The local Miami PD would be on his side. He probably should have called them already, but he thought the FBI and Morgan security would be enough. He held himself together and dialed.
"This is the emergency line. How can we help you?"
John swallowed, aware that every word he spoke was recorded. "Someone left me two threats that they intend to kill Alice Collins. Now she's disappeared and I don't want anything to happen to her."
The word kill must have been all he needed to say. The second he finished his sentence, the woman on the phone responded. "Dispatch is on its way, Mr. Morgan."
Of course everyone knew who he was. Today he'd have to use the name. "Thanks."
He hung up the phone and gazed out at the morning sun. The smell of coffee from the automatic machine permeated the air. He went to the garage but Alice's SUV was gone. He picked up his phone to call her, but the squad car squealed in the distance.
In the front hall, he put on his socks but left his sneakers at the door.
John's mind ran through everything. Alice would likely go to her parents. Her mother hated him. If he went to her as he was, he'd smell of sex. A shower would cure him, but there was no time.
Instead he walked into the kitchen, picked up his phone, texted Vicki and Alice to call him and poured two mugs of coffee. One was an offering to the officer who would arrive any moment.
The silence in the house made his skin itchy. He sipped his coffee. The caffeine sent his blood into overdrive. He had to do more. He picked up his phone again. No text from Alice. No missed calls. Her mother might have answers. As he dialed her house phone, he prayed everything was fine and that Alice was there.
On the second ring, her mother Ellie answered, "Hello?"
"Mrs. Collins."
The gasp held obvious disdain. "John Morgan."
Now wasn't the time to win her over. His words rushed together. "Is Alice there?"
"She's not with you?"
The more people that looked for Alice, the safer she might be. He had to tell her. He blinked. No police cars were on his street yet. "I know you don't like me."
"Like is too soft a word, Mr. Collins. My daughter deserves better than you."
"I agree. She deserves everything the world can offer her."
"Then let her go."
A lump formed in his throat and he couldn't get rid of it. "I can't."
Her loud breaths said plenty. "Why are you calling me?"
John closed his eyes. He wished he didn't have to say this. "Alice is in danger. Someone wants to kill her because of me, and now I don't know where she is."
"What do you mean, kill her? I thought the news said that was because of the threat to the President, and that was your brother, Peter Morgan, who sent that security car outside our farm."
Her words were crystal clear. He blinked and in the distance he saw the lights of police cars. "Someone wants to murder her."
"Who?"
There was so much to say, but he had no answers. "I don't know. The police are on their way to my house to pick up the threats. She's gone. I don't know where she is and I was wondering if she'd contacted you."
"Oh my goodness. You're not making this up. My daughter had better be safe."
He walked toward his shoes and slipped them on. "Call her. She's not answering my calls or texts."
"She'll answer mine. Give me your address, John. I'll send her brother to you to get as much information as possible."
Unlocking the front door, John stepped outside. The blaring sun made his skin heat. He told her his address and then said, "The police are here now, Mrs. Collins. Please let me know if you find her."
The sirens stopped in his front lawn, but the black SUV behind them held a camera crew. He pressed his lips together and stared into the tinted windows of the police cruiser that was followed by a local station.
Years of training told John television cameras might make everything worse. It would illuminate angles that the bad guys shouldn't know. With luck Alice was fine, but he'd not take that chance.
The officer, who had been speaking to Alice at the wake, got out of the patrol car. Good. At least this man knew her and knew she was a sweetheart. "Rafe. Alice is in danger."
The man stepped closer on the grass as cameras took their picture. "How?"
With his head down, John led them to the front door.
"I sent this to the FBI the other day." He slipped the letter in the plastic bag into the other man's hands. He stared at the camera crew and then said, "Please come inside."
Rafe walked inside and John closed the door. The officer put on plastic gloves and John handed him his phone to listen to the message. "Here. This is what I heard this morning."
John hit replay on speaker, knowing there was no way to recognize the distorted voice pattern.
Rafe read the note and listened to the short message. "Where is Alice now?"
His heart beat in his chest, loud. "I don't know."
"Alice was always a kindhearted girl. I don't want her in any sort of trouble."
John's gut twisted, but he ignored the pain. Instead he simply asked, "Will you help me find her?"
Rafe sucked in his lower lip and tapped his pen against a piece of paper. "We solve crimes after they happen. I can release an APB to be on the lookout for her, but I can't promise anything. What I can do is track the voicemail and try to match the handwriting and any fingerprints in the database."
No. They'd not find Alice's body somewhere in the bottom of a swamp picked apart by alligators. "Do what you can. I can't let anything happen to her."
Rafe's face paled as he said, "Alice Collins will turn up fine. She's smart, sweet, and a loyal friend. She used to tutor me in math."
John put his hand on the knob, feeling determined. "And someone wants her dead because of me." He opened the door.
Rafe walked outside but turned back before he reached the patrol car. "I will do everything I can. She was always a good girl."
Was meant past tense. John lifted his head. "She is a good woman. Thanks again Rafe."
Rafe lifted John's phone. "Just doing my job. Can I keep this?"
"Answer if it's Alice." No real choice existed. John shrugged as that was the only answer he could give, but then he stared at his brother's men who appeared on the street. He nodded at Rafe. "I'll get another line connected."
He'd send one of them to get him a phone as he went in search of Alice himself.
Chapter Twenty Three
Alice parked her car and got out into morning sunshine. Palm trees lined the fashionable street where Alice intended to go a few hundred feet to meet her friend.
She dropped her phone to the bottom of her bag and stopped to find it and hold it in her palms. Her neck grew cold, like someone watched her. She turned around but didn't see anything. She took her phone and walked forward.
Then footsteps echoed in the alleyway behind her. Alice's limbs shook as the image of a laser pointed to her head emerged in her mind. She ran fast down the street.
The shuffle of footsteps followed her. Her stomach was rock-hard as she went as fast as she could. She turned onto the busy street with children eating ice cream, but her insides quaked.