"I'll see you later Jude." Tommy kissed Jude's cheek before she got out of the car. Her Mustang was being repaired after the brakes wore down so Tommy had been giving her lifts for the past week. Sadie appeared at the door and watched unnoticed as the young couple said their goodbyes. Sadie wished her and Kwest were still like that. He had been so distant since New York, barely talking to her and spending all his time going out or shut up in the studio. She pasted a smile on her face as Jude noticed her, Sadie waved a hand in greeting to Tommy who smiled and waved back before blowing a kiss to Jude and pulling away from their house. Jude watched him drive away before running up the front path to her older sister.
"What's wrong?" Jude asked, seeing a sad look in Sadie's eyes.
"Nothing Jude, why?" Sadie was determined not to let Jude know about the problems in her marriage, Kwest was her producer and if Sadie confided in her sister then her work might suffer. Jude eyed her sister suspiciously. "I'm fine really, I'm probably just tired or something. Really Jude, everything's fine. C'mon dinner's nearly ready and I want to hear your new song beforehand." Jude shrugged her shoulders and allowed herself to be dragged into the house. She was sure if there was something going on Sadie would tell her, after all they were best friends as well as sisters.
"Hi Kwest baby, how was work?" Sadie attempted to sound cheerful and normal although she already knew Kwest would ignore her or reply in a single syllable.
"Fine." Kwest ignored his wife and walked through to the kitchen. Sadie sighed and followed him.
"Are you going out again tonight?" Kwest ignored her, reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer. As he walked past her again Sadie grabbed his arm. "Kwest? Are you?"
"Huh?"
"Are you going out tonight?" Sadie snapped, irritated.
"Probably." Kwest shook off her arm and stalked off upstairs leaving Sadie alone in the kitchen, tears welling up in her eyes. Sadie heard the front door slam, signalling Kwest had indeed gone out, and Jude come running down the stairs. Sadie frantically wiped away her tears and forced her brightest smile on her face as Jude entered the kitchen.
"Hey Jude, you okay?"
"I'm fine, was that Kwest going out again? That's like the third night in a row!" Jude rolled her eyes jokingly. "Men!"
"Huh, yeah I know. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. " Sadie avoided Jude's gaze, rousing her suspicion.
"Seriously though, are things okay with you two? I barely see you two together any more and you seem a bit down. You know you can talk to me right?"
"Yeah I know that, but like I said everything is fine. Don't worry about it Jude. Hey you wanna watch a movie? Sister's night in? I rented Dirty Dancing…" Jude grinned and nodded, already searching for some popcorn as Sadie left to set up the video. "Jude hurry up it's starting and I'm not waiting for you!" Sadie called out five minutes later. When she got no reply Sadie sighed and paused the video, going in search of her sister. When she got to the kitchen the back door was open and the bag of popcorn was lying on the floor, with several pieces spilling out of it. Sadie looked around wildly and ran to the door. "Jude? Jude are you out here? Jude seriously, stop messing around!" Sadie yelled out into the darkness. "Jude?" Sadie tried again hopefully, but her voice was smaller and sounded more scared than before. Sadie had a bad feeling about this. She grabbed her phone and dialled Tommy's number. "Tommy is Jude with you?" She asked, almost pleadingly, the instant Tommy picked up the phone, answering in a sleepy voice.
"Erm no. You two are having a movie night remember?" Tommy chuckled at Sadie's ditzieness.
"She's not?" Sadie's bad feeling was getting worse.
"No she's not. I haven't seen Jude since I dropped her off earlier. Why?" Tommy had picked up on the panic in Sadie's voice and in his apartment he was sitting up looking around as if Jude would suddenly pop up.
"She's not here Tommy. She hasn't left a note, her cell is still here and the back door is wide open but I could have sworn I'd locked it. I'm scared Tommy, this isn't like her." Sadie sunk onto a stool and pulled at her hair, a nervous habit of hers.
"Lock the back door; call Darius; call Speid and send Kwest to look for her."
"But Kwest isn't here!" Sadie was crying huge tears now and her voice was shaky. Tommy swore quietly, already on his feet and locating his car keys.
"Lock the back door, call Darius and Speid and I'll be there soon." Tommy hung up, grabbed his car keys and ran out the door praying that nothing bad had happened to Jude.