Hitched

53

Regan called Alfred and told him that Tracy had turned over a new leaf.

“So she’s not going to sue me?”

“We didn’t discuss that. She’s coming down to help us look for Joyce.”

“That’s wonderful. We’d love to help you out hanging those posters and whatever, but it’s so busy here! The phone is ringing off the hook with reporters wanting the scoop, and at the same time we’re trying to hunt down fabric for both your dress and Brianne’s.”

“You don’t have fabric?” Regan asked. “I thought you said you were already working on the gowns.”

“We don’t have enough fabric in the salon, Regan! The fabric that was supposed to be expressed yesterday from one of our suppliers didn’t arrive this morning. It is Sunday you know.”

“Okay, Alfred,” Regan interrupted. “I have to go. Brianne and I are going back on the Patrick and Jeannie show. Because your April Brides are now the talk of the town, the producer is willing to cover the story of the missing girl who was out with Brianne last night.”

“Do you think my presence on the show could be helpful in some way?”

“I thought you were busy,” Regan said flatly.

“We are, but…”

“Alfred, this segment is about trying to find Joyce. It’s not about the stolen dresses.”

“I understand.” Alfred paused. “It’s just that so many reporters seem to be so very interested in what I have to say. They are all asking if Charisse and I had any idea that Shauna was a crook, and they what to know what I think about the rest of my April Brides.”

“And what are you telling them?”

“Charisse and I have prepared a statement.”

Regan rolled her eyes. “I’m all ears.”

Alfred cleared his throat. “In our eyes, every bride is beautiful. We regret that one of our April Brides turned out to be someone who we would never want to darken the doors of our lovely salon. But we would stake our lives on the integrity of the other four.”

“Gee thanks,” Regan muttered.

“-we love them dearly and are sure that they will feel like princesses on their wedding days, bedecked in one of our gorgeous gowns.”

“I’m all choked up, Alfred.”

“Don’t you think it’s all right?”

“It’s fine. Four of your April Brides are accounted for. Have you heard from Victoria? She didn’t want her name in the paper, either.”

“No, I haven’t,” Alfred answered meekly.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

In the greenroom at the studio, Regan, Jack, Cindy, and Kit were greeted by the same young assistant who’d been there earlier. “Thanks for coming back,” he said, looking at Regan and Jack with admiration. “We have the most awesome video of you tackling those two weasels. You wouldn’t believe all the phone calls we’re getting about this story.”

“Thanks to your show we caught them,” Regan said and handed him Joyce’s picture. “Hopefully with your help we’ll find her.”

The assistant nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll put her picture right up there on-screen. My producer also wanted to know if you’d like us to make up the flyers. If you just tell us what you’d like them to say, we can do it right now.”

“That’d be great. Thank you,” Regan answered, as she pulled a piece of paper out of her notebook in her purse. She wrote out the information, gave it to him, and he hurried out the door.

Jack handed her a cup of coffee.

“Thanks.” Something tells me I’m going to be drinking a lot of this today, she thought.

“I’m so grateful they’re willing to talk about Joyce,” Cindy said anxiously, looking up at the television screen on the wall. “So many people go missing who never get any publicity.”

“We are lucky,” Regan agreed. “And all it takes is one person watching the show who saw something…”

When Brianne and Pauly arrived a few minutes later, they were all immediately ushered into the studio. Regan and Brianne joined Patrick and Jeannie in the same area of the studio where they’d had their earlier chat. The two seats Alfred and Charisse occupied had been removed.

Like musical chairs, Regan thought.

This time the interview had a different tone. Jeannie introduced the segment, recapping the whole story for the audience. They showed a clip of the earlier interview, then they replayed the video of Regan tackling one of the April Brides. “Thanks to one of our viewers who called in this morning after our interview with Regan and Brianne, she was caught,” Jeannie said with a smile. “Regan and Brianne have joined us again, but unfortunately it’s because of another twist in the story of these brides.” She turned to Patrick who explained to the audience Brianne’s connection to the missing Joyce.

“The fact that she didn’t make it home last night was a worry to her friends. But when her purse was found this morning on a street downtown, the situation became much more serious.” Patrick sighed and turned to Brianne. “When did you last see Joyce?”

“We were all at Club Zee downtown. Joyce got up from the table, presumably to go to the ladies’ room. It was about 11 o’clock. She hadn’t been there that long. The deejay had just played Julio Iglesias’s ‘To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.’ We all sang along and then started joking around about loser ex-boyfriends.”

Jeannie made a face. “Now there’s a topic we could spend hours on.”

Patrick looked at her. “Heyyyy-I feel as if I should defend the guys out there in our viewing audience.”

“It was just in fun,” Brianne explained. “It was my bachelorette party. I had finally found the right one to marry, my wonderful Pauly Sanders, and my friends were teasing me about a couple guys I’d gone out with.” Brianne smiled. “Listen, I know Pauly has had some horrible relationships. He told me about every one of them in great detail. He said he never went out with anyone who wasn’t a loser until he met me.”

In the corner of the studio, Pauly almost fainted.

“Do you think this discussion about bad relationships might have upset Joyce?” Patrick asked.

“I don’t know,” Brianne said. “She got up from the table and that was the last any of us saw of her.”

They showed Joyce’s smiling face on the screen. She looked so happy holding the black-and-white puppy.

Jeannie looked at Regan. “We understand that Joyce’s boyfriend is out of town. He must be upset.”

“Apparently so,” Regan said evasively.

“And you have a search party that’s meeting down at Club Zee.”

“Right after this interview, we’re going straight there. We’ll put up Joyce’s picture all over the neighborhood. We’ll talk to people and ask if anyone saw Joyce or noticed anything unusual last night. I can’t stress enough that we need help in finding her. People should call in with any information they have, no matter how insignificant it seems.”

“Okay, then,” Jeannie said. She turned to the camera. “If anyone in the New York area would like to join the search party, I’m sure you’d be most welcome. And if you do have any information, please call this number…”

When the interview was over, Regan and Brianne walked over to rejoin the rest of their group.

“Where did Pauly go?” Brianne asked.

“He said he’d meet you down in the lobby,” Jack answered. “He was sweating and said he needed some air.”

Brianne was out the door in a shot.

“Cindy, you don’t look so well either,” Regan said.

Cindy shook her head. “I’m just thinking about Joyce. I’m not surprised if talk of loser ex-boyfriends upset Joyce. Her problem is that she is still with someone who should be her ex. And he hasn’t even had the decency to call me back. Where could he be? I’m beginning to think maybe he did have something to do with this.”

“We’ll find out,” Regan assured her.

“They’re checking Joyce’s cell phone records,” Jack told Cindy. “But even if he isn’t involved, he doesn’t sound like such a swell guy.”

“He’s not. He let his unemployed friend park himself on Joyce’s couch for the last three months. When we get Joyce back…” Cindy’s mouth started to tremble, “when we get Joyce back, I’m going to help her throw both of those losers’ belongings out into the street.”