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“Delilah, thank the gods. I’ve been trying to reach you since last night, but you didn’t call me back.”
I glanced over at Zach. “I had . . . other things to attend to. Sorry. What’s up?”
“It’s about Chase.”
“What about him?” I didn’t want to hear that he was upset or off moping. He’d brought this onto himself, after all.
“Chase hasn’t checked in since around noon yesterday. He never just drops out of sight. I’m really worried something has happened to him.”
Her words slammed into my heart. “What do you mean? You think he’s in trouble?” A niggle in the pit of my stomach began to worm its way up to the surface.
“I mean just what I said. He hasn’t come in to work yet. Last night, he left early and I called him later with a problem, but he wasn’t home. I was a little worried but I thought maybe he had a family emergency or something, so I called you. Now I’m really concerned. He hasn’t been in yet. I’ve tried calling, but there’s no answer at his apartment.”
I bit my lip, tasting blood as one of my fangs accidentally caught the chapped skin where I’d forgotten to use the lip balm Camille had bought for me. Sharah was right. It was unlike Chase to vanish without leaving a get-in-touch number. He had too much respect for his job. But then again, he’d been leading a double life for a while now. Maybe Erika had messed with his sense of responsibility.
“Have you talked to Erika?” I asked, the words jarring me even as they tumbled out of my mouth. “Maybe she knows where he is.”
Sharah paused. She knew. And I knew she knew. After a moment, she cleared her throat. “I called her, but there was no answer. I’m sorry, Delilah. I don’t know what to say—”
I could feel Zach’s gaze fastened on me as my cheeks reddened. I hated blushing, hated feeling conspicuous and embarrassed. As tears welled up, I dashed them away before they fell and tried to focus on the matter at hand. The fact was—Erika or not—Chase wasn’t one to shirk his duties. If he could have called, he would have. Which meant something was wrong. Maybe it was car trouble. Maybe it was something else.
“Did you have somebody drop by his apartment?”
“No,” she said. “Not yet. I thought I’d make some calls before I did that. You wouldn’t be willing, would you? I understand if you want to say no, but there’s a bug going around, and we’re shorthanded here.”
I let out a long sigh. The last thing I needed to do was go chasing Chase, but something about the situation didn’t sit right.
“All right. I’ll drive over there and take a look. If he comes in before I get back to you, let me know so I can move on to my other errands for the day.” There were three case files sitting on my desk that needed attention. Nothing urgent, but they would pay next month’s utility and food bills.
“Will do, and thanks. Again, I’m sorry I had to call.”
As I slowly replaced the receiver, Zach slid his arm around my waist. “I think I got the gist of what’s happening. You need me to come with you?”
I shook my head. “Probably not the best idea. If I do find him, we have a lot to talk about. And if I don’t, well . . .” Leaving the thought untouched, I motioned toward the door. “Let’s go down and grab a bite of breakfast. What are your plans?”
He leisurely tied the belt on the robe and opened the door for me. “Oh, not a lot. Just talk to my campaign manager, get some head shots taken, and then this afternoon, there’s a fence out at the compound that needs replacing. I’m overseeing the work crew on that.” He paused. “Will you call me later and let me know how things went?”
I nodded. “Count on it. Let’s go find out how it went last night with the spirit seal.”
As we hurried into the kitchen, the only ones there were Smoky, Iris, and Maggie. Maggie was sitting on Smoky’s lap, playing with a strand of his hair, which was teasing her, tickling her belly.
Iris handed Zach a pair of jeans and a shirt and he went to the bathroom to change. She pointed to the range; one pan held scrambled eggs and another, thick slices of bacon. There were melon balls on the table, along with a stack of toast. I grabbed a slice and promptly plowed into it.
“Serve yourselves, please. I’m doing laundry and house-cleaning today. Camille’s already left for the shop, and Morio’s off to do the shopping. Menolly’s in her lair, of course, and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the demon twins today.”
I choked on a crumb. Iris had taken to calling Roz and Vanzir the demon twins, much to their chagrin. The rest of us found it amusing, but they—Vanzir in particular—didn’t appreciate her sense of humor.
“Knock yourself out. I promised Sharah I’d check on something for her. Chase has disappeared, and nobody can find him.”
“Great Mother, I hope he hasn’t come to harm.”
“I hope not either,” I muttered and sat down at the table, as Zach returned, dressed. I offered him a plate of eggs and bacon, but he shook his head.
Swiping a couple pieces of toast, he kissed me on the forehead. “I’d better head out. I’ll call you later. Bye, everyone.” Before I could see him off, he was out the door, and I watched at the window as he climbed into his truck and drove away. I turned back to Smoky, who sat there, watching me carefully.
“Tell me, how did it go with the spirit seal last night?” I returned to my chair and dug into the food, starving. We had high metabolisms, and Camille and I ate like storm troopers. Menolly would have, too, if she’d still been alive.
Smoky shrugged. “Your sister needs to work on her diplomacy, but overall, it went well.”
