Inspector Rames

Chapter 45

I woke up under a cloud of confusion. My bed was lumpy, my eyes had opened to see my living room walls, and it was still light.

It took me a moment to remember my vow to have a nap on the sofa. When I did, I sat up and swiped my tabphone from the coffee table, my muscles burning.

The time was 6:38 a.m., Monday.

Shit. No wonder I had a crick in my neck -- I'd been lying on my sofa for twelve hours.

My stomach growled, reminding me that the last thing I'd eaten had been lunch. A slab of chocolate was still on the table, so I ate more than my recommended intake and then sloped into the bathroom. My mind felt rested, but a hot shower did little to relieve my physical aches and pains.

I decided the next answer was coffee, so once I'd dressed, I trudged to Rise & Grinder in the hope that they opened insanely early on a Monday morning. Upon finding that they did, I bought one medicoffee, one double espresso, and a chocolate muffin from Merrick. I'd eaten the muffin long before I reached the ground.

At twenty past seven, I turned down the station road and was surprised to see Alex nearing the end of it. He stopped by the door and waited for his face to be scanned, and I hurried to catch up with him. My timing was perfect. The door had risen halfway when I reached it, so I ducked under without breaking my stride.

And immediately regretted it. Pain shot from my neck to the small of my back, and I cursed loudly.

Alex appeared beside me a moment later, looking bemused. "Good morning. Are you all right?"

I shoved his coffee into his chest. "I might have fallen asleep on the sofa. Don't. Comment."

"I wasn't going to." His lips twitched.

We reached the interactive glass divider between the lobby and the rest of the station, but before we could be scanned, I heard the door rise again behind us. I glanced over my shoulder to see which member of staff was coming in.

Two PRBs arrived, escorting Floppy Hat -- Becky Elwyn. One of them pointed into the lobby, and then they walked away. She tugged on her blonde hair nervously before her gaze landed on us. "Oh, Inspector Rames! You have to help!"

She scurried over, and Alex turned around to see what was happening. By the time Becky reached us, she had our full attention.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Frankie's gone missing!" Her eyes were wide. "She messaged me yesterday afternoon to say that she'd finished giving her statement about everything that happened with Paris, and she was just going to run an errand before she came back to the flat. But she never came back!"

I exchanged a glance with Alex.

"Try to stay calm," I said. "Do you know what the errand was?"

"No! She just said an errand, that's it. She won't respond to any of my messages, and none of my calls are going through. I looked for her yesterday evening all over campus. She's not with any of her classmates, and she wasn't in the cafeteria. I checked that she wasn't with Janet, I checked the city library, I checked Underworld Eclipse, I checked where Paris was found. And I got up really early this morning and checked everywhere again, and she's not anywhere!"

Alex looked at me. "Rise & Grinder?"

"No. Merrick was serving today." I turned back to Becky. "Stay here for a minute while we go in and find a constable. They'll take you down to an interview room and help you file a missing persons report. Alex and I will start looking alone in the meantime."

***

Once we'd sent DC Laney out to Becky and we'd suited up in our spyware, we went to our office. Alex started tracking Frankie's tabphone while I video-called Socrico Train Station.