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Tyler drummed his fingers on his desk, restless. He scanned through the document open on his computer for the third time, the words barely registering. He still didn’t have a clue what the damn report was about. Still couldn’t concentrate on a thing.
His gaze landed on his cell phone.
Still no word from Melissa.
No answer to his texts, no wisecrack about him being a jackass.
Nothing.
When Jason had told him earlier that her sister’s missing boyfriend—scratch that, fiancé—had been found? He’d sent her another string of texts.
And still—radio silence.
Was Melissa upset about his taking her down to the lake yesterday? About him kissing her and stripping off her sweater in his SUV? He hadn’t exactly planned to move that quickly with her, but she hadn’t seemed upset about what had happened. And according to Jason, all had been good with the women last night.
They’d supposedly all left in high spirits.
He grabbed the phone on his desk, dialing the number for Jason’s office on the floor below his. Jason answered on the second ring.
“I haven’t been able to get ahold of Melissa all morning,” Tyler said, clearing his throat. “Did she fly out to see her sister or something?”
“That’s a negative,” Jason said. “I know she called Amy before she headed off to teach preschool. As far as I know, she had a full day planned at the office. I think she would’ve told her if she was catching a flight.”
Tyler clenched his fist. Maybe she was just ignoring him. Just busy and she hadn’t gotten a chance to text him back yet.
Worry niggled at the back of his mind though.
Melissa usually always had her phone with her and was quick to shoot him a text reply. Even if she was calling him an ass, she’d always texted back. Something was up. “I might swing by her office.”
“You think something’s wrong?” Jason asked, sounding surprised. “I know there’s been a lot of stuff on the news lately, but she’s got a lot going on with her sister right now. She might just be busy this afternoon.”
“Understood. I’d just feel better seeing for myself. It’s not like her to not respond at all.”
“I’ll call Amy and see if she’s heard anything. She might be tough to get a hold of since she’s teaching right now, but I’ll see if I can get someone to go down to her classroom and have her call me.”
“I appreciate it,” Tyler said. “Doesn’t she have her cell?”
“She leaves it off during class.”
“Roger that. I’ll talk to you later.”
He hung up the phone and was rising from his desk before he could think about it. Locking his computer screen and palming his keys. Although Melissa was probably fine, he needed to see her. Hear her voice. Touch her.
He’d feel better when he was certain that she was okay.
***
Twenty minutes later, he was pulling into the lot of her real estate office. He spotted her SUV in the parking lot and let out a breath he hadn’t even realized that he’d been holding.
She was here.
Perfectly safe.
He felt a little paranoid rushing over for no reason, but he might as well go see her now that he’d arrived. Maybe even give her a hard time for not texting him back. He strode across the lot, frowning as he saw the photographer from the other day looking in the window of her vehicle. What was it with this guy?
Why was he always prowling around?
“Hey!” Tyler said loudly, storming over.
The man jumped, relaxing slightly when he recognized Tyler. “Oh, it’s you. Have you heard from Ms. Ford?” he asked. “I haven’t been able to get ahold of her.”
“No, I just came by to check on her. What the hell are you doing peeking in the windows of her car?”
“I was supposed to meet her,” the man said, frowning. “We had an appointment for two o’clock. We even spoke on the phone earlier, confirming it. She didn’t show and wasn’t answering her phone, so I came here. It’s not like her to miss an appointment like that.”
“Shit,” Tyler muttered, glancing around. “I haven’t been able to get ahold of her either.”
“Well, her car’s here, so that’s something. Maybe she just got tied up with something in the office.”
“I don’t like it,” Tyler said, turning and striding toward the front door. The photographer hurried along behind him, and then Tyler was yanking the glass door open and storming inside. The young receptionist looked up in surprise, and Tyler halted at her desk. “Where’s Melissa?” he asked bluntly. “She missed an appointment and isn’t returning any calls.”
The receptionist peered around him, glancing out the window. “I assumed she was here,” she said, looking bewildered. “That’s her car out front.”
“Go check her office,” Tyler commanded. “Check the ladies’ room. No one has seen or heard from her in several hours.”
“Right, of course,” the receptionist said, standing up and hurrying off.
“It’s not like her to miss an appointment,” the photographer said again. “She’s never late either. Maybe she’s sick or there was some sort of emergency.”
“Yeah, she gave me hell for being late the other day,” Tyler muttered. “What could’ve happened to her?” He glanced out the window, his gaze sweeping the lot. There had to be security cameras around with all the local businesses. Some cars might even have dash cams. If someone was driving by, they might’ve seen something.
But what?
People didn’t just disappear out of thin air. Had she been showing a home? No, probably not since her vehicle was here. But what if she went with someone?
Tyler leaned over the desk of the receptionist, flipping through the papers stacked there. What he expected to find, he didn’t know. Each realtor probably kept their own schedule and showed homes as they came on the market. As their clients showed interest.
They set up appointments and kept their own schedule.
There wasn’t some master schedule that listed everything.
“I don’t see her anywhere,” the receptionist said, walking back. “I’ve checked the conference rooms, break room, bathroom.... I assume you’ve tried calling her?”
“Hell yes,” Tyler said, clenching his fist in frustration. “Calling, texting. I drove over here from Quantico. What time did she get in this morning?”
“She was expected around eleven. I can check with IT and see if she logged into her computer. Or we can try calling her house, but her car’s still here....”
“No, I think she did arrive around eleven,” the photographer said. “That’s when I called her. She was just arriving at the office, and we confirmed our appointment for this afternoon.”
Tyler nodded, glancing around. “So we’ll see when she logged in. Obviously she didn’t leave in her own vehicle. But if she was showing properties, she could’ve come in and left with someone else. Maybe she pulled up a property listing or something. We can go check there.”
The receptionist glanced down at her papers. “I don’t have a record of that. If she came in, she would’ve notified me. At least gotten a copy of a driver’s license for a new client. And if she already had something scheduled first thing, I don’t know why she’d come here first.”
“Fuck,” Tyler muttered. “I’m going to look around outside.”
He pushed open the front door and walked back into the parking lot, frowning at the snow flurries. Damn wonderful. Yesterday the weather was beautiful, and today it was full on winter again. At least they weren’t expecting a major storm or some shit like that.
He looked around the lot again, his gaze tracking over the few vehicles, before turning back toward the real estate office. He glanced down the sidewalk, his chest clenching as he saw a spilled cup of coffee on the ground a few storefronts down.
Jogging down the sidewalk, his heart stopped as he spotted Melissa’s crushed cell phone beside it. Someone had thrown her coffee to the ground and stomped on the screen of her phone, cracking it. Rendering it useless.
Someone had taken her.
Grabbed her things and snatched her. Right from the parking light. Right in the middle of the day.
“God damn it!” he shouted as the photographer and receptionist came running out the front door.
Tyler pulled out his phone, dialing 911 as his heart pounded. He clutched his phone so hard it dug into the skin of his hand as the operator answered the call.
“911, what’s your emergency?” a female voice asked.
“I need to report a kidnapping.”
