by Amy M. Reade
Chapter 13
Not only was Harry at work the next day, but he was there early and he brought coffee for Lilly.
“Any word on Alice?” she asked as soon as she saw him.
“Nothing.”
“You look better today.” She took a sip of her coffee.
“I managed to get some sleep last night,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to sleep again, but my body and brain must have been exhausted.”
“I talked to Bill last night and he didn’t know anything about the search for Alice. He was going to try to get some information for you today.”
“Thanks, Lilly. I’ve thought so hard about where she could have gone, but I can’t come up with anything. She doesn’t go out very much. I phoned a few of her friends last night when I got home, but none of them have seen or heard from her, either.”
“She’ll turn up, Harry. Think positive thoughts.”
He nodded absently.
Easy for you to say, Lil, she thought. It’s common knowledge that the longer a person is missing, the worse the outcome is likely to be. And she’s been gone now for over twenty-four hours. Lilly didn’t voice her concerns to Harry. He watched the news. He knew the statistics as well as she did.
But Lilly’s own mother had gone missing just a day ago. True, Lilly didn’t find out about it until her mother had already been found, but how would she have reacted if the missing person were her mother?
Suddenly things looked a little different. But Lilly couldn’t help thinking that there was something more sinister about Alice’s disappearance.
About an hour before closing, Bill called Lilly’s cell phone.
“I talked to the officers in charge of Alice’s case,” he said. “There was nothing they could tell me yet. They’re waiting on phone records and a callback from the manager of Treetops to confirm that Harry was at the restaurant waiting for Alice to show up on Valentine’s Day.”
Lilly sighed. “I was hoping they had found some other information.”
“These cases usually move quickly once there’s a solid lead and once they’ve started eliminating suspects,” Bill said. “They just need one tip to start making progress. It’ll happen. Tell Harry they’re working on it.”
“I will.”
“One interesting thing has come up,” Bill noted. “Another young woman went missing the same night as Alice. Same age. Works in Lupine as a stripper. The officers in charge are looking into it to see if the two are somehow related.”
“That sounds ominous,” Lilly said. Lupine was a town not far from Juniper Junction and was known for its nightlife. “Two women go missing on the same night from adjoining towns. That can’t be good. The big difference, obviously, is that Alice is a student and the other woman is a stripper. Not exactly running in the same circles, I would think.”
“I agree, but don’t tell Harry about the other disappearance right now, okay? He doesn’t need to know about it until we have more information.”
“Got it.”
When Lilly hung up she told Harry that Bill hadn’t been able to gather any additional information for him about Alice. He leaned on the glass jewelry display case and put his head in his hands.
“I was hoping he could get some inside information.” His voice was thick with emotion.
“Me, too. But don’t lose hope. He said that all they need is one good lead and things will start falling into place. It only takes one lead, Harry. They’re good at what they do.”
“Do you think someone has her?” Harry asked, looking up. His eyes were strained and he took a shaky breath.
It was the first time anyone had mentioned the possibility aloud. Really, there were only two possibilities: either Alice had disappeared on her own or she disappeared at the hands of someone else. Lilly hoped it was the former, since Alice would probably be in less danger that way.
But she had to admit that Alice wasn’t the type to go running off without telling anyone.
It was looking more and more likely that someone else was involved.
“I hope not, Harry,” she finally said.
That night Lilly stopped at her mom’s house on her way home from work to do a quick round of housework. Then she went home to have dinner with Laurel.
“How was school?” she asked as they sat down at the table.
“Awful.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw Nick three times.” Tears started trickling down Laurel’s cheeks. “He wouldn’t even look at me.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” was all Lilly could say. Alice’s disappearance weighed heavily on her mind and she needed to think about something else for a while.
“Want to go to a movie?” she suggested.
“Not really,” Laurel said. She was staring into space with a look of utter dejection on her face. She hadn’t touched her dinner.
“How about bowling?”
“Nah. The shoes make me look stupid.”
“But that’s part of the fun!”
Laurel rolled her eyes.
“How about making cupcakes?”
“Just what I need. Cupcakes. So that I get fat and no one will ever ask me out again.”
“Of course boys will ask you out again,” Lilly said. Laurel was a vivacious girl—usually—with a generous heart and a friendly smile. She was pretty, too. Lilly could see the obvious, that this was only a temporary situation, but she knew it was much harder for Laurel to see the big picture from the pit of the funk she was in.
“Want to watch television? Your choice,” Lilly said.
Laurel sighed and pushed herself to her feet with an effort.
“All right. I’ll see what’s on.” She trudged off to the living room with Barney in tow.
A few minutes later she was settled on the sofa with Barney’s head on her lap. When Lilly peeked into the living room to see if she had found something to watch, she was pleased to see Laurel smiling at something on the screen.
“Popcorn?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Lilly made a bowl of popcorn and joined Laurel in the living room.
The show was dumb, but funny. It was the type of slapstick comedy that can elicit laughs even from the grumpiest grump. It was just what the doctor ordered for Laurel’s mood.
They had watched several minutes of the show when the phone rang. It was Bill.
Lilly left Laurel laughing on the sofa, stroking Barney’s head, and took the call in the kitchen.
“I hope you’re calling with good news about Alice and not bad news about Mom,” she said.
“Neither, actually. I wanted to ask you a few more questions about Alice. Right now two guys are on their way to Harry’s house to question him again and I just wanted to get some information from you.”
“Is he in trouble?”
“They just have some more questions for him,” Bill said.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t know if he’s in trouble, to tell you the truth. I’m not able to keep up with every detail of the investigation. I’ve got a vandalism spree to investigate myself.”
“More trouble with brick throwers?”
“Nah. Someone stole all the twinkly lights hanging over a couple shops by the town square last night.”
Lilly shook her head. “Okay, so what do you want to know? I’ve only met Alice a few times, so I don’t know how helpful I can be.”
“Do you know what she studies at the community college?”
Lilly thought for a moment. “I think she majors in social work.”
“Do you know how she met Harry?”
“I think they met at the coffee shop where Harry picks up his coffee every morning. It’s an expensive place, so I never go in there. Good coffee, though.”
“Did it ever occur to you that the coffee shop Harry goes to might be too expensive for a student?” Bill asked.
“No. It’s none of my business how Alice spends her money,” Lilly said in an exasperated voic
e. “Bill, these questions make no sense. What are you getting at?”
“We think Alice is the stripper who went missing from Lupine.”
Chapter 14
Lilly was too surprised to say anything for a moment, but finally she found her voice.
“That can’t be right, Bill.”
“Unfortunately, I think it is. It’s taken a little time to figure it out because the stripper’s name is Cotton Candy and she wears contacts and a black wig.”
“And Alice wears glasses and has blond hair,” Lilly said.
“I know. But it makes sense that someone named ‘Alice’ would change her name in a gentlemen’s lounge, doesn’t it? I mean, ‘Alice’ isn’t exactly a common stripper’s name.”
“I just can’t believe this. She’s so sweet and unassuming,” Lilly said. Then she had a horrifying thought. She gasped.
“Do you suppose Harry knows about this?”
“He will very soon if he doesn’t already,” Bill replied.
“Should I call him?”
“I would wait. I don’t know what or when the guys are going to tell him. And don’t forget, it’s possible that he knows about her, um, job.”
“I can’t imagine he knows,” Lilly said, her voice heavy with skepticism.
“Listen, take it from me. You wouldn’t believe the secrets some people keep. Being on the force has a way of opening your eyes to all kinds of things that people do that would shock anyone else.”
“But Harry is so sweet and innocent. He can’t possibly know about this.”
“We’ll see.”
Lilly hung up and returned to the living room, lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?” Laurel asked.
“Harry’s girlfriend is missing,” Lilly said. No sense in sharing the sordid details with Laurel.
“I wish Nick was missing,” Laurel grumbled.
“If he were missing, you’d be worried about him.”
“I’d be celebrating. I hope Harry’s girlfriend turns up. He must be worried.”
Lilly nodded, wondering if Harry would tell her about Alice’s secret in the morning.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait that long. An hour later, after Laurel had gone up to her room, Lilly’s cell phone rang.
“Lilly, you’re not going to believe this,” Harry began.
“What?” she asked, her heart sinking. The way he spoke made it clear he hadn’t known about Alice.
“I’ve just found out something ... something….” She couldn’t stand waiting until he found the right words.
“I know about it already,” she stated flatly.
There was silence on the other end.
“You knew?”
“I probably found out about it around the same time you did.”
“How did you find out?” Harry asked.
“Bill called and told me. I’m really sorry about it, Harry.”
“I had no idea. How could I not have known that? I was going to ask her to marry me! You’d think I would know everything there is to know about her. I can’t believe she’d deceive me like that.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions, Harry. There are lots of reasons that young women take jobs in strip clubs ... er, gentlemen’s lounges.”
“Yeah, I get that. Reasons like income. But there are other places to get jobs, places that don’t require women to take their clothes off.”
“Like I said, Harry, let’s not jump to conclusions. Let’s wait and find out what the police uncover and—”
“Don’t say ‘uncover.’”
Lilly almost laughed at her inadvertent choice of words, but she didn’t because she knew Harry would be hurt.
“Sorry, Harry. I didn’t mean that.”
“That’s okay.” There was a long pause. “Where do you think she is, Lilly? This puts a whole new spin on things. I obviously didn’t know her as well as I thought I did. Maybe she took off and just left town.”
“I wish I had the answers for you, Harry.”
Again, she was exhausted when she called Hassan that night. She brought him up to date on Alice and he was as surprised as everyone else had been.
The next day when Lilly opened the store Harry hadn’t arrived yet. He was usually there at least half an hour before opening. She called his cell.
“Hmm?” he answered.
“Did I wake you?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, boss. I don’t think I can make it in today.” He cleared his throat.
“That’s okay. You get some rest and let me know if there’s anything I can do. Take all the time you need.”
“Thanks.” He hung up.
She waited on the few customers who came in during the day, surprised at how much she missed Harry. She loved having him as an assistant, but she hadn’t realized how much she had come to depend on him for conversation and camaraderie.
That evening as soon as she closed up the shop she hurried home and rifled through her old recipe file. She knew there were some casserole recipes in there. She was looking for something to make for Harry that would be tasty and comforting. She finally found the three-by-five card she was looking for.
Macaroni and cheese. Perfect.
She did a quick inventory and was pleased and a little shocked to find she had all the ingredients. In contrast to Noley, she rarely had her pantry well stocked and found herself at the grocery store more often than she liked.
It didn’t take long to prepare the macaroni and cheese and get the casserole dish packed into a box, along with cooking instructions, to take over to Harry’s house. She threw in a bagged salad (Noley wouldn’t have forgiven her if she had known), a pint of cherry tomatoes, and some cookies.
When she arrived at Harry’s she found that she hadn’t been the only one with the idea of making comfort food for her friend. There were several people inside, all of whom had brought gifts of food. There was a pot of tomato soup, homemade bread, a pan of lasagna, a bucket of fried chicken and a side of mashed potatoes from a fried chicken joint, and a chicken pot pie, among many other things that had been dropped off by well-wishers.
Two conclusions were obvious: Harry had a lot of friends and he wasn’t going to have to cook for months.
Lilly set her dish of macaroni and cheese on the countertop along with some of the other offerings. Harry was encouraging people to eat, since he had more food than he could handle. He was standing in the kitchen, looking a little bewildered by the number of people and the amount of food in the kitchen.
“Harry, sit down. What can I get you?” Lilly asked.
He shrugged. “Some lasagna, I guess.”
She opened his cupboards until she found the plates, stacked neatly just like everything else in the kitchen. Somehow she wasn’t surprised to find that his kitchen was well organized.
She slid a spatula full of piping hot lasagna onto his plate. Next she found the sharp knives and sawed two pieces of the homemade Italian bread from the long loaf and put them on a plate next to the lasagna.
She put the plate in front of him. “Can I get you something to drink?”
He nodded. “Thanks, Lilly. There’s coffee in the coffee maker on the counter.”
“Are you sure you want something with caffeine?” she asked.
He nodded. “Even if I don’t have caffeine, I’m not going to be able to sleep. I might as well be alert if I’m going to be awake all night.”
Lilly poured him a cup of coffee and set it on the table. Several people sat down with him, but nobody ate anything.
Harry made introductions in a listless voice. “Lilly, this is Mack, a friend of mine from the gym. This is Wayne, my next-door neighbor. This is Mary Louise, a friend from way back, and this is Stu, who goes to school with Mary Louise and also happens to live up the block.”
“How do you do,” Lilly said, shaking the hand of each person in turn around the table.
“I’m not going to stay unless you want me to, Harry,” she said. “I hope you’re abl
e to get some sleep tonight.”
“We’ll make sure he goes to bed, don’t worry,” Mary Louise said. She fixed Harry with a look of concern. “That coffee’s not helping.” She reached for the cup, but Harry held onto it.
“I feel like I need it. What if something happens while I’m asleep?”
“We’ll take turns staying with you,” Mary Louise suggested, and the others around the table nodded. “We’ll stay awake and let you know if there’s a call or a text for you.”
Harry gave her a skeptical look. “Promise?”
She nodded. “Of course. Right, guys?” She looked around the table at Harry’s other friends. Mack and Wayne nodded their agreement, but Stu shook his head sadly.
“I wish I could, but I can’t. I have to be at home for the dog.”
“That’s okay, buddy.” Harry clapped Stu gently on the shoulder.
“That’s so nice of you,” Lilly told Harry’s friends. Then she looked at Harry. “So you’ll go to bed?”
Harry nodded glumly.
“Have you talked to Alice’s family?” Lilly asked.
“Yeah. I stopped over there earlier. I expected there to be a lot of people milling around, but there was no one. I mean, no one except her parents.”
“Does she have siblings?”
Harry nodded again. “A brother.”
“So what did they have to say?” Stu asked.
“Just that they’re working with the police to find Alice,” he said. “They don’t know any more than I do, or if they do, they’re not telling me.” He looked down at his hands, which had dropped into his lap.
“Her parents must be distraught,” Lilly murmured.
Harry shrugged. “What parents wouldn’t be? But they’re pretty emotionless people, so they didn’t open up and tell me how upset they are or anything.”
“And what about the brother?” Lilly asked. “Have you talked to him since Alice went missing?”
“David? Yeah. David and Alice don’t get along. He doesn’t like me, so we didn’t talk for long. He thinks Alice has gone off somewhere for attention and is going to reappear any day now.”
It seemed a pretty stupid stunt, and Lilly felt sure Alice hadn’t taken off just for attention. It was obvious from the tone of Harry’s voice that he felt the same way.