Chapter Thirty-Three

At breakfast, Cece was nowhere to be found. Joe prodded Petra for information but got only noncommittal responses. They went to Cece's empty studio, paced amid the paintings of roses, irises and sacred mountaintops, then returned to the main house. While Petra was occupied kneading bread dough, they searched room by room, going through the formal dining room with its heavy dark furniture, the dim, imposing library, the black and white formal parlor and the den full of antique vases and figurines.

Giving up on finding Cece on the first floor, they started up the stairs. "Think she's in her room?"

"Don't know where else she'd be."

"Should we just walk in on her?"

"I don't like it, but I don't see that we've got other options at this point."

At the end of the hall was Cece's closed door, and Joe put a hand on the knob. He tried to turn it, but found it locked.

"Knock," Brent said, but then grabbed him by the sleeve. "Wait. Maybe it would be better if you acted like you want to apologize for last night."

"I'm not an actor," Joe whispered.

"Just try."

Joe composed himself then tapped at the door. "Cece, I know you're in there."

A muffled voice answered.

"I can't hear you. Why don't you let me in so I can talk to you?"

"Go away. I'm not feeling well today."

Brent rolled his eyes and indicated that Joe should continue.

"I wanted to tell you I'm not mad about last night." He glanced at Brent and took a deep breath. "I guess you just surprised me. I can be a little shy sometimes. Anyway, I came to apologize."

"You don't have to lie to me, Joe." Cece's voice was directly on the other side of the door now.

"Can I come in and talk to you, please?"

There was a long silence, then they heard Cece fumbling with the lock. As soon as the door was open, both men both pushed their way into the room and Brent shut the door behind him. Cece scowled. "What's this all about?"

"We want you to call Elise," Joe said. "Now."

"I already did. She wasn't there."

"Maybe she's back," Brent said. "Why don't you call again?"

"And do it on the land line this time so I can listen on the other end." Joe added.

"I can't let you do that." Cece backed toward her nightstand. "Elise might hear you and--"

"You let me worry about that."

Cece shook her head. "Either I call alone, or I don't call at all."

Joe had her trapped against the nightstand now. He grabbed her by the wrist so she couldn't get away, and reached around her for the phone. "If you won't let me listen on the other line, then you're going to call with me standing right here. What's the number? I'll dial it for you."

"I'm not giving you that number, and I don't have it memorized. It's in my contacts list on my cell phone."

"Where's your cell phone?" Brent asked. "I'll get it for you."

Cece's eyes widened in panic. "I don't remember."

Joe grabbed Cece by both shoulders and steered her to the wall. "Why don't you just admit it? You've been stringing us along. You don't have Elise's phone number, or if you do, you haven't been calling. You just want to keep us here for your own personal reasons, and you don't care if I find my wife or not."

"Why should I care?" Cece blurted. "She told me she was never going back to you." She turned to Brent. "Or you, either." She looked up at Joe, her eyes wide and pleading. "What's so wrong with wanting you for myself? I can make sure you never have to work for money again. You'll have nothing to worry about except your art. Wouldn't you like that?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Joe's grip on her shoulders tightened and Cece winced. "This isn't about money or art. This isn't something you can buy. This is about me needing to see my wife and hear her tell me to my face that she doesn't love me and isn't coming home with me. Then, and only then, will I leave her alone." He gave Cece a shake. "Now, are you going to tell me where she is?"

Cece shook her head, cringing as Joe's fingers dug deeper into her shoulders.

Joe shook her again, harder. "I'm going to ask you again. Where is she?"

Brent leaned over Cece, too. "We can do this all day, you know. I don't have a job any more. Elise is probably long gone from wherever you took her to. We have nothing better to do than hold you against this wall. We can even take turns."

"I'll scream. My girls will call the police."

Brent shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced at Joe. "Think we should gag her until she's ready to talk? Maybe we could tie her to a chair or something while we look for her cell phone."

"You can't do that!" Cece said. "I get panic attacks-- I could die."

"You won't die," Brent stripped a bed pillow of its case. "Think this would work for a gag?"

"I'm serious, you can't do this," Cece stammered. "I won't be able to breathe. I'll faint."

"Then why don't you tell us how to find Elise?" Joe said through clenched teeth.

Cece bit her lower lip. "I took her to stay with her friend from the ballet-- Lamia Scopuli. North side of town."

"Oh, hell," Brent said. "I should've guessed she'd look her up."

"Who is she?" Joe asked.

"A friend of hers. They were roommates for awhile." He turned back to Cece. "What's the address?" He fumbled on the nightstand for a pen and something to write with.

"I don't remember," Cece said. "It's the Mariner apartments off the interstate, though, near the beltway."

"Apartment number?"

"I don't know. I dropped her off in the parking lot. I think it's upstairs, though, on the left."

"That's not very helpful. Phone number?"

Cece looked away. "I don't know."

"You mean all this time you didn't even have her number?"

"You say you knew I wasn't calling anyway."

Joe let her go but the intensity of his scowl kept her cowering against the wall. "It's bad enough you lied about calling, but you didn't even have the number so you could."

He moved to grab her again, but Brent put a hand on his arm. "Come on, this may be enough. Let's not waste any more time."

"If it's too late," Joe warned Cece, "I'm holding you responsible. Do you understand?"

Cece nodded.

"Come on," Brent said again. "Yelling at her may make you feel better, but it's not like we didn't suspect this anyway. Let's get out of here."