Page 22 of Harrison Hyde and the Runaway Bride

“Did you call the university? See if she made it there to pick up the prototype?”

“Yes,” he said. “She did pick it up, apparently. Your department head checked the safe, and the prototype is gone. But Carrie’s car’s still in the parking lot.”

That was weird. What the hell was going on? “All right, okay, John, listen. I’m gonna have some people look into this, okay? I don’t want you to worry.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll call you later to check in. And please call me if you hear anything, all right?”

“Yes. Okay. Thanks, Harrison. Thank God you answered the phone. None of the others did.”

Harrison blinked. “You called Robert and Solomon?”

“Yeah. Glad I finally got through to one of you. Let me know if you hear from her, okay?”

“Of course I will. Please do the same.” He didn’t know if John Sayre had heard him before the call had ended. Harrison stared at the phone, blinking.

“What are you thinkin’?” Maria asked.

Harrison said, “Well, John can get… confused sometimes. I don’t think we need to panic.”

“I thought he sounded a little off. Dementia?”

He nodded. “Early onset Alzheimer’s. He’s only forty-nine.” As he spoke, he scrolled to the research group text, with just the four of them on it, and sent a message.

Harrison: REPLY. URGENT.

“Forty-nine,” Maria said. “That’s terrible.”

He kept watching the phone, but no one replied. “What if itissomehow connected?” A dark feeling was starting to take root in the base of his brain.

“Call someone else,” Maria said. “Someone you absolutely trust who’s up there and can go to the University and find out what’s really goin’ on.”

Nodding, he tapped his phone, pulled up his sister’s number, and hesitated.

Shamelessly, Maria leaned over and looked at the screen. “She’s pretty. Girlfriend?” He glanced at her in surprise. There was disappointment in her eyes, but she hid it quickly. “That silver-blond hair is stunning. Like your mom’s, isn’t it.”

“Just like my mom’s,” he said. “That’s my sister, Lily. But I’m feeling like I don’t want to get her involved in this.”

“I agree with that assessment,” Maria said. “Least not ’til we know what’s really goin’ on.”

“I’ll call the university directly.” He dialed a number, and when someone answered he said, “I need the maintenance department, please.”

He was connected and the phone rang multiple times before someone picked it up with an irritated and gravelly-voiced, “Yeah?”

“Bruce! Glad you picked up. This is Harrison Hyde. I’m working on the?—”

“I know who y’are, Professor Hyde.”

“I’m not a professor I— it doesn’t matter. My car was stolen, and the prototype for the project I was working on was inside.”

“Stolen?”

“Yeah, and I?—”

“Well, you got the wrong department, then. You should call the dean. And the police.”

“The police are working on it. But right now, I need you to do me a favor.”

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