Who Glares Wins (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (33 page)

Edward
just shook his head. "When is this going to end?
” He glanced up,
noticing
the graffiti and flinched. “
And what hell happened to the wall?"

"Tomorrow evening
,
apparently. Oh, you don't mean the convention? I don't know. Soon." I followed his gaze to the wall. The letters had dried overnight
, but
they still glared
angrily
at me.
Trails of the f
at
,
red drips
,
the color of
blood
,
chilled me.
"Apparently
,
I've pissed someone off. I need to ask you something."

"About the sabotage? About this?" Edward waved a hand at the wall.

"I'm not sure, maybe."

"What do you mean?"

"It's about your former assistant, Marissa."

Edward’
s face darkened
as he
narrowed his gaze
. I watched the hurt flit across his eyes
before
his face settled into an impassive mask
.
Clearly
,
Marissa was not his favorite topic.
"What about her?"

I dived in, turning hearsay into fact.
"I know you were having a relationship with her when she disappeared."

He straightened up, his shoulders pushed back. "How did you know that?"

"I have my sources."

"Then you'll also know we weren't together very long."

"I know that too. What I don't know is why you didn't report her missing when she failed to appear for work."

"I thought she changed her mind. To be honest, I was worried that maybe none of it was real, that maybe she was going to claim sexual harassment
,
and sue me.
When she left, it crossed my mind that she was part of the sabotage.
"

"Was Marissa that type of person?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe."

"Did she give you any indication that she might do that?"

"No. But relationships between staff aren't exactly encouraged. Things can get awkward if it goes wrong, and awkward if it goes right," explained Edward.
His eyes took on a faraway look
,
as if remembering happier times.

"Like Chef Fabien and Sylvia?"

"Exactly like that. They're both great at what they do
,
but there is some... tension between them."

"How serious were you about Marissa?"

"Very serious." Edward
reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a small velvet box in
the
deepest blue. He placed it on the desk b
etween us. I pri
ed it open and raised my eyebrows. Inside was a perfect solitaire diamond mounted on a platinum band. "I was going to ask her to marry me."

"Did she know?"

"No. It was supposed to be a surprise. Well, the surprise was on me."
He held his hand out for the box. I returned it to him and waited
.
H
e took a long look at the ring before snapping the case shut and returning it to his pocket. “I only knew her for a month
,
but I thought she was the one. I’ve never thought that about anyone. Then
,
she just didn’t turn up
,
and stopped answering her phone.
Hang on
…
y
ou said
,
‘
disappeared.
’
What do you mean?
”

"Marissa's friend reported her missing. She's afraid something
must have
happened to her."

Edward
gave me a sharp, formidable look and the air changed in the room from static tension to
extreme
worry
. "Do you think something's happened to her? Has someone hurt her?"

"I don't know yet, but I do believe she's part of whatever was going on here."

"I don't believe Marissa would steal anything."

"The sabotage began before she started working here, so I think you're right, but..."

Edward thought, realization dawning in his eyes. "You think she saw something?"

I nodded.
“It’s possible.”

"You have to find her." Edward dropped his head into his hands and his chest heaved up and down
as he took long breaths
. "She means everything to me. If anyone hurt her, I'll kill them!
I have to know what happened to her. Even if… even…
"

"
I know,” I said gently. “
I need your help to find her."

"What can I do?"

I reiterated what I already knew. That her friends claimed they hadn't seen her
,
and didn't know where she was
. I also said
that Marissa's car was currently in the impound lot. "Is there anywhere she would go?
Any place
that would make her feel safe?"

Edward thought
,
then shook his head. "I can't think of any
where
."

"If
you do
, call me right away, okay?"

"I will. I need you to find her. Whatever it takes.
Lexi, I love her.
"

"I'll do my best," I said
. I
t made
no
sense to promise
him,
when I didn't know yet if I could deliver. Edward left my office
, the ring
snug
ly back
in his pocket
. He assured me
that maintenance would repaint my wall over the weekend. He left under the pretext of seeing how Sylvia was getting on with the influx of families
,
but I could see he didn't have his usual sense of urgency or interest. As soon as I told him Marissa was in trouble
,
all the fight seemed to have left his big body
. He seemed to
collapse into
a lonely, dejected man
.
Now
,
he
not only had to worry about his hotel being destroyed
,
but
also that
the woman he loved m
ight
be alone, frightened,
hurt
,
or
even wors
e
.
I hoped that she had the sense to
go underground
and was hiding somewhere, waiting
until it was
safe for her to emerge.

Instead of t
hrowing Marissa's box in the trash
like Louisa suggested, I picked it up and set it on my desk, rooting around for a letter opener to slice the tape open. There wasn't a lot inside. A couple of paperbacks, a small
,
neoprene
lunch bag with an empty
plastic
sandwich container, a few items of makeup, a hairbrush
,
and some pens which were a bit fancier than the usual plastic var
iety. There was a photograph
in a small glass frame of Elisabeth, Marissa and two more of their friends, a rowboat bobbing on the lake behind them. It was a similar shot to the one framed on the wall in Marissa's apartment. The house
at Lake Pearce
that belonged to Elisabeth’s family
.

I grabbed my cell phone and
dialed
Elisabeth, getting her messag
e
service. I left her a message asking her to call me back.

After
ma
king
a note of all the items in the box
, I
taped it up and stuck it in a cabinet
out of sight
. I could always give it to Elisabeth later, rather than consigning it to a dumpster. She would know what to do
with
it.

Finally
,
I got stuck into some paperwork Edward had left me as part of my undercover role. I alternated between that and doodling suspect names and motives. Sylvia was still high on my list
,
but she seemed too perky about the sudden success of the exhibition, though that could have been for Edward's
and my
benefit. I still wanted to know why she looked so worried when talking to Amanda right before the power cut.
I thought about Louisa’s panicked expression
too,
at the thought of all the children and their safety
. It made me
wonder if things were going okay at the exhibition.

A half hour before work ended, and about three hours after intensive clock
-
watching, my cell phone rang. I answered, half expecting it to be Elisabeth or Maddox.
He hadn't called me last night
,
and I read about the arrest in the paper. Perhaps
,
he was making a point
by
not telling me about his job. Several times
,
I picked up the phone to call him
,
but each time
,
I put it down again. I could be stubborn too.

Instead
,
I got an unfamiliar female voice.

"Is this Lexi Graves?" she asked.

"It is."

"Of the Solomon Agency?"

"That's right. What can I do for you?"

"Um, my name is Ally Fields. I found a card under my door asking me to call you." Ally? Ally Fields? I dredged my memory for her name
,
but got nothing. "You wrote on the card that it's to do with my friend
,
Marissa," she prompted.

"Right," I said,
clinging
on to that. It came back to me now. Ally was the one friend I hadn't managed to get hold of
,
despite visiting her home and leaving her messages.
I wondered if she was one of the girls in the photo I’d just
seen
.

"I'm sorry I didn't get your messages. I've been out of town because my dad is sick," she told me. "I just got home this morning. I called Elisabeth and she said Marissa was still missing and the police
weren’t doing
anything."

"What else did Elisabeth tell you?"

"Just that no one else has seen her for a couple weeks
,
and she was really worried."

"I've been looking for her and we're worried something might have happened to her. When was the last time you saw her?"

"Uh, let me see... Sunday, just before I got my train."

"Our reports
we
re that she went missing on Sunday. Her car was found abandoned and she hasn't been home since."

"Huh. Well, let me see.
I saw her when I was
at the train station, except there weren't any long
-
stay parking places left. Marissa said she was walking
,
and she
offered to
drive my car back to my house. I was so grateful. I would have missed my train if it hadn't been for her."

I pondered that. Marissa could have ditched her car in favor of another convenient one, one which she knew wouldn’t be reported missing.
"Where's your car now?"

"The garage
,
I guess."

"Could you go check for me
, please?
"

"Well, sure. I'm on the cordless, so, uh, come with me." Ally laughed
,
but it sounded hollow. I listened to her footsteps
,
then the sound of a door opening
,
then an exclamation of surprise. "My car isn't here."

"Have you been away the whole time? Since that Sunday when Marissa offered to drive your car?"

"Yes."

"So, Marissa could have kept your car
,
and you wouldn't have known about it?"

"I guess so, but why would she do that?"

"I don't know
,
but I'm going to find out. What's the plate?"

Ally gave it to me. "Do I need to report my car stolen?" she asked.

"No, let me make some
i
nquiries first. I'll call you back."

Now I knew Marissa had access to another car that gave me two possibilities. Either she'd been abducted in Ally's car
, which seemed unlikely
;
or she had a car to escape in, one she knew wouldn't be missed for a while. I called Garrett, got his voicemail, and immediately called Daniel, who picked up.