Although I did get that other blocked call during my podcast. Could it be from the same number?
Just as I’m starting to panic, a text message pops up on the screen. It’s from Caleb, and the sight of it fills me with relief:
Make it home okay?
I step into the living room. I flick on a second light. The entire first floor of my house now is completely quiet. There’s nobody here.
I’m fine. Thanks for checking.
I drop my keys on the table next to the front door and then plop down on the leather sofa in my living room. I need to chill out. What happened to Dawn is horrible, but it has nothing to do with me. Nobody is out to get me.
Chapter Ten
I check the local news in the morning, hoping there will be a story about how Dawn turned up in, I don’t know, a Dunkin Donuts or something, drinking an Iced Americano. And maybe all that blood was just a really bad cut from shaving her legs. But no such luck. The news reports that Dawn Schiff is still missing.
But I’m half hoping she’ll be in her cubicle when I get to work, oblivious to the fact that the entire police department is searching for her. But no. Her cubicle is empty.
I walk past her cubicle to reach my own. The first thing I see on my desk is that turtle figurine that appeared yesterday morning. After seeing that huge bookcase filled with turtles, the sight of yet another glassy-eyed animal makes me slightly ill.
Also, I distinctly remember that I took that turtle figurine and shoved it to the far corner of my desk, so I wouldn’t have to look at it. Yet somehow it’s made its way to the center of my desk. Right in front of my keyboard.
Must have been the stupid janitors.
After I found all that blood in Dawn’s house, it makes me rethink what that dark red material was on the turtle yesterday. Could that have been blood? Did someone put a bloody turtle figurine on my desk?
I snatch the turtle off my desk and stare at it. This time, it’s clean at least. No blood or paint or whatever that was. But I still don’t want it on my desk or anywhere near me. I don’t want to see it ever again.
So I toss it into my garbage bin. There. At least that’s one problem I can deal with.
“Oh my God, Natalie!” Kim’s shrill voice rings out in my ear. “Can you believe it?”
“Yeah,” I mumble. My temples are throbbing slightly. I don’t feel like talking to Kim. “It’s awful.”
Kim’s eyes are like saucers. “What did you see in her house when you went over there?”
“There was blood all over the floor.” I drop my eyes. “Like, a lot of blood.”
She clasps a hand over her mouth. “Wow. That’s so terrifying. I hope she’s okay.”
I nod, knowing with every passing minute that they don’t find her, it’s less and less likely that she’s okay.
Kim scratches her nose with her left fourth finger, the one with the giant diamond on it. She developed that habit soon after her engagement. I thought maybe once she got married, she might stop flashing her giant rock in my face, but it’s too ingrained. She can’t help herself anymore. “Are you still going to do the race on Saturday?”
With everything going on, I had almost forgotten all about the 5K this weekend. I didn’t even run this morning, even though I had been trying to go almost every day to stay in shape for Saturday.
But even so, canceling the race is off the table. I’ve raised a lot of money for the cerebral palsy foundation, and I can’t just give up on all that because Dawn went missing.
“I’m sure we’ll have more information by Saturday,” I say. “I can’t cancel though. If she’s still missing, we can run in her honor. It might even end up being a good thing.”
Kim frowns. “A good thing?”
I clear my throat. “I just mean there will be a lot of publicity around the race, and if Dawn is still missing, maybe it will help find her. You know?”
“Oh. Right.”
“Anyway.” I glance over at my computer. “I better get to work. If I can focus.”
“By the way,” Kim says, “Seth was looking for you a few minutes ago. He said to let you know he wanted to talk to you when you got in.”
Great. What does my boss want from me? I’m not sure I want to know.
After Kim leaves, I plop down in my chair, not eager to run over to see Seth. I pull my compact out of my purse and check my reflection. I look even worse than yesterday. My eyes are slightly bloodshot, and there are purple circles underneath. I tried to cover them with concealer this morning, but I obviously didn’t use enough. I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night, and when I did fall asleep, I tossed and turned.
I start to log onto my computer, but before I can boot up, my phone buzzes. I pull it out of my purse and look down at the screen. There’s a message from Seth:
Please come to my office as soon as you get in.
I sigh. Looks like I’m taking a trip to my boss’s office.
Chapter Eleven
Seth doesn’t look any better than I do.
His dark hair is disheveled, and his shirt is a bit wrinkled, which is unusual for him. Seth is all about crisp white shirts. I was never sure if he took them out to be dry-cleaned or if his wife ironed them for him. Given the continued absence of his wedding band, the latter could explain why his shirt is wrinkled.
“Hey, Nat.” His brown eyes are full of concern when he sees me. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I croak out as I settle into the chair in front of his desk.
“Jesus, what a mess.” He rakes his fingers through his hair, which makes it even messier. “I’m sorry I didn’t take you seriously yesterday.”
“It’s okay. I can’t blame you.”
“I’m kind of surprised you didn’t call out today,” he says. “If you need the day off…”
I shake my head. “No, I’d rather work.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. Better to keep my mind off of it.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.” He closes his eyes and rubs them with his fingertips. “I hope Dawn is okay.”
I want to say something like, I’m sure she is. But that wouldn’t be what I really think. So I keep my mouth shut.
“I spoke to a detective on the phone this morning,” Seth adds. “Detective… Santoro? He said he’s going to come by and interview everyone.”
“Oh.” I squirm in my seat. The last thing I want is to get grilled by that detective a second time. He was nice enough, but the thought of talking to him again makes a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck. “You know what? I think I might go home after all. I just… I feel like my head is spinning. And I hardly slept at all last night.”
“Of course.” Seth’s eyes soften. “Take the day off. If you want, you can forward all your calls to my office.”
My shoulders relax. “Thanks, Seth.”
“Just stick around until the detective gets here, then you can head home.”
The cold sweat returns. “What?”