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“No.”
“Is there any sign of anything unusual?”
“Like what?”
“A struggle?”
Good point. “No.”
“The door’s not busted in? No damage?”
“No.” I move up the hallway and examine the door lock. It looks much like it always does.
“Have a look around, see if you can see anything that’s missing, but don’t disturb anything. We’re coming over.”
When Janus arrives, concern is etched into his face. Once he’s inside the door, he looks around like he’s expecting Fabian to materialize from somewhere. Then he starts walking through the apartment.
“And it was all just like this? Yeah?”
“Yes, except I’ve found his two other phones.”
Janus’s eyes swing to mine. “How many has he got?”
“Three, I think. An ordinary one. A secret one, and a burner.”
Janus lets out a long whistle. “Three phones!”
Jo shakes her head. “Why wouldn’t you take a phone with you?”
“Maybe he didn’t have time?” Janus mumbles. “It’s really odd. Why wasn’t the alarm set if he went out this morning?”
“Unless he was too spaced out and forgot to put the alarm on last night and then someone turned up who was a threat,” I say.
“The door’s not damaged, though: He wouldn’t open it,” Janus points out.
“Okay, okay. Let’s be logical here and try and rule things out,” Jo says. “What are our options? He went out for milk, he’s out doing parkour or running, he’s been kidnapped by these people whoever they are, he’s on the run, he’s passed out somewhere, he’s fallen in the river, committed suicide, got hit by a car.”
My chest feels like someone has it in a vice, and my eyes fill with tears.
Jo makes a face. “Oh God, I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have said all that.” She steps into me and pulls me into a warm hug.
“I can’t lose him too,” I mumble into her jacket.
“Have you checked the ER?” she says, and I pull back.
“Goddammit!” She’s right. The most likely explanation is always the simplest one. And if he took some more drugs … I fumble in my pocket for my phone with shaking hands.
“I’ll check his phones and see if I can find a number for that guy we met, Darren, see if he’s out with anyone.” Jo says.
Twenty minutes later, we’ve a big fat zero.
“Darren’s organizing the guys to go out and check their usual places. He said some of them weren’t the safest for a person on their own, but also that he didn’t think it was likely that Fabian would go there alone,” Jo says.
“What was he like when you left him, Kate?”
“High as a kite.”
“Fuck, that’s not good. I thought he’d packed that shit in?”
