“I’m so sorry—I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”
His expression morphed from businesslike to concerned. “Because of…? You know, Saturday?”
“No, not that. I’m fine with that. Honestly. All in the past.”
“Do you often have trouble sleeping?”
“Only when I’m stressed.” I didn’t want to bring my personal problems to work, especially on my first day, but I didn’t know who else to talk to. “A friend left me a voicemail yesterday morning, and she sounded…uh, just listen to it.”
I fumbled my phone out of my handbag and clicked play. Would Alaric think I was overreacting? I’d been flipping and flopping all night about whether to call the police. In the end, I’d decided to give Gemma until this evening to get in contact.
Alaric listened to the message once, then a second time. “You called her back?”
“I didn’t pick up the message until yesterday afternoon, and her phone’s been off since then. And she hasn’t been home. I checked, and her neighbour’s keeping an eye out for me.”
Despite the circumstances, I was proud I’d spoken to a stranger. Usually, I shied away from anything more than small talk at parties.
“She’s not at work?”
“I-I’m not sure. I can hardly call Hugo.”
Alaric didn’t press me, just pulled out his phone. “Does Gemma have a boyfriend?”
“Yes, Ryland.”
Alaric dialled and listened for a second. “All right, mate? It’s Ryland. Gemma’s boyfriend?” His accent had changed again. This time, he sounded like David Beckham. “Yeah, yeah, I know she’s not there. She’s ill. That’s why I’m calling. She won’t be in today.” A pause. “Dunno, I’m not a doctor. … Sure, we’ll keep you updated.” He hung up. “She’s not there.”
I got that, but where the heck was she? At least now that Alaric had called in sick for her, she wouldn’t get fired.
“Now what?”
“Did you try the cops?”
“Not yet. She hasn’t been gone for a full day. Doesn’t a person have to be missing for at least twenty-four hours before the police will take a report seriously?”
“Generally, unless there’s evidence of foul play. It’s a crazy rule. If someone’s come to harm, the first twenty-four hours are the most critical. You said you’d been to her apartment?”
“I tried knocking, but nobody answered, and I don’t have a key to go inside.”
“We’d better get over there. Ravi?” he called. “Are you busy?”
A chill ran up my spine. “You think Gemma might have come to some harm?”
“No friend leaves a message like that if everything’s fine, and only the most callous of fools would leave you to fret over it for a day afterwards.”
Ravi materialised in the office doorway. “You called?”
“One of Beth’s friends is missing. We need to take a look in her apartment.”
He didn’t even question Alaric. “Two minutes. I’ll get my stuff.”
On the way to North Acton, I filled Alaric and Ravi in on the conversation I’d had with Gemma’s neighbour.
“Two questionable boyfriends?” Ravi mused. “Bad run.”
“Has she been herself at work lately?” Alaric asked. “Did she become quieter? Or jittery?”
“She became sort of…scatterbrained. And a little cagey. And I saw a bruise on her once.”
Alaric’s hands tightened on the wheel. “Don’t worry; we’ll find her.”
Why did his words make me worry more?
When we arrived in North Acton, Alaric parked the SUV in the next street and we headed for Anslow Place. The place looked just as grim as it had yesterday, albeit quieter.
“A man held the door open for me last time. But there aren’t many people around today, so maybe—”
I’d been about to suggest that we try the intercom for flat 2e, Gemma’s neighbour with the twins, but Ravi stepped ahead, fiddled with the handle for a second, then pulled the door open.
“What do you know? It was unlocked. After you.”
Alaric ushered me through with a light touch on the small of my back. “Second floor, right?”
“Uh, yes. I hear the lift isn’t very reliable.”
“Taking the stairs is a good idea anyway. It gives you more options.”
“Options?”
“It’s harder to throw somebody down a lift shaft. All those pesky safety features.”
I laughed, but nobody else did. Alaric was joking, wasn’t he? I mean, he had to be.
From the outside, Gemma’s flat looked exactly as it had when I left last night. The same tired blue paint on the front door, a scratched white plaque alongside telling me I was at 2d. And it was still silent inside. Perhaps I should have slid a note under the door, just in case?
Alaric knocked, and we waited. Nothing.
“Maybe the management company has a spare key,” I said, then glanced towards the window at the end of the hallway. Filthy, and it even had a crack in it. “Not that the management company seems to do much around here.”
“Is that a spider?”
Ravi pointed at the ceiling behind me, and I spun around.
“Where? Where?” Yes, I understood spiders were a valuable part of our ecosystem, but they still gave me the creeps, okay? I backed away and trod on Alaric’s foot by accident. “Sorry! Where’s the freaking spider?”
I heard a quiet click behind me, and when I turned, Gemma’s door was creaking open.
Ravi chuckled. “Guess I must’ve been mistaken.”
“How did you do that? How?”
“Practice. Shall we take a look?”
Ravi was already wearing thin black leather gloves, and Alaric handed me a pair of disposable ones as we stepped over the threshold, the kind you got in hospitals. It felt wrong to be walking into somebody’s home uninvited, and somehow, dressing like a burglar made it ten times worse. But if Gemma really was in trouble, she’d want us to investigate, wouldn’t she?
“What if a neighbour calls the police?” I whispered.
Another chuckle from Ravi. “In this place? They won’t.”
There spoke the voice of experience, which should’ve worried me a bit seeing as I was now working for this man. He clearly had a shady past, and I barely knew him. But honestly, having Ravi and Alaric along made me feel secure. If I’d come alone, I’d still have been standing outside, jumping at my own shadow.
Inside, the flat was, well, not exactly pristine, but there were no signs of a struggle or anything untoward. It appeared for all the world as if Gemma had just gone out to get milk and never returned.
“Can’t see a purse anywhere,” Alaric said. “Do you know what Gemma’s looked like?”
I racked my brain. “Pale pink, medium-sized, not flashy or anything.”
Ravi tapped lightly on the counter dividing the living room from the kitchen area. “There’s a purse-sized gap here. And mail from Saturday.”
“Anything interesting?” Alaric asked.
“Just a loan circular and a discount coupon for a nail salon.”