CHAPTER 30
JOE
Where was Lana?
First of all, where was Nancy? I arrived at the office and she wasn’t in her normal spot outside Lana’s door. So, casually, not sure what else to do, I pushed open the door to her office. “Lana,” I said softly as I entered.
But only an empty room met me on the other side. Maybe she’d gone to get lunch? It was, after all, way past noon.
I took this moment alone to retrieve all the hidden microphones I’d once planted for Doug. I needed to make sure they were gone on the off chance he was still listening. Once I gathered them, I stepped inside Lana’s bathroom and flushed them down the toilet. In the sink I noticed Lana’s New York T-shirt and the skirt she’d had on this morning. Since she sometimes slept on that damn crib mattress, I assumed she also kept clothes here in case she ever needed to change.
But Lana was very neat. And the clothes in the sink made it look like she’d changed in a hurry. I also found her cell phone on top of the pile. Two missed calls from me lit up the screen, and another from Abe.
Something felt off.
Very off.
I breathed in deeply, trying to keep calm, before I pocketed her phone and left looking for someone who might know something.
I found Kirk at his desk.
“Have you seen Lana?”
He paused, glancing up from his computer. It looked like he was working on a brand-new logo for Java Beans. Which also seemed strange to me. The logo Lana had on all her coffee cups and above each store, that I’d worn on my apron for two years, it was kind of like her signature. Even the ‘barista to-go’ truck, which had to be about as old as her company, had the same logo spray-painted on it. I didn’t know she had plans to change it.
“What’s that? Is Lana rebranding?”
He quickly closed the file. “Just a little side project I’ve been working on. What can I help you with? I don’t think Lana’s coming back today.”
“Where did she go?”
He shrugged. “She and Nancy left about an hour ago. I don’t know where. Probably to get their nails done. You know women.”
He was lying. I could tell by the way he wasn’t looking me in the eyes. Besides that, Lana would never leave the office during work hours to get her nails done. And certainly not with Nancy. It annoyed me—because I liked Kirk. He seemed like a nice enough guy before this moment.
“How much is Doug Maddox paying you?” I said through my teeth.
He caught his breath.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I left him because I didn’t have time for this bullshit. I went into the middle of the office, not caring if I was about to indirectly tell everyone I was dating the boss. I needed to find Lana, and now. It was all that mattered. “Hello! People!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, climbing onto a table. “Time for a meeting. Everyone out of your offices.”
Did Doug want to see me snap? Because I was about to go off a fucking cliff on these people.
Slowly, hesitantly, people came out of their offices and congregated.
“How many of you are on Doug Maddox’s payroll? Trust me, come Monday morning, if you’re still on it, you will be fired, and Lana will be taking the appropriate legal actions against you. You better ask yourself if falling under a bus is worth it for a man like Doug Maddox. But more than that, I’m worried about Lana’s safety. So, if anyone has any information about where she went, I would greatly appreciate it. Or information on where Nancy is.”
“Well, Nancy quit,” one of the receptionists said. We hadn’t officially met yet, but I’d passed her on my way in a few times. “She walked out about an hour ago, with her blouse unbuttoned, and when she reached the elevators, she flipped the whole office off with both middle fingers. I thought it was kind of dramatic, especially for Nancy. And then Lana left with a man in a nice suit not long after that.”
“Was the man Doug Maddox?”
“I’m not sure who he was.”
I guess, thankfully, not everyone was employed by Doug.
“It was Doug Maddox,” Kirk added.
I wasn’t sure what made him change his mind, maybe the threat of legal action, but at least he was being honest now.
“Any idea where they went?”
“I’m not sure.”
Fuck. So Nancy had quit and Lana left here—willingly?—with Doug.
Without another word, I left the office. I had my phone at my ear, calling Doug Maddox myself. I should have known he wouldn’t answer. After three calls, and after leaving him three very irate messages, I sank to my ass on the cement outside Lana’s building. I didn’t know what else to do. How else I could find her?
One idea was stuck in my head.
I didn’t want to involve Kitty any more than I needed to, but it seemed I would have to. That cellphone Doug had given her . . .. Maybe it had saved information in the map app. I needed a location—any location as where they might be. And then there was always the possibility that maybe, just maybe, if Kitty was the one calling, then he might answer.