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He went over to the phone sitting on the bar. After a short conversation with someone, he returned to my side.
“Do you think I should try calling her cell again? It’s not in her bag.” I pointed to the handbag still sitting on the sofa.
Connor looked over. “You sure that’s Emilia’s bag?”
“Yes. I bought it for her a few years ago.” The bright red handbag with diamonds embedded in the clasp was unmistakable, and I remember the day I picked it up from the store and surprised Emilia with it that night. She’d been ecstatic and hadn’t used a different bag for weeks afterward.
“May I look through it?”
I nodded, swiping the back of my hand across my mouth. “I need a drink.” Walking around behind the bar, I grabbed two bottles of water from one of the mini fridges underneath the counter and handed one to Connor. He thanked me distractedly and took a large mouthful of water before placing it down. “Try calling her again, Jason.”
Pulling out my phone, I placed the call on speaker so he could listen in. As I expected, but desperately hoped wouldn’t happen, it went straight to voicemail. “We only ever turn our phones off when we’re in a meeting, and even then, they’re on vibrate. So it shouldn’t be going to voicemail continually.”
“We need some professional help. I don’t have the resources we might need.”
“But we agreed not to call the cops.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of a private security firm who takes K and R cases.”
“K and R?”
“Kidnap and ransom.”
My mind went to a dark place I didn’t want it to, and just the very thought of Emilia being hurt had nausea crashing through me. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Connor took my arm. “Take a deep breath in and out. Emilia needs you to stay focused right now, okay?”
I breathed, every pull of air into my lungs crushing my heart. Was hers even still beating?
Our head of security went over to the bar and returned with a glass containing an amber liquid. “Here, this will steady your nerves a little.” He waited until I’d downed the whiskey in one go and then placed the glass on the bar. “There’s a bottle of white wine that’s been opened behind the bar. You don’t normally leave liquor out, do you?”
“No.” My voice sounded scratchy, even to my ears.
When the door opened again, hope rose in me until I saw it was one of our security team. I realized this must have been who Connor had called before.
“Richard.” Connor went over to the employee. He was a young guy, in his mid-twenties, with short red hair. He was dressed in black, his polo shirt with the security company logo on the chest. All our security staff wore the same uniform while on duty. “You’ve been on duty in the security room since this morning?”
Our security room monitored all the cameras in both clubs, and in the busy periods such as Friday and Saturday night we always had two guards on duty; one monitored the nightclub and one the strip club.
“Yes, sir.” Something about Richard’s demeanor looked odd to me, and when I glanced over at Connor, I could tell by the look on his face that he had also noticed.
“Come in. We have a situation we need to speak to you about.”
Richard stepped farther into the room, and his nervousness was easily detectable. Was he involved in this? “You need to explain—”
Connor held up a hand. “Please, Jason. Let me handle this.”
I nodded, and then turned and walked away. I wanted to punch something, and Richard’s face would do just fine. Why didn’t he see Emilia being abducted on the security screens? Why didn’t he do something to stop whoever took her? Why didn’t he notify us immediately?
“Richard, did you see anything unusual at all happen on the cameras about three hours ago?”
The guard frowned, shaking his head. “No, sir.”
“You were watching the cameras at all times?”
The younger man’s face went pale. “Uh.”
Connor placed his hands on his hips. “Now is not the fucking time to lie to me. We have reason to believe that Emilia Quinn was abducted from this room three hours ago. Now were you watching the fucking cameras or not?”
