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We’re still at the restaurant, meet us by the front door when you can get away, please.
The heat of my anger chilled abruptly, a sense of foreboding sliding over me despite the innocuous wording.
I dragged my attention back to Shani. “He didn’t text me.”
She frowned. “That does seem odd. I mean, I assume it’s odd?”
“It’s definitely odd,” I confirmed. My emotional reaction aside, this was out of character. Nat was a workaholic at the best of times. Nothing made sense about him leaving in the middle of our grand reopening, without bothering to tell anyone.
“Let’s get the restaurant closed for the night,” I said.
Before I joined the rest of the employees in getting everything cleaned up and stowed for the night, I fired off a quick text to Nat’s phone.
What the fuck, Nat?
And then, a second later, another one.
Are you all right?
By the time everything was locked up, I was exhausted... my earlier glee over the night’s success gone as though it had never been. I made a point of thanking everyone for their hard work and played up how well we’d done. It was clear that Shani, at least, wasn’t buying it. She hung back after the others left for the night.
“Give me a call if you need anything, okay?” she said.
I nodded and tried to smile. “I’m sure he had a reason for taking off like this.” I couldn’t quite bring myself to say ‘avalidreason.’
“I’m sure he did,” she agreed kindly.
Normally, I would have left by the employee entrance with the others—but there was also Zalen’s mysterious message. I wasn’t actually sure they would still be there. Closing up took time, and they might have gotten tired of waiting. I left by the front door, locking up behind me. Sure enough, Zalen and Emiel were outside, worry spiking their scents. There was no sign of Byron or Luca.
“Mia,” Zalen said. “Thank goodness. We’ve got a problem.”
“Where are the others?” I demanded with growing alarm.
“We don’t know.” Zalen’s tone was clipped. “They didn’t come back to the table. Luca rode here with Emiel, but we found Byron’s car a block over, still parked and locked up tight.”
The chill in my blood froze to solid ice in an instant. “Nat disappeared in the middle of the service.” I couldn’t keep a quaver from entering my voice. “No one saw where he went, and he didn’t leave a message.”
“You tried his phone?” Zalen asked.
“I texted. I didn’t try calling.” Pulling out my phone, I found Nat’s contact and hit the call button. “You tried theirs, I’m guessing?”
“No answer from either one,” Zalen replied.
A faint ringing came from around the corner of the restaurant, growing louder. Candy appeared from the alley housing the employee door, holding a phone in a familiar navy-blue case as though she were afraid of it being a bomb.
“Um... I found this in the alley,” she said nervously. “The screen’s cracked. I think someone dropped it. And now it’s ringing.”
I hit the end call button on my phone. The ringing stopped.
Candy held out the battered cell phone, and I took it as Zalen and Emiel looked on.
“Thanks,” I told Candy, the word emerging hoarse. “I’ll take care of it.”
She gave the three of us an uncertain smile. “Okay, then. See you tomorrow, boss.”
“Good night.” My voice sounded far away.
Once she’d left, I lifted my gaze to meet Emiel’s, and then Zalen’s. “Whathappened? What do we do now?”