JIMBO AND SYLVIA walked around the block, each in opposite directions, looking for Faith. She was nowhere in sight. Jimbo called Stone Barrington.
Stone and Cilla were finishing up dessert at the River Café when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. “Please excuse me.” He pressed the recall button.
“Stone?”
“Yes, Jimbo, what is it?”
“Faith has disappeared. At change of shift, I was in the downstairs powder room, thinking she was upstairs. Then, when Sylvia arrived, we went up to her apartment and found her gone. We made a quick search around the block, but no joy.”
“Go up to that hotel on Lex where she used to stay and start a new search there,” Stone said.
“Right.”
Stone hung up and called Dino.
“Bacchetti.”
“Are you at home?”
“With my feet up,” Dino replied.
“I just got a call: Faith has disappeared.”
“How’d that happen with her security on the job?”
“She left the house at the change of shift, while one of them was in the john. They’ve had a look around the block, but no luck. I’ve sent them up to that hotel where Faith used to stay.”
“I’ll call it in,” Dino said. “We’ll saturate the neighborhood.” He hung up.
Cilla was signing the check. “I heard, we’ll use my car,” she said.
JIMBO CALLED STRATEGIC Services for a patrol car, and they went immediately to the hotel. Once there, he and Sylvia walked into the lobby and encountered only a janitor mopping the floor. They went to the front desk.
Jimbo showed his private badge to the desk clerk. “Do you remember Faith Barnacle?” he asked. “She used to stay here.”
“The little blonde? Sure, I remember her. I heard she got a job flying private.”
“Has she been in here in the past hour?”
“Nope. Hey, Sid!”
The mopper paused in his work. “Yeah?”
“You seen the little blonde, Faith, in here tonight?”
“Nah, not for two or three weeks.”
“You’re sure she didn’t come in during the past hour?”
“I’ve been mopping for longer than that; she didn’t come in.”
The clerk turned back to Jimbo. “Sorry, sir, we haven’t seen Faith tonight, and not for some time.”
“Thanks,” Jimbo said, then rejoined Sylvia. “Okay,” he said, “you take this side of Lex, I’ll take the other; we’ll walk uptown and check every side street.”
“Right,” Sylvia said, then watched Jimbo cross to the other side. They started walking uptown.
Jimbo heard a police car in the distance, then another. He could see the flashing lights way up Lex, coming his way. He flagged down one of them. “You guys looking for Faith Barnacle?”
“Yeah,” the cop replied.
“So are we. Any sign of her?”
“Nothing, and there aren’t that many people on the street, except around Bloomie’s.
Jimbo showed his ID. “I’m from Strategic Services—mind if my partner and I ride with you?”
“Hop in.”
Jimbo whistled up Sylvia, and she joined them. They drove up Third Avenue, vainly seeking Faith.
“We haven’t had a call on this thing for a week or more,” said the cop who was driving. “I had hoped it was over.”
“I don’t think it’s over,” Jimbo replied.
STONE AND CILLA got onto Lexington at 86th Street and cruised slowly downtown. Stone’s phone rang. “Yes, Jimbo?”
“We’re in a patrol car, going up Third, then down Lex.”
“Good. We’re doing much the same thing. Keep in touch if something happens.”
FAITH CAME TO SLOWLY, but she couldn’t see anything. A soft cloth bag was over her head, there were some holes around her mouth that enabled her to breathe. She could hear the muffled sound of classical music. Her hands were bound to a wooden chair that should have had a wicker seat, but didn’t. “Hello?” she said. Then she heard the sound of a heavy door closing and being locked. “Hello!” No response. She squirmed, trying to loosen her bonds, but they were too tight.
Then she realized that she was naked.