A Perfect Canvas

  Chapter 15

  Eddie kept the accelerator on the floor until he turned into Red Rooster Coffee’s parking lot. It was the last place he knew Paige had been.

  Tabitha was being an idiot just as Officer Tucker had been an idiot. That man was completely incompetent. Eddie didn’t believe he had spoken to Paige, he didn’t believe anyone had spoken to her. And now hours had been wasted.

  Paige’s Volkswagon was parked in front of him. No sign of Paige. He climbed out of the car, rushed into the coffee shop. Still no sign of Paige. He hurried by a few of the nearby businesses, peering in as he went. No Paige. He stopped at her car, unlocked the doors, looked inside. Nothing.

  He raced back inside the coffee shop, asked around. Asked the employees working the counter and the customers sitting near the window if they’d seen anyone with Paige’s description. Seen anyone get out of the VW parked in the lot. No one had seen a thing.

  Eddie climbed back behind the wheel of his car. The city sprawled across six hundred square miles, and Paige could be anywhere in it. Maybe even beyond it by now. A large army would have trouble finding her. Going on a one-man manhunt wasn’t really a practical option. He didn’t have a single clue as to where she might be, where else he should look. He’d left messages everywhere he knew to leave them.

  He contemplated calling the police again, but quickly decided against it. What would he say? That his wife had left her car in a coffee shop parking lot? That he hadn’t talked to her all day? If he called 911, the police wouldn’t do anything but chide him. Then he remembered James Vann. Why hadn’t he thought of him sooner?

  James Vann was a detective Eddie had done some graphic design work for. Eddie looked up his number on his cell and punched send. James was a tall gangly man in his early fifties who spoke with an unenunciated drawl. But you couldn’t let his accent fool you. The man held doctorates in both criminology and philosophy. His favorite hobby was fencing, and his second favorite hobby was dabbling in the stock market where he’d made a small fortune. He also happened to sing country music. But that wasn’t the reason why Eddie was calling him. The man owed Eddie a favor.

  On the third ring, James answered. “Hello?”

  “James? Eddie Knight. Remember me?”

  “Sure, how could I forget you kid? You did the cover art on my CD. Great job you did. Did I ever tell you that? Well, you did. Thanks for doin’ it. So how are things going?”

  “It’s probably nothing,” Eddie said.

  “Then I’ll still owe you one, won’t I?”

  Eddie smiled, weaved in and out of traffic. James was definitely one of the good guys. It only took him a few minutes to fill James in on what had happened at the restaurant with Nicholas. And it only took James a few seconds to tell Eddie there wasn’t much he could do about it.

  “You just don’t have enough, kid. You have any idea how many guys out there are named Nicholas? I mean if you’d have seen the license plate on his car that’d be something. The best I can do with what you have is pull a list of every Nick, Nicholas, and Nicolai that’s in our database and see if anybody looks like they fit the part. But that’s going to be one long list, and it’s going to take you some time to look at all those ugly mugs.”

  Eddie didn’t have time to go looking through a bunch of mug shots. Not now.

  “She could be in serious trouble, James. What if he has her? What would you do?”

  James was silent for a moment. “Good point. She carry a cell phone?”

  “Always.”

  “Give me the number. I’ll see what I can do with that. In the meantime you could file a missing persons report, but it won’t amount to much. It’s not as if they’ll send out an army of police choppers and uniforms to hunt for her.”

  “Do I need to come in to file the report?”

  “No. I can do it over the phone for you. Why don’t you give me a call after ten. If she hasn’t shown up, I’ll file the missing persons report. Until then, I’ll see what I can chase down with her cell phone number. It may take a while though.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it. Chances are this is nothing. Some guy who has an interest in Paige flexin’ his muscles and all. You’ll probably never see him again. But just to be safe why don’t you stick to public places. Keep your eyes open. If he shows his face again, you give me a call.”

  “Will do.”

  Finally someone was helping. Finally someone else was looking for Paige. All he could do now was head for the club and wait. Hope that she was okay. Hope that she showed.