Little Girl Gone

She snorted a laugh. “Aaron’s not her boyfriend. Who told you that?”

“Angie.”

Her laugh this time was even louder than the first. “I don’t think Elyse would ever talk to Angie about her love life. She and Aaron went out once, I think, but that was it. She thinks he’s kind of odd, and not in a good, Jesse Eisenberg kind of way. Elyse does sometimes spend the night here. Maybe that’s what Angie was thinking.”

That pretty much confirmed what Logan already suspected. Aaron was not Elyse’s boyfriend, and Angie was not trustworthy. “How long have you known Elyse?”

“Three years this coming summer. We started school together.”

He looked around the room. “You live here alone?”

“Why?” she asked, her guard coming back up.

“Sorry,” Logan said quickly. “Just curious. That’s all. You don’t have to tell me.”

She allowed herself to relax a little. “My sister. We share this place. She’s a CPA.”

He smiled. “I was wondering how you could afford to furnish your place like this on a student salary. It’s certainly nothing like Ryan’s apartment.”

She gave him an odd look. “Ryan?”

“Elyse’s neighbor?” he said. “That’s where Angie was when I went by last night.”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I guess I’ve never met him, but we don’t really hang out much over there. Not since Angie showed up, anyway.”

“How long has she been there?”

“She moved in over winter break. Three months now, I guess.”

Only three months?

“Thanks,” he said, feeling the sudden need to have his talk with Angie as soon as possible. “I appreciate you giving me a little time.”

“Hold on,” she said as he started to rise. “You haven’t told me what’s going on. Is she really missing?”

He tried to sound reassuring. “I think her grandfather’s probably being a little over cautious. I’ll bet it turns out she decided to go someplace like Vegas or San Diego on a whim.”

Lara looked less than convinced, but she didn’t argue the point.

Logan wrote his number on a page from his notebook, and gave it to her. “Please call me if you hear from her.”

“Can I use your pen?”

He handed it to her.

She tore the page in half and wrote her info on the blank piece, handing it back to him when she was done. “And you call me if you hear from her.”

“I will,” he promised. “One last thing. I understand that Elyse had another friend, a guy named Anthony? Do you know who that is?”

“Sure. Anthony Hudson. We’re all friends.” She was quiet for a moment, then her eyes brightened. “Hey, they were supposed to have dinner the night before last. He would have seen her.”

“Do you know where I can find him?”

“His apartment’s maybe a half mile from Elyse’s.”

He gave her back the piece of paper, and she added Anthony’s address and cell number to it.

“Thanks, again,” he said.

• • •

Logan found a parking spot almost directly in front of Angie and Elyse’s building, then ran into the courtyard and up the stairs to the second floor breezeway. He was almost to their apartment when he suddenly stopped, the soles of his shoe screeching against the concrete surface.

There were no curtains covering the windows of Ryan’s apartment. The ratty furniture, the television, even the pizza boxes, they were all gone. The place was as spotless as Aaron’s place had been the night before.

Logan stared inside for a moment, then sprinted the rest of the way to Elyse’s place. The curtains were closed, which he took for a good sign as he pounded on the door. When no one answered, he knocked again, then tried the doorknob. Locked.

Angie must have gone out.

He thought for a moment. Anthony’s place was only a half-mile away. Logan could see if he was home, and probably be back in less than thirty minutes. Maybe by then, Angie would have returned.

It took him longer to find a parking spot than it took to drive over. Anthony’s apartment was at the back of his building on the first floor off an interior hallway. There were no windows, so Logan couldn’t see in.

He rang the doorbell, then knocked several times. But, like at Angie’s, there was no response.

He contemplated what he should do, then decided to go around back and take a peek through Anthony’s windows, just to make sure it wasn’t another empty apartment.

He found an exit, but was surprised when he had to take a staircase down to reach the back alley. The reason