Page 61 of The Attercop

She walked toward him. “What are you talking about? What do you mean Jules is missing? And who’s got Declan?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“Come here,” Mrs B said reaching out and taking his hand. She led him to the couch and sat him down. “I’ll go and make us some coffee and then you can—” She was interrupted by Duck howling upstairs. “Duck. Get down here this instant,” she yelled, “and stop that racket.”

Charlie heard the clatter of dog claws on wood and shortly found himself in the presence of the dog, who sidled up to Charlie and placed his very sad-looking face on his knee.

Mrs B came out of the kitchenette a few moments later and placed two cups of coffee on the table. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a dog biscuit and gave it to Duck. The dog took it in his mouth, then proceeded to place it on the table with the coffees.

“Now, start from the beginning.”

Charlie told Mrs B everything about Jules. He told her how she had disappeared. He told her about his phone being lost. He told her how he was trying to find out more information about her. And then he told her how he’d found Declan’s van, but Declan wasn’t there. “This isn’t like him. Something’s happened, I just know it.”

“We have to go to the police with this,” she said, standing.

“I’ve already called Sam, and he called Gary Sawchuck.”

“All right,” Mrs B said. “So let’s start with Jules. You said you were trying to track down information on her. Did you have any luck?”

Charlie quickly got up and ran to his office and Mrs B followed. The computer program was still running. It was too early to draw any conclusions, but it looked like the search hadn’t achieved much. Charlie groaned. “The computer should have found more than this by now. I don’t know what to do next.”

Mrs B patted his hand. “Maybe she was just testing you. Maybe she’ll walk through the door and everything will be just fine.”

The alarm system chirped and the sound of footsteps echoed up the stairwell. Mrs B and Charlie left his office and looked at the door expectantly. The knob turned and the door opened. It wasn’t Jules, and it wasn’t Declan. Instead, in walked Sam Hunt, followed closely by Gwen.

“So is Declan back yet?” Sam asked.

Charlie shook his head.

Sam chewed on his lower lip, staring past Charlie. “You really think that someone would do him harm? Has he pissed anyone off lately?”

“He was trying to figure that out,” Charlie replied. “He made a list. It’s on his desk.”

Sam sighed. “Well, maybe I should check it out, especially given the break-in.”

“Break-ins,” Charlie said.

Sam scowled at him. “Right. The bakery and up here.”

Charlie paused. “That’s not all of them.”

“What?” Sam barked.

“Declan’s therapist’s office was broken into last week, and it looks like Declan’s file was the only thing they were interested in.”

“Hold on,” Sam said as he scribbled down some notes. “His therapist’s office was broken into? Why didn’t you or Declan tell me about this sooner?”

“Declan didn’t want to worry you,” Charlie said. “And we weren’t one hundred per cent sure it’s all linked. It was just a lot of weird things going on in quick succession, including the attack on the boy at Bar-None.”

“Gary told me about that. From what I’ve seen, my son’s life is soaked in weird things. I mean,you’rethe sanest thing to happen to him in years.”

Charlie wasn’t sure if he should take that as a compliment.

Gwen moved toward Charlie. “Sam’ll sort this out.” She turned away, flushed and obviously trying to hide her concern. “Why don’t I make us all some fresh coffee.” She quickly made her way to the kitchenette.

Sam crossed his arms. “Look, Charlie, it’s still early. Declan’s been gone less than twelve hours. Let me give Gary Sawchuck a call and see if they’ve seen any action near the van.”

“He would have called if they had, wouldn’t he?” Charlie asked.