“That doesn’t make any sense,” Barb said. “She wouldn’t stand you up.”
“I called the police. Two detectives came over, but they said she was old enough to leave without telling anyone. They were going to check the bar where she was meeting friends later tonight and then interview the professor she scheduled appointments with tomorrow.”
“This is crazy, George. She wouldn’t just walk away.”
“That’s what I told the police. They also said they’d talk to the neighbors to see if anyone had a smart doorbell that would show her coming and going.”
“And you said her phone is there,” Barb said. “You know Ensley would never go off without it, not after leaving it behind the day her mom had a heart attack and no one could find Ensley.”
“Do you have any suggestions?” George asked.
“Maybe she got a call from her client—the author—and went to meet him. But again, she’d have taken her phone.”
“We found a book proposal in her computer bag. If she’d gone to meet the professor, she’d have taken that with her.”
JC stood in front of the bay window, looking out on the street. The detectives’ car remained parked in front of the house. They must be canvassing the neighborhood.
“Look in her wallet,” Barb said. “She has an Amex and a Capital One bank card. She wouldn’t go anywhere without one of those.”
JC signaled that he would get her purse. He returned a moment later and handed it to George. JC had learned early on to never go through a woman’s purse. Some women felt it violated their personal space, so he never took the chance. But computer bags were different.
George found the wallet and opened it. Inside were both the Amex and Capital One cards. His face paled. “They’re both in her wallet.”
“Damn,” Barb said. “And there’s no sign of a scuffle? Nothing broken? No blood?”
“Nothing. Only a disgusting odor.”
“Like what?”
“An earthy smell. There’s no explanation for it.”
“Smells don’t bother her, so it wouldn’t have caused her to leave, and she didn’t mention it when we talked. I don’t know, George.” Then there was silence on Barb’s side of the conversation. “Would you like me to come to Cambridge? I can help pass out flyers with her picture or something.”
That was a great suggestion, and if Barb had been in the room, JC would have kissed her. If she came here to help George, maybe JC could return to Washington and make arrangements to go after Ensley. He nodded to George and mouthed, “Great idea.”
George nodded his agreement. “Well, if you’re free, that’d be fantastic.”
“I’ll check the train schedule.”
JC googled it, found the schedule, and showed it to George.
George took JC’s phone and scrolled through the schedule. “There’s a seven-fifty train, a two forty a.m., then six fifty-five, and almost every hour after that.”
“If I hurry, I can make the seven-fifty train. If I can’t, I’ll take the six fifty-five in the morning.”
“Gotcha. Let me know.”
“The sooner I get there, the sooner I can help you search for her.”
“Thanks,” George said. “Send a text to let me know what time you arrive, and I’ll pick you up. There’s an extra room here at the house, so you don’t need a hotel, unless, well… You’re welcome to stay here.”
“Thanks. I’ll take you up on the offer.”
George smiled as he said goodbye and disconnected the call. “If Barb catches the seven-fifty, she’ll be here by midnight.” He leaned his head against the back of the sofa, closed his eyes, and pursed his lips. “I don’t know what else to do.”
“I do. Let’s go to the bar and see if we can find the women Ensley planned to meet later. They might know something.”
“The cops will be there.”
“So… It’d be weird if we don’t show up looking for her.”
“Maybe the cops will think we’re there to change the narrative, put suggestions in their minds that Ensley might stand them up for a man she met.”
JC swatted at George’s feet propped on the coffee table. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. They don’t suspect us of hurting her.”
George put his feet on the floor. “How do you know?”
“Didn’t you show the detective your last text from her?”
“Yeah. What difference does that make?”
“Everything we’ve done since she arrived in Cambridge can be verified—the times we arrived and departed the Porcellian Club and arrived here in an Uber. There wasn’t enough time for us to kill her, dispose of her body, and wash away the evidence.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Tell me this,” JC said. “Is there any chance she left with a man and didn’t want anyone to be able to contact her?”
“Why the hell would she do that?”
JC shrugged. “You tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell. Number one”—he held up a finger—“she wouldn’t do something like that, and number two”—he held up another finger—“if she was seeing a guy, she would have told me.”
“Not necessarily.”
George dropped his fingers and rubbed the back of his neck. “Forget it, JC. You know her as well as I do. She wouldn’t stand me up. Period.”
“Okay. Just asking. So let’s go to the bar.”
“No, I want to stay here in case she returns.”
She’s not coming back tonight, George.
“So, who’s Barb? Other than a friend of Ensley’s and your date for tomorrow night?”
George smiled. “Ensley’s tried several times to fix us up. She’s an M&A banker at Goldman Sachs. Ens thought we’d have a lot in common, but I was never interested.”
“Until you got desperate?”
“Nah, just thought I’d do something nice for Ens. It would make her happy. So I called Barb on Monday and asked her out for dinner tomorrow night. You can meet her later and tell me what you think. But I already know you’ll like her. She has the look.”
“And,” JC said, “what exactly is the look?”
“You know… Like Ensley, except instead of blonde hair and
