Page 58 of The Attercop

“Sorry, Charlie. He left about a quarter after ten.”

Charlie glanced at his watch. It was past eleven. “Did he happen to say where he was going?”

“As far as I know, he was heading home,” Mickey replied.

Charlie frowned. “Well, he’s not here now. If he comes back to the bar, tell him I need him.”

“You okay, Charlie?”

“I just need to talk to Declan as soon as I can.”

Charlie hung up.

Maybe Declan was looking into something connected to the break-ins and he’d just lost track of time. Charlie knew Declan could take care of himself. If he didn’t hear from him in a few hours, then he would start to worry. Right now, he had to focus on Jules.

He tried calling her cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. He left a message. “It’s Charlie. I need to know you’re safe. Call me!”

If he hadn’t lost his phone, he could have used it to track hers. He banged the desk in frustration as he remembered the last thing Declan had said to him—‘Don’t Fuck Up’. Well, this was the greatest fuck-up of all times.

“Think, Watts!” he yelled.

His training had taught him that the best way to track a missing person was to review everything you knew about them. Charlie realised that he didn’t actually know a lot about Jules. The assignment hadn’t been to spy on her, it had been to protect her, so he hadn’t done his usual research.

Charlie focused his thoughts.If you’re going to look into someone’s life, you start at home.The only thing he knew about her home was it was apparently well equipped with panic buttons, and the friend of her father’s was staying there. Why hadn’t he gotten the contact information for him?

“Stupid,stupid,stupid!”

Focus.

Maybe she hadn’t been kidnapped. Maybe she’d just given him the slip and ifhewas going to give someone the slip—andwasn’t carrying everything he needed to run with—home was the place he’d go. It was as good a place to start as any.

Charlie located the contract with Jules’ father and found what he was looking for. He ran downstairs, got back in his car and drove to the address on file.

Charlie had assumed the house would be an up-scale place, given that Jules had left him with the impression that she came from money. In fact, the home was a fairly plain, two-storey building on a nondescript street in Southwest Calgary.

There were no lights on but Charlie walked up to the front door and rang the bell anyway. There was no response. No Jules. But where was her father’s friend? Maybe he’d taken the night off since Charlie was supposed to be on guard.

Charlie walked around the property and all was quiet. Everythingseemedin order, just no Jules.

The clock was ticking. He would have to bite the bullet and call Jules’ father.

Charlie returned to the office, then dialled the number on the contract. It went straight to voicemail. “The party you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please leave a message.”

“Uh, yeah, Mr Slate, I’m calling from Declan Hunt Investigations. I’m afraid that Jules has given me—oh, I’m Charlie Watts, by the way. I’m heading up your daughter’s protection detail. Like I was saying, I’m afraid that Jules got away from me. I was wondering if you had heard anything from her in the last…let’s say three hours. Please give me a call.” He left the office’s number and hung up.

What next? He’d already talked to everyone at the Den & Black. Of the places he and Jules had been today, that only left the coffee shop. He checked the time. It was now well past midnight and the coffee shop would be closed. That would have to wait until morning.

As for calling the police—they wouldn’t do anything until she was missing for over twenty-four hours.

Where the fuck is Declan?

Charlie decided to use the time until Declan got back from wherever he was to track down everything he could about Jules. His best work wasn’t in the field, it was at the computer keyboard. He needed to concentrate, but the office was too damned quiet. Charlie had never been able to focus in the vacuum of silence, so he turned to his computer and pulled up a music streaming app. A song blared out of the speakers—

I just want to have it all

Don’t care if it’s big or small

I just can’t shake it