made it to the auditorium.”
Actually, they weren’t sure he even made it out of the neighborhood.
They all fell silent until Luke rubbed a hand down his cheek. “There’s nothing more we can do here,” Luke said. “Let’s get back to headquarters. Sophie, would you be willing to go through Jordan’s office and see if anything strikes you as off?”
“Of course.” Sophie looked at Zach, Katie, Noah and Carter. “Do we need to call your parents?”
Noah shook his head. “No, not yet. It’s only been a few hours. I’m not ready to sound the alarm yet.”
“Katie,” Sophie said, “do you want me to come back and stay here with you after I’ve gone through his office?”
“No. I’ll come back to headquarters.” Katie rubbed her arms as though chilled. “I can’t stay here right now.”
“Are you sure?” Sophie stepped forward and pulled the woman out of earshot of the others. “This is super stressful, and you need to rest. Take care of yourself.”
“I know. And I will. But I can’t...stay here and do nothing.”
Sophie understood that. “All right. You can rest on the sofa in Jordan’s office if you need to.”
“If I need to. I just want to be where everyone else is, so I can know the updates as they come in.”
Katie insisted on driving her own vehicle. Sophie didn’t blame her but was worried for her friend. Her pregnant friend whose husband was missing. Sophie ran places and people through her mind, desperately searching for someone who might have a clue where Jordan would be.
“Sophie?” Luke asked “You okay?”
Sophie blinked. And realized she’d been lost in thought the entire ride back to headquarters. She drew in a deep breath. “Yes, sorry. I was just...thinking.”
“Are you in pain?”
“My head hurts and my leg is bruised, but time and some ibuprofen will take care of those issues. I can ignore the discomfort for now.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” With Sophie favoring her bruised leg, they hurried toward the headquarters building. Just inside, her phone rang. She grabbed it from her pocket and checked the screen, then shook her head at Luke. It wasn’t Jordan. His shoulders dropped. “It’s my dad,” she said, lifting the device to her ear. “Hi, Dad.”
“Hey, sweetheart, something kind of weird just happened and I wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Okay. What’s going on?”
Luke raised a brow and she shrugged.
“Someone just called here looking for you.”
“Looking for me? Who?”
“He said he was a friend from college, that he’d tried calling your number, but when you didn’t answer, called me. Then he started asking a lot of personal questions, which I declined to answer, of course. He finally cursed and hung up on me. It’s got me worried about you.”
Dread curled in the pit of her stomach, adding to the ball of worry for Jordan that was already there. “Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’ll take care of it.”
“Do you know who it could be?”
“I have an idea.” Her gaze locked on Luke’s. He stood there listening unabashedly. Sophie didn’t care. If she’d wanted privacy, she would have walked into the conference room.
“I have to leave to head for work. It’s just an overnight run, but it’ll be late tomorrow night before I’m back. You sure it’s okay for me to leave?”
A truck driver, he was often gone overnight. As a child, Sophie had wished he could be home more. At this moment, she was glad he was getting out of the city. “I’m sure. I’ll talk to you later, Dad. Thanks for letting me know.”
“I’m not going to kid you, Sophie, this scares me.”
“I know. And I promise I’ll take care of it.” She paused. “And if I have trouble doing that, I know people who can help.”
Her father let out a low laugh. “Yeah, I guess you do. Be careful, hon.”
“Always. Have a good trip.”
She hung up and stood silent for a moment while she processed.
“What was that all about?” Luke asked.
“My dad is a long-haul trucker and was getting ready to walk out the door for an overnight run when his phone rang.” She told him about the call. “I think it’s probably the guy who tried to kidnap me this morning digging for information.” She shuddered. “What worries me is that he knows my dad’s home telephone number. And in order to find that out, he had to know my name—and my dad’s.”
* * *
Luke definitely didn’t like the sound of that. He shook his head. “I don’t think you should go home. If he knows your name and number—and your father’s—he most likely knows your address, too.”
“Of course he does. I share a house with my dad and brother. But how would he find that out?” Sophie ran a shaky hand over her bun, then straightened it.
“He knows you work for the K-9 unit here in Queens. He may have even been in the auditorium watching you set up, just waiting for a chance to make his move.”
Sophie shuddered. “I did have an eerie sensation of someone watching me. Like someone else was there but didn’t want me to know it.” She paused and frowned. “As I told you, I even heard something but didn’t think much of it.”
“It wouldn’t be too hard to figure out who was taken from the auditorium. All he had to do was ask someone.”
“Oh. Right. I should have thought of that.” She fell silent. “Then that means I definitely can’t go home. I have a separate apartment from my brother and father, but it’s still the same house.” A sigh escaped her. “I mean, I have no choice. It’s not like I can afford a hotel.”
“I have a better idea,” Luke said.
“What?”
“Would you be willing to stay at my place?”
“Oh.” She chewed her lip.
“Well?”
“I’m thinking.”
“There’s really nothing to think about.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I don’t think you’re safe and I’d like you to come home with Bruno and me until we can find the guy who kidnapped you.” She blinked at him as though having trouble processing his words. “Sophie?” He gave her a slight shake, eyes narrowed with concern. “Are you listening?” Had she gone into some kind of shock? A mental overload?
She finally blinked and met his gaze. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”
“I agree. I’ll take you to your place and you can pack a bag. Then we’ll go back to my house.”
“I think that would really inconvenience you. Don’t you have a couple of roommates?”
“Two. Sam and David. The good thing is Sam’s out of the country for a couple of days so you can use his room.”
The fact that she simply nodded told him how worn-out she was—and was probably hurting even though she hadn’t said a word about being in pain. “How does some ibuprofen sound?”
“Like a really good idea.”
“You better keep some in your system. You’re going to feel it tomorrow even more.”