Chapter 6

Corinna checked her cell phone, only to frown at the empty display. It was 12:15 P.M., and Ruby had yet to call her. They'd promised Tony they'd be home by noon. At this rate, they would return late, making her brother worry for no reason.

"I'd better call her." She released Robert's hand so she could access Ruby's number and put her phone to her ear. Ruby's voice mail answered in lieu of a ring, and Corinna frowned. "That's weird." With a prickle of concern, she A prickling of concern, she finished her mocha Frappuccino in one big gulp. "Something's wrong. Her phone's not even turned on."

Robert met her statement with skepticism. "She's probably listening to the organ recital. Maybe they ask people to turn their phones off."

"I doubt that." Macy's giant organ, the largest functioning pipe organ in the world, gave a thunderous Christmas recital every two hours during the holiday season. A ringing cell phone wouldn't begin to disturb the sonorous performance. Corinna's phone buzzed and she immediately snatched it up, only to cringe as she recognized Tony's number. "Hello?"

"Yo, where are you girls? You said you'd be home by noon. Mama's got lunch ready."

"Uh…" Dread strangled Corinna's vocal cords. She pushed a reluctant confession through her tight throat. "I'm not actually with Ruby right now."

"What?"

His confusion inspired guilt, though she wasn't about to bring up Robert. "She…she said I could go to Starbucks while she finished her shopping, and I haven't heard from her since." The silence on Tony's end had her holding her breath.

"Have you tried calling her at all? Has she answered her phone for you?"

"All I get is her voice mail. Maybe her battery died."

"She charged it all night. You were supposed to stay together."

The reproach in his voice made her face burn. "What about your Find My service?"

"I'll try that now. Then I'm gonna come pick you up and we'll go looking for Ruby. You still at Starbucks?"

"Yes."

"And the keys to your Escort are where?"

"On my dresser in my room."

"Give me ten minutes. Stay inside until you see me pull up."

"I will." Ending the call, Corinna met Robert's watchful gaze. "You'd better disappear. My brother's on his way, and you don't want to meet him right now."

Robert's eyebrows quirked. "Does his wife do this often?"

"Enough to make him crazy. Hopefully he'll find her using his own phone. I just…I have a bad feeling." Ruby's interview with Katz yesterday stood at the forefront of her mind. How far would Katz go to keep Ruby from pursuing the rumor she'd brought up?

"Let me know if I can help."

"Thank you." Corinna slipped off her stool, hugged Robert good-bye, then went to wait by the door for Tony.

Out the corner of her eye, she could see Robert studying her in the same protective way Tony watched her. He didn't go anywhere, just watched over her as she waited for Tony. She dialed Ruby's number again, getting the same result. When her Escort pulled into the parking lot minutes later, she sent Robert a tiny nod, dashed outside, and slipped into the passenger seat.

If the set of Tony's jaw was any indication, the Find My service had told him something bad. "What did you find out?"

"She's not shopping."

"What? But she was all excited about the sales at Macy's."

"Her phone is somewhere off the highway. See for yourself." He plucked his iPhone out of the cupholder and handed it to her.

Corinna found herself staring at a map with a blue dot near an access ramp leading to I-95 North. "I mean, there's a little dog park there. She probably drove right past the Wanamaker Garage and got lost, and now she's asking someone for directions."

"I've told her never to get out of her car. It's not safe." He took the phone back and wedged it into the cupholder again.

Since when did Ruby ever play it safe?Corinna swallowed the question.

Tony turned left at the light, then right on Race Street, making the street live up to its name by accelerating way past the speed limit and whipping through traffic. A glance down at the phone showed them closing in on the blue dot, which hadn't moved.

Corinna looked up. "She ought to be right on this ramp coming up."

"Yep."

Instead of slowing down, Tony pulled them onto the tight-turning ramp at a speed that caused her tires to squeal. But Ruby's Range Rover didn't suddenly appear. In fact, the ramp was completely empty. Tony glanced down at his phone, then slowed abruptly, pulling them close to the guardrail before parking. He picked his phone up while cracking his door.

Vehicles were whizzing past them. "Stay in the car, seat belt on."

With a glance in his mirror, he vaulted out of the driver's seat, went around the idling Escort, and stepped over the guardrail into the clumps of dead grass growing between the ramp and the tall chain-link fence hemming in the dog park. A glance at his phone had him doubling back along the fence line.

With her breath sawing in and out in the quiet car, Corinna watched him. How could Ruby have vanished in the scant time they'd been apart? Craning her neck to keep an eye on her brother, Corinna spotted him bending over. Her breath caught when he straightened with something in his hand. His expression turned thunderous. As he marched back to the car, her stomach swiveled unpleasantly.

A puff of cold air accompanied him as he got back into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. "Found her phone." His voice was hoarse, his complexion gray with worry.

Corinna stared at the brand-new iPhone Tony cupped in his hand. It must have been turned off when he found it because it was still coming back to life. As he waited with grim calm for it to come online, Corinna pictured Katz's assistant chucking Ruby's phone out the window of their moving car.

At the verge of entering Ruby's passcode, Tony glanced her way and did a double take. "What?"

"I might know who's behind this," Corinna admitted.

His dark pupils seemed to expand as they focused on her. She had his full attention now. "Talk," he ordered with so much intensity that she had to swallow to find her voice.

With her car's windows fogging as it idled, Corinna relayed the story of their interview of Katz the day before. Her halting explanation made Tony pale even more. She told him how they'd hidden in the office building after the interview and how they'd overheard Katz's assistant say that they'd taken care of the leak.

Tony covered his eyes with a hand and whispered, "Sweet Jesus."

Knowing how spiritual he was, she interpreted the exclamation as a prayer for help. "I filmed the whole interview. I have it at home on my camera," she added in case he wanted proof.

Tony dragged his hand down his face. Corinna thought he might call 911 or drive like a madman to their mother's house. Instead, he accessed his contacts on his phone and placed a phone call. "Sir." His strained voice radiated alarm. "Tell me you didn't give Stasky's book to The Washington Post yet. I just found out Ruby interviewed Katz yesterday." He relayed what Corinna had just told him. "And now she's missing. I found her phone lying in the grass off an exit ramp leading to the highway. You think this guy is capable of—" Tony's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I think he just snatched Ruby."

* * *

Tony couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. This wasn't the first time Ruby's actions had left him bathing in a cold sweat. But it might well be the last.

His CO's voice seemed to come at him from a great distance. "How could she know anything about Katz?"

"I don't know." Ruby had a nose for corruption. Tony didn't ask why or how. "She just knows. She questioned Katz yesterday about an incident in his past."

"Are you sure she's missing?"

"Pretty sure. I'm gonna backtrack, see if she ever even made it to Macy's, where she was headed. It's possible somebody just stole her phone, then threw it away when they realized it could be traced."

"Call the police if you don't find her."

James's calm, implacable voice helped to focus Tony's splintered thoughts.

"Report her disappearance, but don't say a word about Katz or we'll lose the advantage of surprise. Call me back with any updates."

"Yes, sir." Tony thumbed in the passcode to Ruby's phone, then handed it to Corinna. "Look up her texts and any recent phone calls. Tell me what you see."

With an eye on his mirror, he threw the car into Drive and accelerated up the ramp, continuing onto the highway.

"There's nothing here," Corinna reported a minute later.

Tony was busy making his way back to City Center. "You sure? No text, no calls, nothing?"

"Nothing."

While giving him zilch to go by, Corinna's reply eased the worry that Ruby had lied about wanting to shop the Black Friday sales. Realizing she'd already lied about wanting to see the parade made his stomach hurt. If only she'd told him she was interviewing the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. Tony would have heard James's story last night and immediately put two and two together. He would have protected Ruby, and this horrible fear that something irrevocable had happened wouldn't be fisting his intestines.

Stifling a curse, he slapped the steering wheel, causing Corinna to startle away from him.

"Sorry." He swooped off an exit ramp in order to double back to Macy's. "I just don't understand why my own family is keeping secrets from me."

Corinna hugged herself, looking miserable.

"Did she tell you not to say anything?"

"Sort of. She said she wouldn't take me to see Hamilton over Christmas break."

"Ugh." Tony shook his head in disgust. That sounded exactly like something Ruby would say. "She has no idea how dangerous this guy is."

"He shot a kid and his mother." Corinna's voice wobbled. Tears brimmed in her lovely eyes.

Tony glanced at her, dumbstruck. "You know about that?"

"Ruby asked him about it directly."

Oh no. "What did he say?"

"He denied it. Said it was the opposition making up stories to discredit him. And yet we overheard his assistant mention a leak they'd taken care of. Of course, he didn't know we were listening."

Tony pictured Ruby hiding out of sight, eavesdropping on the man she'd interviewed.

Staskiewicz.That had to be the leak the assistant was talking about.

Tony blew out a breath as panic threatened to impair his thinking. Everything James had told him over the phone last night Ruby already knew. Boy, was she clever! But she'd bitten off more than she could chew this time around. "We gotta call the cops." But first he needed to give them something to work with. "When's the last time you actually saw her?"

"Um. When she dropped me off at Starbucks."

Tony swung an incredulous look at her. "You didn't even go shopping with her?"

"Robert had the day off," Corinna blurted, clearly on the verge of bursting into tears. "Ruby knew I wanted to see him, so she dropped me off."

"Your boyfriend is to blame?"

Corinna's eyes flashed as her own temper ignited. "Don't you dare put this on him!"

"Unbelievable!" Tony gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles hurt. Focus. He ground his molars, forcing himself to think. "Where did you tell Ruby to park?"

"I gave her directions to the garage under the Wanamaker Building."

He was approaching the latter right that second. Flipping on his turn signal, Tony headed into the underground parking area, where he was forced to stop at an automated gate and get a ticket. Ruby would've had to do the same thing. "Look for cameras," he instructed Corinna. "And keep an eye out for Ruby's car."

Maybe they would find it parked here. Maybe she was somewhere inside of City Center shopping and having a grand time, completely unaware that her phone had been stolen. But who would steal a phone, only to throw it away almost at once?

The tires on Corinna's Escort squealed on the smooth cement as Tony circled his way through the parking garage, eyes peeled for Ruby's Range Rover.

Nowhere. He didn't see it anywhere.

There was one car, an old Volvo, that caught his eye because its license plate was missing.

He executed a three-point turn on the lowest level and started back toward the entrance, where he intended to call the police. He drove around a syringe some junkie had tossed down onto the cement. That really ought to go into a trash can.

As he neared the elevator, his gaze landed on a trash can not twenty yards away with trash overflowing from it, including a license plate of all things. He almost drove right past it, but when his intuition niggled, he jammed on the brakes.

Someone had tried to wedge not one, but two completely good Virginia plates into a trash can overflowing from Thursday's parade. Tony pulled them out and stared, acid burning his esophagus. They didn't belong to the Volvo. They were Ruby's plates.

Corinna had one foot out of the car and was staring at him over the top of her Escort. "What'd you find?"

Icy with shock, he held up the personalized plates, I XPOZ U, for her to see as he walked automatically toward her.

Corinna's jaw had dropped. "Somebody took the plates off her car and stole it?"

They should never have brought her Range Rover to Philly. "Whoever drives that Volvo put his plates on her Rover." The words he was saying actually encouraged him since the police would jump all over a stolen vehicle, whereas they'd wait twenty-four hours to take action on a missing person's report.

Dropping back behind the wheel, Tony took out his phone and tapped three numbers with a tremor in his fingers.

"911. What is your emergency?"

"I'd like to report a stolen vehicle and a missing person."

By the time he hung up, Corinna was crying quietly, her face in her hands. She lowered them to raise her tearstained eyes at him. "This is all my fault!"

Tony palmed the back of her head and pulled her into his arms, taking as much comfort from her fierce embrace as he was giving. "No, it's not." In fact, if the women hadn't gone their separate ways, Corinna might have been kidnapped, too. "I'm thinkin' it's a good thing you had coffee with your boyfriend."

At his comment, Corinna pulled back far enough to search his expression. "You think we would've both disappeared?" The color drained from her face.

"Yeah." If this was anyone's fault, it was his. Clearly, Ruby didn't trust him to support her investigations. She didn't see him as her teammate, which put her at serious disadvantage. Tony faced danger with his fellow SEALs, but Ruby worked alone. She kept her business to herself because Tony had a habit of overprotecting.

But his fears were well founded. Powerful men did not take lightly to having skeletons dragged out of their closets. Just look at what had happened to Staskiewicz.

God, please don't let that happen to Ruby.

If Ruby ended up murdered…Tony refused to consider the possibility.