No Return

55

At 7 A.M. Wes woke in the same position he’d fallen asleep in. The papers were in a pile on the bed next to his outstretched hand. He picked them up and shoved them partly under the pile of clothes that were still on the dresser, then trudged into the bathroom.

He skipped a shower and just splashed some water on his face to wake up. He then dressed, threw a Padres baseball cap over his head, and headed out. By the time he got to the SUVs, Dione, Danny, and Monroe were already there.

“What happened?” Dione asked. “You guys have a party last night?”

“Not that I know of,” Wes said.

“Then where the hell is everyone?”

“So glad you’re back, Dione.”

“Please tell me that PA guy is bringing coffee,” Monroe rasped.

If anyone looked like they’d been at a party the night before, it was Monroe. She was wearing dark shades, and had the energy of a piece of petrified wood. Wes, remembering how well she’d bounced back after the night of tequila shots, wondered what she could have done over the weekend to cause her current condition.

Dione took a few steps away from the cars and motioned for Wes to follow her. “Did you read Tony the riot act?”

“I haven’t seen him yet,” Wes said. “I was out last night.”

“Great. So I have to do it.” She frowned, then looked down at the clipboard with her schedule and other information.

Wes winced, remembering the papers Lars had given him.

“What?” she asked.

“Left something in my room.” He looked around. “I’ll be right back.”

“Check on the others while you’re over there,” Dione said. “Tell them to move it.”

“Sure.”

Wes headed across the parking lot, but he’d barely reached the walkway when Alison came racing out of the courtyard passageway.

She immediately spotted him and ran over. “He’s not back,” she said.

“Tony?” Wes said. “I thought-”

“He still hasn’t come back.”

She put a hand on Wes’s arm and started pulling him toward the passageway.

“I was awake until one, and then up again at six,” she told him, her voice panicked. “I’ve already knocked on his door a dozen times.”

Wes stopped her. “Get the manager. I’ll try the door.”

Alison nodded, then headed toward the motel office as Wes ran in the other direction. The first thing he did when he reached Tony’s door was try the knob. As expected, it was locked.

“Tony!” he yelled, pounding on the door. “Tony!”

As he started to yell a third time, Dione came jogging around the corner.

“I saw Alison and she just pointed in this direction,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“Tony’s not back,” Wes said. He pounded again. “Tony!”

Just then Alison and Harold Barber, the manager who had given Anna her new room, showed up. Unlike the manager from the day before, Barber immediately stuck the master keycard in the slot and pushed the door open.

Everything in the room was exactly as it had been when they’d checked on Sunday.

“Oh, God,” Alison said.

Wes ran to the phone on the nightstand and called 911.