Jerrica was relieved Rio was on his way, but she was still keyed up so the girls coaxed her into a shower in the meantime to keep her from being anxious while they waited. No one asked how she planned to break the news to her boyfriend that her sister had gone missing, and that the concert he'd worked hard to prepare for would in all likelihood be cancelled, but they silently agreed it was Jerrica's decision—as their manager, lead singer, and Kimber's only living flesh-and-blood relative—on how to proceed. They got ready for the day as efficiently as possible, with no chatter, then trodded somberly to the hotel lobby to greet their stage manager with the bad news.

Rio looked stricken before they even told him anything. The story hadn't been picked up by the media yet, but if Jerrica said that she needed him, that something was wrong, he knew the situation was serious. She was usually the glue that held everyone else's pieces together, so to see her fall apart was genuine cause for concern.

"Jerrica," he said, holding his arms out to her as she rushed into them.

Jerrica's arms wound around Rio's neck and she clung tightly to him, as if afraid he, too, would disappear. "Rio," she croaked.

Rio squeezed her tightly to him, looking past her shoulder at the Holograms with an unspoken question in the air.

It was a moment before Jerrica could find her voice. "Rio," she said finally, drawing back, "Kimber's gone."

"Gone?" Rio frowned. What was that supposed to mean? "What are you trying to tell me, Jerrica?"

"We split up," Shana explained when it seemed Jerrica wouldn't be able to speak. "While you were getting the stage set up, we spent the day at the zoo. Kimber went to the gift shop by herself while the rest of us were exploring the park, and when we called her to meet for lunch, she didn't answer her phone."

"We only found her shoes," Jerrica said, unable to keep from crying. "She went back to the car alone and something must have happened. Her heels were right there in the parking lot, but she didn't answer our texts or phone calls. She—she just disappeared!"

"People don't just disappear," Rio said rationally. He took hold of Jerrica's shoulders and held her at arm's length, trying to calm her with his steady voice. "She obviously went somewhere; we just have to figure out where, and with whom."

"You make it sound so simple," Jerrica sniffled.

Rio nodded confidently. "Look, Kimber had her phone on her, right? Cell phone companies have a way to track their devices."

For the first time since Kimber vanished, Jerrica felt a flutter of hope. "You're right!"

"Then that's where we'll start." He squeezed her shoulders gently. "We'll find her, sweetheart. I'm here to help."

"But—but in the meantime, we'll have to cancel the concert," Jerrica murmured. "We'll have to tell the venue owners and the promoters; have the local radio DJs cancel ticket giveaways… Oh—the fans!" Suddenly Jerrica seemed almost like her old self, but the moment was fleeting. "We'll have to inform everyone Jem and the Holograms can't perform tonight. They'll be devastated. And then to find out the reason…"

"Shh, shh. Jerrica, I can handle all that," Rio placated her. "It's my job, after all. And maybe Jem can lend me a hand." He looked around, frowning as it suddenly dawned on him that the band's leader was nowhere in sight. "Where is Jem, anyway?"

"Jem?" Jerrica repeated, looking up at Rio with eyes as wide as a deer's caught in the glare of unexpected headlights. She hadn't prepared for the obvious question. "Sh-she's…"

"Jem flew back to L.A.," Aja interjected, coming to stand next to them and discreetly pulling Jerrica out of Rio's arms, forcing her to take a step back. Rio was the one person close to Jerrica who didn't know she was secretly the world's most sensational pop vocalist, and considering the fact that he had a romantic interest in both women, now was not the time to compound the current drama unfolding. The last thing Jerrica needed to worry about was keeping up her masquerade.

But Rio didn't like what he was hearing. "What?" he shouted incredulously. "One of her closest friends goes missing, and she just leaves? Can she even do that? Don't the police need to get her statement, keep everyone involved close by for questioning?"

"Jem didn't have anything to do with Kimber's disappearance," Shana said defensively.

Raya looked back and forth between her friends and their stage manager. This situation was quickly becoming overly complicated by Jerrica's unwillingness to tell Rio about her dual identity. But this wasn't the time to address that issue. "Someone had to go home to wait by the telephone," she quickly explained. "In case…in case the kidnapper calls with a ransom demand or something."

Jerrica shot Raya a grateful look. The way the girl bowed her head made it obvious how difficult it was for her to lie to a friend, but this was an emergency and Raya clearly understood that.

"Anyway," Shana sighed, "our priority right now is Kimber."

"What have the police done about this?" Rio demanded. "You did contact them, I hope?"

"Of course!" Aja snapped. "They said they'd check the security footage from the zoo and call us the second they found out anything."

Suddenly Jerrica's ringtone sang out. She fumbled for the phone in her purse. "That's them now!" she exclaimed, but as everyone crowded around her, she turned away and slowly crossed the room so she could hear more clearly without distraction. "Hello?"

Rio ran a hand over his face. "I can't believe this is happening. Or can I?" He sighed. "Why do I get the bad feeling Eric Raymond has something to do with this?"

"Because he usually does have something to do with all the bad things that happen to us," Shana muttered, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, and it wouldn't even be the first time he's resorted to kidnapping," Aja agreed.

"But he's never actually…hurt anyone…right?" asked Raya weakly.

No one answered in words, but they were all thinking it: there's a first time for everything, and Eric Raymond is the lowest of the low.

"That was the police," Jerrica announced, returning to the group.

Rio draped an arm around her, then steered her easily towards the lobby exit. "We can talk on the way," he decided before Jerrica said anything further. He noticed they were attracting the attention of some of the hotel's other patrons while they stood in the lobby, openly discussing a celebrity kidnapping case. "Come on, we'll all fit in the van."


Eric Raymond's secretary displayed no surprise when he suddenly ordered her to book him a flight from Los Angeles to New York. He paid her to not care about his personal affairs, to simply do what she was told and to not think about it.

Of course, he wouldn't be going to New York, he thought to himself as he exited Misfits Music for his lunch break. He would leave the airport during the flight's layover in St. Paul, then rent a vehicle using the cash he was about to withdraw from the bank ATM.

Zipper hadn't specified what had gone wrong with their plan to ruin Jem's big concert, but he could imagine. The guy wasn't exactly known for doing a good job when Eric assigned him a task, but the good thing about Zipper was that he didn't mind getting his hands dirty. This time, however, it sounded as though he'd gotten them a little too dirty.

Eric tried to keep a cool head without downplaying the severity of the situation. He hadn't let Zipper explain anything over the phone because Eric had enemies, a lot of them, and he would be none too surprised if he were to discover his office phone had been bugged.

He replayed their conversation in his mind as he crossed the busy streets in L.A.'s famous music district, avoiding looking at the sign for Starlight Music across the way as he tried to recall every word. They hadn't discussed anything specific. They hadn't said anything incriminating, he was sure of it. And since he had it in the books he was taking a business trip to New York, no one would be looking for him in Nebraska.