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Empty drawers were laying scattered on the floor, a mess of hangers thrown across the top of the bed, and the suitcases that she’d stashed under the bed were gone.
“Great. Just great,” I muttered, raking my fingers through my hair as I pulled it into a ponytail. After securing it with an elastic band, I turned and jogged back downstairs. I retrieved my phone from my purse and dialed Alesha. The call rang and rang until the voicemail clicked on and said it was too full to take any new messages.
She blocked me?
“Ugh!”
My next call was to Nick to let him know there’d been a change in plans.
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“Just that. She’s gone. She fucking packed up all of her shit. In a hurry, from the looks of it. And she’s gone.”
“Shit, that’s crazy.”
“Tell me about it,” I seethed. “I mean where does she think she’s gonna go, with what, maybe a couple hundred—oh my God.”
“What?” Nick asked, his voice heightened with concern.
“Hang on,” I said, rushing back to my purse. I popped open my wallet. “Fuck! She took it!”
“Took what? Carly, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”
I slammed the wallet back down into my purse. “My dad transferred like five grand into my account once I agreed to babysit Alesha this summer. It was to cover her expenses and all. I transferred it all to one of those prepaid cards so it was separate from my personal account. Anyway, when we were at the pet store the other night, I made a joke about using it instead of my own debit card. She asked what it was, and I told her it was some money from Dad. Now it’s gone!”
“Holy shit. Five grand?”
“Yeah. She could literally go anywhere…” A sick pit filled my stomach and the room spun. Where would she try to go? To Greece? Back home to Phoenix? To her boyfriend—or, ex-boyfriend’s college? Had she told me where it was he was attending?
“Shit, shit, shit!”
“Okay, hey, calm down. Take a deep breath. We’ll find her.”
“I already tried calling her and it went to voicemail but told me it was full. I think she must have blocked my number.” I ripped the ponytail out and tossed my hair with frustration. “I have to call my dad.”
The thought froze my veins. I didn’t want to call him, hours after I’d assured him I could handle Alesha, and tell him she was missing and that she’d stolen all the money he’d sent. He wasn’t likely to care about the money. It was a drop in a very large bucket to him, but knowing that I lost Alesha…
“I should have sent her to Grandma’s,” I muttered to myself, momentarily forgetting that Nick was on the other line.
“I’ll head over and we can go look for her. Together.”
I shook my head. “There’s nothing you can do to help.”
The words echoed back and felt like a slap on the face. “Sorry, Nick, I just mean there’s nothing to really do. Can you just watch Lady for me? I’ll keep you posted. Okay?”
“All right, Carly. If that’s what you want.”
My heart squeezed at the hollow sound of Nick’s voice, but the urge to slow down and fix things with him was swallowed up by another wave of panic. “Thanks. Bye.”
I clicked off the call and quickly launched into the next.
Someone had to have seen her.
That was a perk of living in a small town.
19
Nick
* * *
“Hey Adams, what are you still doing here?”
I turned at the sound of Aaron’s voice. He was striding through the door into the hangar, dressed in a fresh set of coveralls. “What are you doing here?” He’d left an hour or so beforehand to go out to dinner with Gemma.
“Gemma got called into work for an emergency surgery. Figured I’d come here and see what I could get done before she gets home.” He crossed over to the desk where we’d been collecting notes as we worked through the repairs of the F-4. “I figured you’d be out with Carly.”
I shrugged. “Me too. She just called to cancel. Alesha’s gone missing.”
“Missing?” Aaron’s eyebrows shot up as he looked over at me.
“Well run off is probably more the term. Carly called when she got home, said Alesha packed up her shit and left. Stole a debit card in the process.”
“Shit…” Aaron groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s like last summer all over again. Damn that girl.”
“What happened last summer?” I vaguely remembered Carly mentioning Alesha had gotten into trouble in the past but couldn’t recall the specifics.
“Alesha came up here to the museum, sweet as pie, with a trunk load of desserts from Carly’s shop. I wasn’t here, I was out at an auction, and my assistant at the time, signed off on the delivery, paid the invoice, which was over five hundred bucks from company funds. Alesha pocketed the cash, took off with some scuzzball, up to Santa Monica. Scared Carly half to death and when they found her, she was drunk off her ass and high as a kite.”
