Page 18 of Casey's Hero

Jacob grabbed the card and disappeared through the door.

After a few seconds, Casey couldn’t just lay there waiting for him to return. She got up, found a Denver Bronco T-shirt and pulled it over her head. It hung almost down to her knees. She propped open the door to the room with the night latch and stepped across the hallway to Hawk’s room.

About that time, Jacob emerged, his eyes wide, his brow creased in a frown. “He’s not here.”

“What do you mean he’s not here? Where would he be?” Casey pushed past him. Once inside the room, internal alarm bells went off. The comforter was on the floor, Hawk’s suitcase had been dumped, the contents strewn throughout the room, and the nightstand lamp lay in the middle of the floor. “What the hell happened here?”

“I don’t know.” Jacob shoved a hand through his hair. “He’s not here.” He held up a cell phone. “I found his cell phone on the floor, and his wedding tuxedo and shoes are missing.”

“Would he have taken his suit to the church already?”

“Without his cell phone?” Jacob held up the device. “He never leaves a room in a mess. And his cell phone goes with him everywhere. The man is OCD.”

Casey looked around the room. “Do you think he was kidnapped?”

“Who would kidnap him?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been in Montana. Has he made anyone mad out there that you know of?” Crossing to the doorway, she examined the frame. “It doesn’t appear that the door was forced open.”

“I know Hawk,” Jacob said. “He wouldn’t have left with someone without a fight.”

Casey waved at the mess in the room. “Thus, the state of the room. But who would take him?” She shook her head. “There has to be a better explanation.” She stepped out into the hallway and spied a security camera at the end near the stairwell. “Let’s talk to security. Maybe they have footage of what happened in this hallway last night.”

Jacob tipped his head toward her T-shirt. “Maybe you should get some more clothes on before we do.”

“You don’t happen to have a pair of shorts or sweats I can borrow, do you?” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Just until I can get to my car and my own things.”

“I have some shorts.” He led the way back to his room and rummaged through a duffle bag until he found gym shorts.

Casey took them into the bathroom, closed the door and slipped them on, drawing the string tight to keep them from falling off. One glance in the mirror made her grimace. The heavy makeup from the night before had smeared and her hair was a wild mess around her face. With a washcloth and soap, she scrubbed off the makeup and finger-combed her hair until it wasn’t a wild mess. “It will have to do for now.”

When Casey emerged, Jacob had dressed in shoes and a T-shirt and had combed his hair.

Feeling extremely underdressed, wearing a T-shirt she’d knotted at the waist, the gym shorts and her platform heels, Casey headed for the door, her chin held high. Fake it until you feel it, she always said. So, she faked the confidence she wasn’t feeling.

Jacob followed her into the elevator, and they went down to the ground floor.

“Check with their security. See if we can get in to see the camera footage,” Casey said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She left him at the desk in the lobby. The clerk frowned at her as she hurried out the door. Casey couldn’t help the judgmentallooks, but she could get her own clothes and feel more prepared to face the day. After digging out a brush, a pair of jeans, a soft, rib-knit pink sweater, panties that were more than a thong and sensible flats out of the rear of her vehicle, she climbed into the back seat, hunkered low and dressed in under three minutes, thankful for the tinted windows and empty parking lot. She pulled back her hair into a neat ponytail and secured it with an elastic band at the nape of her neck.

When she climbed out of the back seat, she felt a lot more like herself and not the stripper, Candy. Tossing the platform shoes into the back, she rolled the shirt and shorts into a tight ball and entered the hotel.

Jacob was nowhere to be seen. “Excuse me,” she said to the woman who’d given her that judgmental look. “There was a man standing here a few minutes ago. I presume he was asking about video footage. Could you tell me where he went?”

The woman’s gaze raked over her from head to toe. She frowned briefly, then jerked her head toward the door behind the desk. “He’s in there. Says his friend is missing.”

“Yes, he is. Do you mind if I join him?” Casey asked.

“Go ahead. The night shift didn’t report any issues. I don’t know why you think you need to see surveillance videos.”

“The missing man is supposed to be at the rehearsal this afternoon. His bride is worried about him,” Casey explained as she walked around the desk to the door behind the woman. The mention of the bride reminded her that she hadn’t called Kalea to give her an update. What would she say to calm the bride?

Hell, nothing she could say would calm Kalea. They didn’t know where Hawk was, and by the look of his room, he hadn’t left it willingly.

As long as Kalea wasn’t calling, demanding to know where Hawk was, she’d let that sleeping dog lie. She needed time to find the missing groom.

Jacob hovered over a young male hotel worker as they scrolled through the video footage for the past seven hours.

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