Excerpt
What in the hell do you mean disappeared? Jim Renoskys panicky voice demanded.
Id just rushed out of my near north side, Chicago office heading for the John Hancock Building. I needed to search the condo of my missing best friend and psychiatrist partner, Sam Renosky. His disappearance had become more unsettling in the last few minutes because of new information that Id acquired. Before leaving the office Id called Sams brother Jim to see if he had any idea of Sams whereabouts. When I got his voice mail, I left a hurried message for him to call me and bolted out of the office because a powerful sense of urgency had me in its grasp. As I reached the corner of Walton Place and Michigan Avenue my cell phone chirped.
I answered and Dr. Jim Renosky blithely asked, Hey Bob, whats going on?
I took a deep breath and said, Have you talked to Sam in the last couple of days? I tried to keep my voice steady, but even I could hear the edgy stress.
Not since last week, he said and paused for a beat before continuing, Whats going on? You sound strange.
When I broke the news about his brother, Jims reaction to the word disappearance was so powerful that it forced me to stop dead in my tracks in the middle of the sidewalk. It took several seconds to catch my breath. A brisk, moisture-laden wind had started blowing in off Lake Michigan and the roaring sound it carried made it difficult to hear. I hated breaking this to him, standing here on the street, but I had no other choice. It would take another five or ten minutes to get to Sams condo, and even then there was no way of knowing if the news would be any better.
Sam and I had dinner last Thursday night just before his scheduled flight to Washington, I explained. He was going to attend a three-day symposium, and then come back yesterday morning in time for an afternoon appointment. He never showed up. I called him at home last night, but no one answered. I left messages on his machine and on his cell phone, but got no response. When I contacted OHare this morning they told me that it was a real mess out East because of the hurricane. Lots of flights had been canceled or delayed.
Before I could go on, Jim anxiously cut in, Hold it, Bob. Sam couldnt have just disappeared off the face of the earth. Have you checked with the symposium people?
I talked with them a little while ago and they said that Sam never showed up for the conference. This means Sam has been missing for five days instead of just two.
I paused to wait for a response, but all I heard was Jims rapid breathing. After some moments he let out an unintelligible mumbled expletive.
Without waiting for more, I said, Im on my way to Sams condo right now to check things out. He keeps an extra key at the office.
As if he hadnt even heard me, Jim tentatively asked, Do you, ah, do you think he might have taken his new girlfriend with him? Damn, I cant even think of her name right now. He paused again, and then to someone in the background I heard Jim say, Cant do the next procedure, Ive got a problem.
Jim, a well-known surgeon must have been in between procedures. The voice Id heard in the background had to be someone on his surgical team.
I gave him a few seconds before going on. He said nothing at dinner about taking Vicki, but I wouldnt put it past him to dump the symposium and fly out to the Bahamas with her. He would normally tell me of such a plan though, especially if he was going to be late getting back. He doesnt miss patient appointments.
I heard empty air on the other end of the phone for several seconds before Jim finally said, Have you got Vickis number?
No, but when I get to Sams Ill look for it. You said you talked to him a week or so ago? Did he say anything at all that might explain his disappearance?
Not a word, Jim said, panic continuing to build in his voice. I called him last Monday and we made a golf date for next weekend. He didnt mention the Washington trip, but you know Sam, the absentminded professor.
Yeah, I know, I mumbled as I ducked into the doorway of an expensive Michigan Avenue boutique to avoid the drizzle that had just started blowing in off a dark Lake Michigan.
Like many in his profession, Jim was usually very self-contained and controlled. His personality was in stark contrast to his easy-going, comic-to-the-core psychiatrist brother. Hearing him exhibit this kind of emotion certainly didnt match my picture of him. On the other hand, I only knew him as Sams older brother. Jim and Sam had a complicated sibling relationship. Id seen their competitiveness, personality differences, and Jims somewhat condescending attitude at times. They didnt see a lot of one another, but you could tell that in spite of all that, they loved one another. Jim sometimes acted like a surrogate father with Sam, which was probably only natural. Their parents had been killed in a plane crash when Sam was a teenager, and Jim took over the rearing chores of his precocious adolescent brother.
As I waited for Jim to speak, cold rain penetrated my jacket and sent a shiver up my spine. It wasnt just the chill of the moisture, but an impending sense of fear that caused me to quake.
Hearing no more activity in the background, I decided that Jim must have moved to somewhere more private. He finally came back sounding as if hed decided on his own theory of Sams disappearance.
I bet he got mugged in Washington, and is either in a hospital or a John Doe in the morgue.
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