For The Love of Daphne by Patrick Councilor
Daphne had a spare set of keys to the building which Niles worked. She and Martin took the elevator to the floor of Niles' office. When they reached the glass doors with his name etched into it, the doors were open.
"You see," Martin said with a tone of ease. "He's still here."
Ask they stepped into the well-light reception area, Daphne called out, "Niles!"
There was no reply.
They hurried to his office where the lights were still on and the door was wide open. Daphne found his cell phone on the rug just inside the door. She was quick to snatch it up. "So this is why he hasn't been answering his phone."
"You see Daph, he's probably home now waiting for you to get there," Martin tried to sound convincing. "Why don't we just head over there now?" He turned her toward the door and turned out the office lights as she exited.
"It's just not like Niles to leave his cell phone behind, not to mention leave all the lights on and leave his office unlocked."
"Well, he was probably in a hurry to get back to you…" He stumbled for words of comfort. "And maybe he was a little tired and just forgot to lock up. Things happen."
"You really think so?"
"Sure", he said with a grin.
He lead her out of the front door. "Here, give me the keys to lock up. I'll turn off the lights. You go call the elevator. I'll be right there."
"Alright then." She wiped her nose with the tissue she had in her hand as she started down the corridor.
Martin went back to Niles' office and retrieved something off of the floor. On the way back to the front of the reception area, he noticed the red light on the coffee maker. He took note of the water level to get an idea of how long it would have taken that much coffee to burn off from a full pot of coffee, assuming that none of it was poured. He switched it off and then went over to turn the lights out and then lock up.
As Martin drove her back to her place, something was eating at him. He couldn't let it show, not in front of his daughter-in-law. He knew how articulate his son was just as she did. He knew she was on the verge of breaking down into hysterics, but she wanted to keep that glimmer of hope. Niles could have dropped his phone by mistake, but the lights, the coffee maker and then the office wide open. Martin was eager to get on the horn with some of his precinct buddies to see if they had anything useful. Perhaps Martin could persuade them to put out an APB on Niles' car. It wasn't in the parking lot when they drove up to the building. Something was "a miss" and he felt Daphne sinking into a dark place and knew she felt it so much more than he did.
He tried to keep light conversation with her on the way, but neither one of them wanted to carry it through. They just wanted answers and wanted to know their next plans. He didn't want to alarm her about needing to call his buddies down town, but by the time they reached the parking structure of The Montana, she suddenly spoke. "I'll use Niles' cell to start calling hospitals while you use the house phone to call you buddies on the force."
"Sure," Martin nodded. "If he's not waiting at home already, we'll make those calls. Perhaps we should call Triple-A to see if he placed a call. It's so late, maybe he would think twice about calling and waking us up, if he broke down."
Daphne nodded without looking his way. She felt if she spoke anymore about it, she would break down into an uncontrollable siege of tears.
They took the elevator up to the apartment where Ronee was waiting. As they had felt in their hearts, Niles, of course, was not there.
"Daph, why don't you make your calls in the kitchen and I'll make mine here in the den."
She nodded as the tears started again. Ronee started to join Daphne, but Martin took a hold of her wrist. When Daphne was in the kitchen, Ronee turned to him. "What is it?" she asked with great concern.
"Something is wrong. Something is awfully wrong."
"What?" she repeated.
"His office was wide open with all of the lights on and the coffee pot on."
"That certainly doesn't sound like Niles."
"Yeah, and Daphne found his cell phone on the floor in his office. She didn't notice, but I found his wallet next to the coat rack in his office." He pulled it out of his pocket to show her.
"Oh my God Martin."
"Yeah," he said with great concern.