Web of Evil

Reynolds really was lucky.

As the afternoon waned, Ali realized she was hungry. Edie had not yet returned. Ali tried calling her mother's cell againto no avail. Once again the call went straight to voice mail. Just to be sure, Ali checked her own phone to see if she had missed receiving a message. She hadn't. She checked the room phone for messages as well. No luck. Finally she called down to the desk. Edie hadn't left a note there, either. And then, just to cover all the bases, she tried April's phones, too, both her room and her cell. Again, no answer.

Feeling the first inkling of concern, Ali transferred over to the bell captain. 'This is Ali Reynolds,' she said.

Her reputation for generous tipping had preceded her. For Ali Reynolds no ticket number was required. 'Right, Ms. Reynolds,' the bell captain said at once. 'Would you like me to have your vehicle brought around to the back?'

'No,' she said. 'I'm actually calling about my mother's vehicle. Is it there?'

'Do you have the valet number for that one?'

'No,' Ali replied. 'It's a white Oldsmobile Alero with Arizona plates.'

'Oh, that one,' he said. 'It was self-parked. She left like she was headed to a fire sometime right around one. It was busy, and we were totally backed up here. She was in such a hurry that she almost ran down one of my guys.'

'Was she alone?'

'As far as I know.'

Off the phone, Ali tried to imagine where Edie would have been going in such a hurry. As an out-of-town driver, she wasn't familiar with the L.A. area. Wherever it was, it was likely she would have needed detailed directions. If she hadn't asked one of the parking valets for help, maybe she had done so online.

Ali returned to her computer and checked out the search page, looking for the most recent searches. She expected to find a listing for MapQuest or one of the other online map providers. What she found instead was a list of several Iowa-based searches, including one for the Des Moines Register. Iowa. Tracy McLaughlin had been sent up for grand theft auto in Iowa.

Ali grabbed her phone and dialed Dave.

'What's up?' he asked.

'We may have a problem,' Ali said. 'I can't find my mother, and I'm pretty sure she's been playing detective. While I was gone, she was looking up something in the Des Moines Register.'

'Smart woman,' Dave said. 'She must have been tracking Tracy McLaughlin, too.'

'She may be smart, but she's also not here,' Ali said. 'At the hotel.'

'Where'd she go?'

'That's what I'm trying to tell you. I have no idea. The parking valet said she left in a hell of a hurry, but she didn't leave a note, and she's not answering her cell.'

'How long has she been gone?'

'She left the hotel a little after one,' Ali replied.

'Have you called your dad?' Dave asked. 'Maybe she's called him.'

'I can check,' Ali said.

'Good. You do that,' Dave said. 'In the meantime, I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as I can.'

Ali was waiting at the hotel entrance when Dave pulled into the driveway in his Nissan. 'Well?' he asked as she settled into the passenger seat.

'Dad hasn't heard from her,' Ali reported. 'His first thought was that she'd probably gone to see a bargain matinee. That was my idea, too, but the movie would be over by now. Dad's worried, and so am I. Should I call the cops and report her missing?'

Dave shook his head. 'It won't make any difference. They're not going to go looking for her right now anyway. We're better off looking ourselves. Where do you think she might have gone?'

'Mom's from out of town,' Ali replied. 'She doesn't really know her way around L.A. The only map she has in the Alero is that big atlas. I know she used MapQuest directions to get to the hotel, but there were no MapQuest searches on my computer.'

'So wherever she went, if she drove herself, she must have known where she was going,' Dave concluded.

Ali nodded. 'Right. And the only two familiar places I know about for sure are the hospital and the house on Robert Lane. If April went into labor, she could have gone to Cedars-Sinai. I'm pretty sure that's where Mom said April plans to deliver. But it's possible she might have gone to the house for some strange reason, too.'

Dave put the Nissan in gear. 'The hospital isn't going to tell us anything. Let's try the house first. Have you tried calling April?'

'I did,' Ali told him. 'Both her room and her cell. No answer.'

'Try again, just in case.'

Once again both of April's phones went to voice mail. Ali tried Edie's phone again with the same result. By then Ali was feeling the first tinge of real panic.

When they reached the house on Robert Lane, they found it deserted. Crime scene tape was still draped across the front door, warning people not to enter. There was no sign of Edie's Oldsmobile anywhere and no sign of any other vehicles, either.

'She's not here,' Ali concluded. 'And I'm beginning to get a bad feeling about thisa really bad feeling.'

'Don't worry,' Dave said. 'Not yet. I'm sure she's fine. Let's try the hospital next.'

At Cedars-Sinai, Dave drove through the parking garages, prowling the stalls and searching for the Alero, while Ali went inside to the patient information desk and tried to bluff her way into finding out whether or not a patient named April Gaddis had been admitted. It was like banging her head on a brick wall. No one would tell her anything. Period. When Ali caught up with Dave again, she learned that his garage search had been equally fruitless.

'Back to the hotel then?' Dave asked.

'I guess,' Ali said. 'Is it time?'

'Time for what?' Dave returned.

'To call Missing Persons?'

'After less than five hours?' Dave responded. 'Believe me, they'll laugh you off the phone. At this point they probably wouldn't even bother taking a report. Your mother's an adult. Adults are allowed to disappear whenever they want to. They can and do. Let's go back to the hotel and wait awhile longer. Maybe she'll turn up. Besides, since the hotel was where you last spoke to her, that's a reasonable place to try picking up her trail. Didn't you say she was watching an interview at the time?'

Ali nodded. 'Yes. The one with Sheila Rosenburg from Court TV.'

'Since April and your mother are both among the missing,' Dave suggested, 'there's always a possibility that they're together. What if your mother and April are doing something perfectly harmless? Maybe once the interview was over they decided to go shopping. After all, April's expecting a baby. Maybe your mom wanted to get her something nice.'

Ali shot that idea down without a moment's hesitation. 'Mom hates shopping,' she said.

'All right then,' Dave said. 'Let's track down this Sheila person. Maybe one or the other of them would have mentioned to her where they were going or what they planned to do next.'

'Maybe,' Ali agreed, but she didn't think the idea sounded very promising.

Back at the hotel Ali was relieved to find that the media were still absent. Up on the seventh floor and on the way down the hallway from the elevator, Ali stopped off just long enough to tap on April's door. There was no answer. Ali was in the process of unlocking the door to her own room when her phone rang. The number showing in the readout was her parents' home number in Sedona.

'Hello,' Ali said.

'Did you find her?' Bob Larson demanded.

'No,' Ali said. 'Not yet. We're still looking.'

'Well, I just got off the phone with Chris, and we've made up our minds,' Bob said. 'We've got a contingency plan all lined up. I've found a substitute short-order cook who'll come in and cover for me, and Chris is going to leave his conference early and call for a substitute, too. Kip will stay here and look after Samantha. Once we get the