Chapter 2
Yasmine
“I’m so sorry,” Grace said for the hundredth time, sounding on the verge of tears, when she called at lunchtime. Sarah still hadn’t responded to any of Grace’s texts or picked up her phone. “I don’t know why she’s not answering, and I just…”
“It’s okay,” Yasmine said soothingly, although inside her stomach was buzzing with panicked bees. She’d said she would go over, and she would, but man, she hoped Sarah wasn’t upset to have Yasmine pop up at her door. “Text me the address, and I’ll head over.”
It would give Grace peace of mind. It would give Yasmine peace of mind, too, because she was worried about Sarah as well. She was a really nice lady, and it would suck if something bad had happened to her.
“Where are you going?” Veronica, Yasmine’s office administrator, asked.
Since Yasmine had the door to her office open, Veronica had been able to hear everything.
The pretty blonde frowned at Yasmine. She was much more than a receptionist, though she handled those duties as well and sat at the front desk to do most of her work.
Yasmine gave her a quick rundown of the situation. “It’s only twenty minutes away from here, so I’ll just swing over real quick and knock on her door. Best case scenario, her phone has been on Do Not Disturb or something, and I can reassure Grace that she’s okay.”
“Uh huh.” Veronica didn’t look convinced. “Are we sure this is safe? What if she was murdered or something? And the murderer is sitting there waiting for someone to come check on her?”
“You’ve been listening to too much true crime,” Yasmine accused.
Though she supposed there could be an axe murderer waiting for her in Sarah’s home.
Seriously, though, how likely was that, actually?
Nerves ticked in her stomach, but she pushed them away.
“Besides, a smart murderer wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for someone to come check on her. ”
“Probably not,” Veronica said. She made a face. “But send me the address, and text me when you get there and when you’re leaving. And if you see flies around the house, don’t go inside.”
“What?”
“No one’s heard from her since Monday, right? Which is when she had to put her dog down.” Veronica gave Yasmine a rueful look. “If you see a lot of flies buzzing around, don’t go inside. Trust me. I used to be an EMT. If you see flies, call 9-1-1.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Yasmine’s stomach did another flip, though she didn’t show it on the outside. She really, really hoped there were no flies. God, she did not want to have to make that call to Grace.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it.” Veronica still looked nervous, though. “Just keep your phone at the ready so you can call 911 if there’s a murderer there or something. I know I wouldn’t want to go alone.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll text you as soon as I get there and after I leave.” Which was probably the safer thing to do.
Squaring her shoulders, Yasmine left the office.
Unfortunately, Amara, the other financial advisor who worked with her, wasn’t around.
She would have insisted on going with Yasmine, and it might have been nice to have some company now that Veronica had her all rattled.
Veronica couldn’t leave with her since that meant there would be no one in the office.
Sighing, Yasmine got into her car and texted Grace that she was headed over now, and Grace immediately sent back a slew of thank-you texts.
It really was only a twenty-minute drive.
She drummed her fingers against the steering wheel at every red light, trying to shake off some of the nerves that kept bubbling up.
She had to pass by Cupcakes & Crumbs on the way, which also meant passing by the building Mason’s security firm worked out of.
Maybe she’d stop on the way back for a cupcake.
Yes, technically, the owner of the bakery, Audrey, had ‘stolen’ Yasmine’s man, but really, Yasmine had gifted him to her.
Because it had been the right thing to do.
And she genuinely liked Audrey. Plus, now Audrey felt so guilty that she gave Yasmine a free cupcake whenever she went in there.
Today felt like a good day for a cupcake.
Leaving the downtown area meant there were more trees as Yasmine drove through the residential neighborhoods, vaguely remembering passing through this way before.
Sarah’s house looked just as she remembered.
The driveway was empty, so she pulled in and texted Veronica that she was there before sitting and studying the outside of the house for a long moment.
The garage door was closed. There was a small path to the left of where she’d parked that led up to the stoop and the front door.
Two large windows were on the front of the house, though there were big bushes in front of them.
Yasmine wasn’t sure she’d be quite tall enough to really peek into them even if there weren’t, but it meant she couldn’t even really try.
She didn’t see any flies around the windows, so that was a good sign, right?
Letting out a deep breath, she texted Grace to let her know she’d arrived. Grace texted back a thumbs-up.
Yasmine got out of her car, walked up to the house, and rang the doorbell.
She tried to lean out on the steps to peek into either of the windows, but it didn’t look like any lights were on, and one of them had sheer curtains, so she couldn’t see into that one at all.
No flies. Probably a good sign. Hopefully.
No one answered the door, so she rang again after a minute.
Then she knocked.
Nothing.
Okay.
Stepping back, Yasmine tried to peer into the window that didn’t have the sheers again. She could make out what looked like a lamp, maybe.
Crap.
Pressing her lips together, she went back to the garage and tried to peek into those windows. That was easier to see, and she could make out the shape of a car inside.
Double crap.
That probably meant Sarah hadn’t gone anywhere.
Should she try to look inside a different window?
Now that she was here, she didn’t like the idea of going away empty-handed. Especially because she didn’t really have anything to report to Grace. It hadn’t occurred to her that she might come out here, and Sarah wouldn’t answer the door.
Veronica’s warning rose up again in her mind, but so did other possibilities.
What if Sarah had tripped and fallen? What if she was in trouble, lying on the floor somewhere with her phone out of reach?
If she needed help and Yasmine walked away now, and Sarah died because of it…
Yasmine would never be able to forgive herself.
Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.
Taking another deep breath, Yasmine smoothed down her pencil skirt and walked around the side of the house. Her heels sank into the soft ground just a touch, and she shifted her weight to her toes, trying to peek in the windows.
The gate to the backyard was easy to open, and she went around to the back porch she remembered was there. If she remembered correctly, there was a big sliding glass door she’d be able to see into.
Five steps up and she was rewarded with the best view into Sarah’s house she was probably going to get. She could see the kitchen and most of the living room through her reflection. Leaning in, she pressed her face against the cool glass.
Yasmine’s heart sank as she saw the pet bowls that were still out on the floor.
There was even a tiny bit of water left in the water bowl and a few bits of kibble lying around the food bowl, as if Sarah hadn’t been able to bring herself to put them away.
From where she was standing, she could see a few pizza boxes on the table as well, and a paper plate with a crust left on it.
There were no flies, though, not even on the crust. So, that was something, right?
Yasmine knocked on the glass door.
Waited.
Knocked again.
No sign of movement.
She sighed and reached for the handle, fully expecting it to be locked… but the door slid open.
Yasmine stared at the opening into Sarah’s house.
Well… fuck.
She leaned in, her heartbeat starting to pick up as she did so.
“Sarah? Sarah, it’s Yasmine, Grace’s friend… Are you there? Can you hear me?”
Nothing. Silence.
Shit.
What if she had fallen trying to get out of the tub or something? What if she’d been knocked unconscious?
Closing her eyes, Yasmine took another deep breath. She reached into her purse to pull out her cell phone and dialed Grace’s number. Thankfully, Grace answered immediately.
“Is she there? Did you find her?” The fear in Grace’s voice reminded Yasmine of why she was doing this.
“I rang the doorbell and knocked, and no one came, so I went around to the back. I couldn’t see her through the sliding glass door, so I tested it, and it wasn’t locked.
” Yasmine squared her shoulders. Her heart was still racing, and it felt like she was breathing harder, too, but she knew what she had to do.
“I’m going in, but I guess I just wanted, like…
permission? Someone to know I’m doing this.
Technically, it’s not breaking and entering, I guess, but it’s entering... ”
“You have my permission,” Grace said quickly. “Sarah will back me up, I promise. You won’t get into trouble.”
“Well, that’s something. Just… stay on the phone with me?”
“Of course.”
Taking another deep breath, thankful she didn’t smell anything that would make her think ‘dead body’, Yasmine stepped into the house.
It felt so wrong to be walking in without someone there to greet her, to invite her in.
There were some dishes piled up in the sink and another pizza box on the counter to her right, which hadn’t been visible when she was outside.
Poor Sarah. Obviously, she’d taken the loss of her dog really hard and hadn’t felt up to cooking.
“Sarah? Can you hear me?” Yasmine waited for a moment, but she couldn’t hear anything other than Grace breathing on the other end of the phone.
She held her own breath, lifting the phone away from her ear just in case Sarah was only able to make quiet noises.
Then she shook her head and brought the phone back.
“Nothing. I’m going to walk around the house. ”
“Does it look like she’s been there?”
“Well, there are some pizza boxes and some dishes in the sink that look recent,” Yasmine said, going to the left where the family room was.
She peeked over the back of the couch to see if Sarah was lying there or something.
Nothing. Turning around, Yasmine headed back through the kitchen toward the bedrooms. “And the doggy bowls are still out. There’s even a tiny bit of water left in one of them. ”
“Oh, poor Sarah,” Grace said mournfully, echoing Yasmine’s thoughts.
“Sarah?” Yasmine called. Half of the house was a split-level, with several steps up to the bedrooms or several steps down to another common room right next to it.
She didn’t see Sarah in the common room.
No answer again. Yasmine shook her head as dread started to build inside her.
Her heart was starting to race even faster now, and her palms felt sweaty.
“I’m going to go up to check her bedroom and bathroom and make sure she didn’t fall out of the tub or anything. ”
“Oh my God. Thank you so much for doing this, Yasmine. I cannot thank you enough.” Grace sounded on the verge of tears, which helped Yasmine overcome some of the creeping certainty that she was going to end up finding something she really didn’t want to.
Like a body.
Stop thinking about that.
Every step up the stairs felt as if she was headed to certain doom. But there were no flies. There was no weird smell. Yasmine braced herself against what she might find in the bedrooms. Maybe Sarah had just really peacefully… gone to sleep.
“Huh.” Yasmine frowned at the neatly made bed in the first doorway. Maybe this was the guest bedroom. But when she looked in the next room, the bed there was neatly made as well. “It doesn’t look like the beds have been slept in. That or she was up early this morning and made them.”
“So, maybe she was up…” Grace’s voice had turned hopeful.
Yasmine turned and checked the bathroom, even though she could see through the crack that the light was off.
“Nothing. I don’t think she’s here.” Relief and worry surged through Yasmine, along with the desire to get the hell out of there. Sarah might not be home, but that meant she was up and around somewhere in the world, and Yasmine was an uninvited guest.
“Well… crap. I don’t know how to feel about that. Where is she?” The worry was back in Grace’s voice, which Yasmine felt bad about, but there wasn’t anything she could do.
“I don’t know. I’m so sorry.”
“No, no, don’t be sorry. You’ve already gone above and beyond. Thank you, thank you so much.” Grace sighed. “I’ll keep calling around. Maybe I’ll try her parents again and see if they’ve found out anything and just forgot to update me.”
“Okay,” Yasmine said, letting herself out the back and closing it firmly behind her. “Let me know if you do. I do hope she’s okay.”
“Me, too. Thank you again. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” As she left the backyard, Yasmine hung up the phone and quickly texted Veronica that she was leaving and that she had not been horribly murdered. In fact, everything at the house seemed completely normal other than the fact it was empty, which was a mystery in and of itself.
Where on earth was Sarah? She hoped Grace found out soon, and that everything was okay.
Otherwise, Veronica might suggest something like alien abduction.
Or maybe a kidnapping murderer. God, Yasmine hoped she was just out shopping or something and had lost her phone, and she wasn’t actually abducted and missing.
In the meantime, she’d done everything that she could, and she still felt a little shaky. But she had work to get back to. And a cupcake to get on the way.