Undeniably Yours by Heather Webber

she likes us to call her. Ms. Rodriguez said she’s missing? Is that right?”
    I shouldn’t have been surprised at how fast Nya had spilled the news, but I was. It was bound to be on the noon newscast for sure.
    “For a couple of days,” Aiden confirmed. “Could you tell us what happened? We heard there was an incident down here a few days ago.”
    Beckley’s expression sobered and his lips turned downward in a deep frown. “Two incidents. Wednesday and Thursday.”
    Thursday, too? “What happened, exactly? Ms. Rodriguez was a little fuzzy on the details.”
    “Wednesday’s deal wasn’t that unusual except looking back on it. It was late—a little past nine p.m. or so—and Ms. Fitz was on her way out when one of my attendants noticed her back tire was real low, almost flat. He put her spare on for her and sent her on her way.”
    “Flat tires aren’t that unusual,” Aiden prompted, echoing Nya’s earlier thoughts on the matter.
    Beckley raised a dark unruly eyebrow. “Truth. But in tandem with what happened Thursday they are…and now she’s missing. I can’t help but wonder if someone messed with that tire. A slow leak would mean that Ms. Fitz would likely have pulled over somewhere on her way home with a flat.”
    If someone had been following behind her waiting for that moment…
    That scenario made the goose bumps on my arms double. I glanced around the garage. The first floor was street level, with only waist-high concrete barriers and tall pillars separating the back of the garage from the street behind it. It would take only seconds for someone to jump that wall and pop a hole in the tire.
    “Did she have her little girl with her?” Aiden asked.
    “Not that night,” Beckley said. “She must’ve been picked up earlier. That happens a lot.”
    “What happened Thursday?” Aiden asked through clenched teeth.
    “It was a little before three, not quite quitting time for Ms. Fitz, but there she was, coming off the staff elevator and walking like the devil was on her heels, her little girl in one arm, her laptop in the other. Didn’t wave to me like usual, just stormed over to her car, then kind of froze.”
    “And?” Aiden pressed.
    “I immediately knew something was wrong, so I went to see. All the color was gone from her face.” He took a breath. “I think the only reason she wasn’t yelling was she didn’t want to scare the baby.”
    Surreptitiously, I looked at Aiden. His lips were once again pressed in a thin line, and I could see his pulse jumping at his temple. His patience was wearing thin with Beckley’s windy storytelling.
    “What was wrong?” I asked.
    “Never saw anything like it, and I’ve been working here for fourteen years now.” He clasped his hands and kept shaking his head. Back and forth. Back and forth.
    “Saw what?” Aiden ground out.
    “There was this doll…” He kept shaking his head.
    “What doll?” I asked, wondering if I had the strength to hold Aiden back if need be. I should have had more breakfast. Wheaties or something.
    “The doll sitting in the little girl’s car seat,” Beckley explained as though we were both as dense as three-day-old donuts. “It was a cute doll, looked a lot like Ms. Fitz’s little Ava, but then I saw the note stuck to the doll.”
    Aiden’s fists clenched. “What did the note say?”
    “Something about worrying about her own kid.” He shook his head again. “I can’t quite remember, but it rattled Ms. Fitz but good. That doll hadn’t been there when she went into work that morning. Someone broke in during the day and put it there.”
    Immediately, Aiden’s head snapped upward and looked around. “You have cameras in here?”
    “Of course,” Beckley said. “I figured you’d be wanting to look at the footage, same as Ms. Fitz did.” He swiveled the monitor to face us. “I have it queued up for you. Got it pinned down to when the break-in occurred. A little after noon.”
    Aiden and I watched the screen.