Part 20 (1/2)
”Mine, either.” Victoria paused. ”She usually calls me back, eventually. She would have called by now, especially after the last message I left.”
”Why? What did you say?”
”I yelled at her.”
Jill could imagine. ”Did you check the house again?”
”Yes, and I don't think she's been home. The car is there.”
”How about the cat?”
”I don't know, I didn't check. I never see that cat.”
Jill sank into her chair, her gaze wandering over the things in her office, ending with the miserable ficus. ”Do you have any idea where she could be?”
”No, none.”
”Is there anyone she would turn to?”
”Not that I know of, in particular.”
”What about Neil Straub? Would she call or contact him?”
”I guess that's possible,” Victoria answered, sounding encouraged. ”It makes sense she'd contact him, but I don't have Neil's number or address.”
”I have his address. It's in Manhattan. I can go see him tomorrow, on my day off.”
”No, I can go. I'm going into the city tonight, for dinner.”
”I don't think you should. It might not be safe.” Jill caught herself before she called Victoria ”honey.” ”If Neil had anything to do with your father's death-”
”That again?” Victoria scoffed, cold again. ”Enough. Stop with that.”
”Please, let me go instead. It can wait a day.”
”Dad wasn't murdered, and Neil is his best friend. I can go see if she's there, I'm a big girl. What's the address?”
Jill told her. ”Let me know what happens, okay? You have my cell number.”
”Good-bye,” Victoria said abruptly, hanging up.
Jill hung up. If Victoria was going to see Neil Straub, now Jill was worried about her.
And just like that, Jill was a mother of three, again.
Worried, times three.
Chapter Thirty.
”What happened?” Jill said into her cell phone, when Victoria called back. It was after dinner, and she was in the kitchen, returning calls from patients and charting on the laptop. Sam was reading in the family room, and Megan was upstairs in the shower.
”Neil wasn't home. The guy at the desk buzzed. It's a doorman building.”
”They called the apartment from downstairs?”
”Yes. It's 4-D, but he didn't answer.” Victoria sounded cool, almost businesslike. But not angry, so Jill counted that as progress.
”When were you there?”
”I made them try when I got there, around six o'clock, then I went for dinner and came back later, at eleven. Neil still wasn't home, and I still haven't heard back from Abby. Have you?”
”No.” Jill rubbed her forehead, slouching behind her laptop. It had been a long day at work, and she'd seen a slew of flu, colds, and sinus infections that didn't respond to antibiotics. If she could bottle the resourcefulness of a sinus infection, she could find Abby in no time. ”Did they tell you when Neil's expected back?”
”No, they don't know.”
”When did they see him last?”
”They didn't say.”
”Did they see Abby?”
”They didn't say that, either.”
”Did you ask?”
”Yes, but they said they don't give out information about the residents. They blew us off.”
”Who's us?”
”My friend Brian came with me, after dinner.”
”Did you tell them it was an emergency?”
”Yes, but they still wouldn't tell me anything about the residents.”
”Understood.” Jill felt momentarily stumped. Her gaze s.h.i.+fted restlessly around the kitchen. The dishwasher thrummed, and the granite countertops glistened. ”The fact that Neil isn't there doesn't mean much. He could be elsewhere with Abby. So the issue is if the doorman has seen Abby, or if anybody else around the building has, like other tenants.”
Victoria snorted. ”They for sure won't let me ask any other tenants.”
”You don't have an office address for Neil?”
”No.”
”Do you know the name of his company, if he has one?”