “She was a patient in a hospital facility, and she has a life-threatening condition.”

“Then why did she leave?” Chuck asked.

Grant kept his gaze steady. “She didn’t want to acknowledge the seriousness of her illness.”

“Which is what?”

“That’s confidential medical information. But I can say that time is of the essence. Could you check to see if she’s registered?”

“I’d want some confirmation from her doctor,” the clerk said.

Grant dragged in a breath, realizing that he had a problem he hadn’t even thought about. “She took her doctor’s identification.”

“Oh yeah?”

“When you call the hospital, Dr. Wardman will answer. She’s standing by.”

The guy gave Grant a long look, like he was trying to decide if all this was for real. When he shook his head, Grant was sure he was going to tell him to get the hell out. Instead he dialed the Decorah facility, and Grant could tell he was talking to Lily.

She must have answered and made the case sound urgent because the man hung up and turned to his computer. After checking his records, he shook his head again. “Not here under that name.”

Still, Grant pressed on. He gave a description, including that the patient would probably have looked sick and shaky.

“No. I’ve been on duty for the past three hours, and I haven’t seen anyone like you’re talking about.”

“Okay.”

Chuck hesitated for a moment before asking, “Are you looking for her because she has a mental problem.”

“No.”

“She’s physically sick?”

“She was in a coma until recently,” Grant answered evenly before turning on his heel. As soon as he’d said it, he wished he’d thought of a different answer, because that was a clue someone else could follow.

Back in the car, he dialed Lily.

“Was she there?” his sister-in-law asked anxiously

“No. This is the first place I tried. But we’ve got a screwy problem. The clerk wanted to call the hospital to confirm that a patient with a medical problem had left.

“And I did.”

“But she took your ID.”