10
ON MONDAY MORNING the Leahys picked up Carrie and took her to her first rehearsal, and Stone went to work in his office, as usual. Shortly after ten o’clock, Joan buzzed Stone. “Bob Cantor on one.”
Stone pressed the button. “Good morning, Bob. Did you have a nice weekend?”
“I did until a minute ago,” Cantor said.
“What’s up?”
“I had my people in Atlanta on Max Long all weekend. They found a cooperative guard on the apartment complex gate who let them in for a hundred. He was in and out until yesterday afternoon, and then he seemed to hunker down for the evening. Then, this morning, FedEx delivered the box I sent him, and nobody answered the door. Since it required a signature, the guy put it back on the truck.
“My guy got suspicious when this happened. He called Long’s phone number, but there was no answer. Finally, he looked in some windows, and there’s nobody home. His car is still parked outside.”
“So, he got past your guy?”
“His place is on the ground floor; he could have left by a back window and called a cab, I guess. This is not good.”
“No, it’s not. Did the airline’s reservation computer alarm go off?”
“Nope.”
“If he booked under a false name, he’d have to show ID at the ticket counter, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes, but he could have made a reservation under another name and had an e-ticket e-mailed to him.”
“Have you warned the Leahys?”
“Yep, and that’s about all we can do for the moment. Carrie is rehearsing at the theater, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. Since Del Wood owns the theater, they didn’t have to go to a studio.”
“How many ways in?”
“Front doors are locked, so the stage door is the only way. There’s a guard there, and we’ve alerted him, but he’s an old guy, and it might not be too hard to get past him.”
“Keep in touch.” Stone hung up.
TEN MINUTES LATER, Joan buzzed him. “Carrie Cox on one.”
“Hello?”
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, the Leahys are all over me.”
“That’s their job.”
“Has something happened?”
“Am I interrupting your rehearsal?”
“No. I’m in t
he ladies’ room on a break.”
“Max has disappeared from his apartment, and we don’t know where he is.”