Page 59 of The Truth Will Out
“Sam? What’s going on?”
“Is Rhys here?”
“No. I thought he was on his way to meet you. That’s what he told me.”
“We met, but I left him around forty minutes ago. Shit, where is he?” She removed her mobile from her pocket and punched in asingle number. Rhys’s phone rang and rang, but either he refused to answer it or was unable to. “Brenda, he might be ignoring my calls. Can you ring him?”
“Why would he do that?” Brenda asked as she dialled Rhys’s number. She put it on speaker phone. It rang out again.
“I’m not liking this one bit,” Sam said.
Bob withdrew his phone. “I’ll get on to the station and put an alert out for him. Don’t worry, Sam, we’ll find him.”
Sam paced back and forth until Bob finished his call. “Well?”
“Jason is on it now. He’s alerted all patrols to be on the lookout for him.”
“And the last you heard or saw of him was when he left the office on the way to meet me?”
Brenda nodded. “Yes. Oh, Sam, what does this mean?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is that we can’t just hang around here waiting for him to come back.” She handed Brenda a business card. “Ring me if he contacts you.”
“I will.”
Brenda was still talking, but Sam needed to get on the road. As they reached the street, Bob latched on to her arm.
“Wait, you’re not thinking straight. Give me your keys. I’m not prepared to let you drive when you’re in this state.”
“Fine. Take them.” She threw the keys at him with force and then apologised. “We need to take the route he would have taken to meet me.”
“He was on foot, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
They got in the car. Bob groaned and adjusted the seat to accommodate his longer legs. “I reckon we’re gonna be wasting our time. He’s probably taken the shortcut through the park.”
Sam placed a hand on her cheek and shook her head as the realisation dawned. “Shit, yes, you’re right. I never thought about that.” Sam tutted, her eyes darting to every passerby as they sped through town. “Where the fuck is he?”
“I know you’re not going to want to hear my suggestion, which is the obvious one.”
“No, I don’t. I’m trying not to think about it.”
They both fell silent and continued the search. Before long, they drew up outside the café. Sam threw open her car door and went inside.
“Sorry to trouble you. I was in here earlier.”
“Yes, I remember. Did you forget something?” the waitress asked.
“The man I was with… did he come back after I left?”
“No, at least I don’t think he did. Can’t you find him?”
Sam’s lip trembled, and she swallowed down the emotion that had surfaced in her throat. “He’s gone missing, and he’s not answering his phone.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. If he comes back, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. My fella is the same after we’ve had an argument. He always denies the phone ringing at his end. I’m sure things will turn out for the best later.”
Sam smiled and backed out of the café.
