Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Lauren, Sunday

"Technically, yes, but I have to wait until the booking expires, which is midnight, and then they'll track it if it hasn't been returned to its home space."

Lauren struggled to comprehend this. She was too tired. "Wait... how long did she book the car for?"

"Twenty-four hours, apparently."

"Why?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"I don't know," he said, but she had the feeling he wasn't telling her something.

She looked at her phone. "Well, midnight isn't too far away. Maybe we'll know something then."

"Yes, they said they'd call me."

"Good. Well, I'm glad I called, then, that's more than I knew before."

"I also sent a screen shot of Rachel's texts to your friend."

She gulped. "You did? Even the..."

"I kept the screen rolled to a point where it only showed her texts; my text and the picture were below the screen. She hadn't written anything else, so it's not like we kept anything back."

She sighed in relief. "Thanks, Al."

"So... how are you?"

"About as well as can be expected. The kids are in bed with me."

"Good place to be."

"Al," she groaned.

"Sorry. I meant... they need to be with you."

"Yeah, sure you did, horndog."

Al chuckled sheepishly. She couldn't help chuckling too. What was she doing?

"What about you?" she asked to change the subject. "How are you doing?"

"I'm sitting in an apartment littered with bottles and stained glasses, wondering if one of them contains the traces of whatever it was that caused our blackout behaviour."

"Oh, man, I didn't even think about that, I was so focused on finding out where Joe and Rachel were."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. The idea only came to me when Sunny offered to help me clean up."

"Oh, you talked to him after we parted?"

"Actually, he met up with me and drove me home. He thought something might have been off with you."

"Duh, my husband's missing."

"Lauren? Is there something on Joe's phone?"

"Well, not your photo, luckily. Your life has been saved by a lapse in memory about the data."

"Thank goodness for that. But there is something, isn't there."

She took a moment to compose her answer. "Al, it's nothing that has anything to do with what's happening right now."

"Are you sure about that?"

Was she?

"If it becomes a police matter," Al went on, "they'll need to look at it anyway."

"Then I'll let them look at it when that time comes."

Al was silent a moment. "Okay," he said. "I trust you know what you're doing."

"Thank you."

He sighed. "Well, now I wait."

"Are you working tomorrow?"

"No. I'll call in sick. I'm not in any condition to go to work. You?"

"No."  

"You know my mom called earlier?" he said, sounding faintly exasperated. "She was wondering if we were coming over for dinner. I had to lie to my mother about why we couldn't come by. I don't know what I'll do if we can't find her, how I'm going to explain to everyone we know.... oh, God, what will I tell her mom?"

"Like you told me before, Al, one thing at a time. Let's just hope they tell you where the car is."

"Lauren," he said, "If they do, I plan to go there right away. Are you okay with me going alone?"

"Well... of course I want to track them down as soon as possible, and you are the least encumbered among us..."

"But...?"

"You know me. I want to be right there with you. Not only because I want to crack the case, but I'm worried you might be going somewhere dangerous in the middle of the night."

"Aw, you want to protect me? Bring your sword along?"

She chuckled. "That wouldn't be a bad idea. But I have other tools. Pepper spray. My little illegal zapper."

"Have you ever had to use them?"

"Luckily, no, but only because Joe happened to be there the one time things got dicey."

"Oh, yes, the punch out."

"Seriously, Al. Bring some protection if you can, and have nine-one-one ready to dial on your phone."

"Okay. I will."

"And call me as soon as you discover something. I won't care if you wake up the kids."

"Will do. Goodnight, Lauren."

"Goodnight."

He hung up. She sighed and checked her phone again. No messages, no missed calls. She tiptoed downstairs and walked over to Joe's phone. With dread, she brought the screen to life.

She looked again at the text message thread from a number she didn't recognize. Joe had an entire exchange with this number.

The most recent text message, sent at two in the morning, while Joe had been somewhere on the road, read: Can't wait to see you tonight.

Oh, dear, it looks like Lauren's not the only one cheating. Who was Joe texting? You'll need to read on to find out. Click "Continue reading" to find out. If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" and leave a comment!