her gut twisting at Sean’s tight face. “What is it?”
“The message, Elise. The message from the Alphabet Killer. Fifty-one plus fifty equal 187. Forty-two plus fifty-eight equal 187.”
She blinked and gulped some water to wash down the sour taste of fear. “I don’t get it.”
“We already guessed that the fifty-one, fifty might mean crazy, as in the type of clients Courtney might see. If her address is four, two, five on the eighth floor—forty-two plus fifty-eight—we have a problem.”
She’d already shoved back from the table. “You mean Courtney has a problem. She’s in danger.”
Sean pulled out his wallet and dropped several twenties on the table. “I’m going to call this in, but let’s head over there now.”
Elise kept stabbing at the redial button on the way out of the restaurant, but the call rolled over to Courtney’s voice mail every time. When they hit the sidewalk, Elise took a deep breath after Courtney’s recorded greeting. “Courtney, it’s Elise. I don’t want to freak you out or anything, but once you’re done with your client, don’t see anyone else and just wait in your office with the door locked. Sean and I are heading over there right now. It’s about ten-thirty. Call me as soon as you get this if we don’t see you first.”
By the time they reached Sean’s car, Elise’s breath was coming out in short spurts.
Sean buckled his seat belt and chucked his phone against the dashboard. “They won’t come. The lieutenant on duty thinks it’s a wild-goose chase and is refusing to send a patrol car.”
“What about John?”
“He’s off duty. I tried him at home, but he’s not there or he’s not picking up.”
“Hurry, Sean. It’s not that far. Maybe she’s still with a client. I told her to stay in her office and lock the door.”
Sean’s tires squealed as he shot into the street, horns honking in his wake.
“Elise, did Courtney ever tell you anything about this new client of hers, the one who was so demanding?”
She clamped down on her bouncing knees. “No. Why are you asking me that?”
But she knew why. The same thought had been niggling at her brain since Sean started putting together the puzzle of the note.
“She started seeing that guy right after you were attacked, right after you moved in with her.”
Elise doubled over, sinking her face in her hands. “He found her because of me.”
“Maybe. This is all just supposition right now.”
She shot up, pain pounding behind her eyes. “Courtney did mention something about him today.”
“Description, name?”
“She wouldn’t break that confidentiality.” She stared unseeing out the car window. “She told me how he picked her out.”
“How?”
“Her name.” She dug her fingernails into Sean’s thigh. “He chose her because he liked her name, Sean. Courtney Chu. Two Cs. He’s still on the Cs.”
With this last bit of news, Sean whipped around the next corner and tossed his phone at her. “Try calling Curtis again. Leave him a message. Tell him we’re on our way to Courtney’s and give him the address again.”
Elise followed his instructions and by the time she ended the call, Sean had pulled up in front of Courtney’s office building.
Elise scrambled out of the car before it came to a complete stop. She grabbed on to the two long silver handles of the glass doors and yanked. They didn’t budge. She pressed her face against the glass, her eyes searching the lobby.
Sean joined her and picked up the phone to the right of the doors. “This is SFPD Homicide Detective Sean Brody. We’re trying to get into the building to see Courtney Chu on the eighth floor.”
He listened for a minute and then replaced the receiver. “That was security. They’re sending someone down.”
Elise kept hold of the door handles as if that could make them arrive sooner. “It’s dark, it’s locked up. Maybe Courtney left already. Maybe she’s out with Derrick. It’s so late.”
“Here’s the security guard.” Sean opened his ID and pressed his badge against the glass.
The doors clicked, and the security guard swung one open. “Is there a problem?”
“We’re here to check on Courtney Chu, eighth floor. Have you seen her? Has she left for the night?”
“I know Ms. Chu. She had some food delivered a while back, but I haven’t seen her since.”
“Did anyone come to the office to see her? Anyone you had to let in?”
“No, sir. We lock the doors at ten o’clock. If she had a client before then, I wouldn’t have opened the door for him or her.”
“Okay, thanks. We still want to check on her.”
“Sure thing.” He swung the door open wide and they stepped into the building. “From this point, you can go on up to the eighth floor.”
“Can you come with us in case we need to get into Ms. Chu’s office?”
“I have my rounds, but—” he pulled a key from his keychain “—this is the master and it’ll get you in.”
“Thanks.” Sean took the key and pounded the button for the elevator. “One more thing.”
The security guard stopped at the door to the right of the elevators with his hand on the doorknob. “Yes?”
“Has anything unusual happened tonight? Anything out of the ordinary?”
The guard cocked his head. “As a matter of fact, yes. An emergency buzzer sounded for one of the side doors about an hour ago.”
Elise swallowed and curled her hand around Sean’s arm. “What does that mean?”
“Means someone left the building by way of an emergency exit. Who knows? Maybe it was Ms. Chu.”
“H-has she ever done that before?”
The security guard shook his finger. “That Ms. Chu likes to break the rules.”
As they rode up to the eighth floor, Elise said, “Maybe that’s it. Maybe Courtney’s not even here.”
“Maybe.”
The doors opened, and Elise tugged on Sean’s sleeve to steer him to the right. The silence enveloped them, and Elise held her breath. When they got to the door of Courtney’s office, Elise let out a breath on a whispered prayer. “Please, God, let her be safe.”
Sean tried the door handle first. Then he pulled out the key the security guard had given him and shoved it into the lock. He turned the lock and pushed the door at the same time, staggering into the small waiting room.
Elise had been in here once before and it looked the same—undisturbed. Courtney had fanned out the latest magazines on one low table and had stacked others in a holder on the wall. Two fake plants bobbed in the corners, and someone had left an indentation in one of the leather love seats.
The needy client who liked Courtney’s name?
Elise marched toward the door to Courtney’s inner sanctum, but Sean put out a steadying hand.
“Wait.”
He drew his gun from his holster and crept toward the same door. Shoving Elise behind him, he eased open the door.
More silence.
Elise’s nostrils flared and the blood thrummed in her eardrums.
Sean