I did so, then left them to it, making my way across Ann Street, then back through the lanes until I reached the smoking area. Both the gate and the main door remained unlocked, and there was no indication anyone else had used the area. I tugged a silicon glove from my handbag—my brother had enforced the need to carry several sets at all times, just in case a situation arose where leaving fingerprints might be problematic—then walked over to the ashtray that had held the smoking cigarette butt when I’d first stepped out here. While there was every chance it didn’t belong to the person who’d cut open the gate or kidnapped Monica, if itdidit would at least give us some DNA to confirm his presence. I carefully picked it up, rolled the glove inside out around it, then tucked it back into my handbag and went inside, my footsteps lost to the thunder of the music. I made my way around to the closest set of stairs and ran up them, finding a clear spot and once again peering over. The bridesmaids weren’t in the same area on the dance floor, though that wasn’t surprising, given it had been a good half hour since I last saw them. I scanned the rest of the dance floor, hoping their white dresses would stand out in the sea of color, to no avail. I couldn’t even spot the gleam of crimson hair. They weren’t at the bar, either, nor were they sitting at any of the surrounding tables and booths on this upper level. Either they’d left or something more drastic had happened to them.
I swore and double tapped the earwig again. “In more bad news, the bridesmaids seem to have disappeared.”
“I did say you shouldn’t have put that thought out into the ether. Hang on while I contact Janet and see if she’s picked them up and delivered them somewhere else.”
Janet being the Society-installed limo driver.
The line went dead for several seconds then he added, “She says she’s still waiting to be contacted. Are you sure they’re gone?”
“No, but I can’t see them anywhere. I’ll go talk to security and get them to run through the tapes for me.”
“Keep us updated.”
“Will do.”
I pushed away from the railing and made my way back down the stairs. Security was housed in a small room behind the ticket booth and cloak room and had been made aware of our presence, though they had not been told why we were here.
I punched the code in and opened the door. A big man with a thick gray beard briefly scanned my face then raised thick, bushy eyebrows. “Given that scowl and your scraped face, I take it there’s a problem?”
“Could be. I need to know if three women wearing short white dresses, pink sashes, and pink shoes exited the building, either via the front door or the side emergency exit, in the last half hour.”
“Well, if they did, they didn’t call any attention to themselves. It’s unlikely they would have gone out the emergency exit, though, as I get an alarm in here if that happens, and I didn’t.” He half shrugged. “I can run the recordings back if you want.”
“I want, thanks.”
I sat on the chair beside his and waited while he rewound both recordings the required amount, then stopped and hit Play. His screen split into two, the right side showing the front door, and the left the side exit. As he’d predicted, no one went out the latter, and the guard on duty there looked as bored as hell. At the main entrance, the two guards were kept busy not only by the morass of people coming out, but also the long line of people waiting less than patiently to get in. At the seventeen-minute mark, I spotted one of them.
“Stop,” I said. “Backtrack the right screen ten seconds.”
He froze both screens then rewound the right-side portion. It was Lanie, and with her was the lusty young man with grayish eyes. So much for Ginny saying she was above his pay grade.
“Can you screenshot that and send me the image?”
“Phone number?”
I told him. He hit several buttons, typed in my number, and a second later, my phone pinged. “Shall I continue on?”
“Please.”
Lanie and her evening’s good time turned left, walked past the line of people, and disappeared from the camera’s field of view. Five minutes later the other two bridesmaids came out. They walked over to the curb and, a few seconds later, a dark gray BMW in which two shadowy male figures sat pulled up. The rear door was opened; both climbed in and were quickly whisked away. They’d obviously known the driver and his companion because they’d shown no qualms about getting into the car. It was also pretty obvious they’d known what Monica had planned—at least before it all went wrong, and they wouldn’t know that bit—because why else would they leave the venue without raising any sort of fuss about their bride’s sudden absence from her own hen party?
I asked the guard to go back a few seconds then freeze the screen as the BMW pulled up. I jotted down its number plate and the time, then thanked him and left. After grabbing my jacket, I headed out the front door and walked down the street, heading in the same direction as Lanie and her man. While it was unlikely they remained in the area, I just wanted to see where the cameras were so we could pull their tapes and perhaps get some idea as to whether they’d caught a cab or if the young man had had a car parked close. Once I had a likely list, I double tapped the earwig again and updated Jack.
“I’ll run a rego check and see who owns the BMW, and requisition those tapes. Good night’s work.”
“You mean, aside from losing the woman we were supposed to be protecting.”
“Yeah, that aside,” he replied with a laugh. “You want me to send you an update when I get the rego deets?”
“Yes, because if Francesca and Marnee didn’t go back to their penthouse, I’ll need to go talk to the driver.”
“I can ring him and save you the time.”
“I’d rather talk to the man and read his energy responses.”
“You can tell someone is lying by just checking out their life energy?” Surprise and, rather weirdly, a hint of trepidation touched his tone.
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but basically, yes.”
