Free Chain of Souls (Salem VI) by Jack Heath, John Thompson Page A

right?"
    "Yes, and I'm very much a hundred percent."
    Jack nodded. "I'll tell the others. People are just a little bit nervous, you understand."
    "Completely." John hesitated as Jack started to turn and walk out of the office. "Jack," he said, causing Jack to stop and turn back. "I just need to tell you that I've got a bit of a personal problem. I can't seem to get hold of my daughter, and I'm a bit concerned. I don't mean to burden you with my problems, but it's got me a little distracted, that's all."
    Jack stepped back into the office. "Your daughter's missing?" he asked in a low voice.
    John shrugged. "Maybe," he said, telling the version of the story he had concocted with Amy earlier that morning. "We're just not sure yet. It might be nothing, but she was supposed to have come over for dinner last night, and she never showed up."
    "Have you contacted the police?"
    "Not yet. I don't want to sound the alarm bells if it's not absolutely necessary." He checked his watch. "I need to call her office and see if anyone there has heard from her."
    "Jeez, John, that's terrible. Let me know if there's anything any of us can do. And don't worry about getting things set up here; we've got everything well in hand. If you need some time for yourself, just take it, okay?"
    John nodded. "Thanks, but Jack . . . just keep it to yourself, okay?"
    "Sure thing."
    As Jack walked away, a cold feeling settled into John's stomach and he found himself wondering if Jack Daniels was just what he seemed on the surface, a person concerned about a friend and fellow worker, or if he was another secret member of the Salem Coven. John shook his head, hating that he could harbor that kind of suspicion about someone who'd never acted like anything but a friend, but at the same time admitting to himself he had no choice but to distrust the motives of almost everyone around him.
    He said nothing else to the other staffers about the fact that Sarah was missing. However, as the afternoon wore on he found himself studying each person, trying to detect anything unusual in their demeanor or in the way they looked at him or spoke to him. Even when he pretended to be reading something at his desk, he watched the others out of the corner of his eye, hoping to notice somebody staring at him when they thought he wasn't looking.
    He wanted so badly for someone to give themselves away so that then he would have a person to pound on, a neck to wring, eyeballs to gouge until they gave him the information he wanted. He knew he was becoming a paranoid wreck, but he couldn't help it. He had to accept the probability that at least one member of his staff was also a member of the Coven. Even though he focused hard he saw nothing that made him suspicious.
    A few minutes before seven o'clock, he closed the door of his office and called Sarah's television station and asked to speak with her boss, the producer. The person who answered took John's name and phone number and said that while the producer had gone home some time earlier, he would try and reach the producer on his cell phone and give him the message. John's phone rang three minutes later.
    John told the producer he was Sarah's father and had been worried since she didn't show up for a dinner the previous night. The producer hesitated then told John that Sarah had also not shown up for her morning news show, and that he, too, was concerned. "It's not at all like her to have an unexplained absence," the man said. "She is extremely conscientious."
    "Yes," John agreed, "in everything."
    "Have you called the police to report her missing, Mr. Andrews?" the man asked.
    "No," John replied. "Until now I kept hoping that might be premature. I kept thinking she might have had some personal reason for avoiding dinner, but she hasn't answered her cell phone or office phone all day."
    "In our business it's extremely unusual for a news professional to miss a broadcast, especially when they don't call in first. If you want, we can call