Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Sixteen: Al, Sunday

Sunny's grey Toyota Prius sedan pulled up on the shoulder behind Lauren and Joe's van. He stepped out of his car, blinked in the sunlight and looked around. Al waved to get his attention, and eventually his friend saw him and crossed the stretch of highway when it was safe.

He stopped short when he saw Al and Lauren together, as if unsure that he even knew them. Maybe after what he'd seen last night, he wondered if he ever really knew them at all, and for that Al felt sad, because he knew that wasn't them, couldn't have been them.

He looked from Al to Lauren, and Al and Lauren looked at each other. "Sunny," Lauren said, with a slight upturn in tone at the end, as if she were asking if that was his name.

"Lauren," he said. "How are... how are you feeling? Both of you?"

He was in casual wear this morning, blue jeans, a grey sweater and a sky blue turban. Casual for Sunil Singh Parhar, barrister and solicitor working at Westminster Law Group, which had contracted Lauren's firm to perform its investigative work and caused the two of them to reunite first. Counting pure calendar time, it would have been fair to say Sunny and Lauren were friends longer than they were with Rachel and Al. Maybe that was why he couldn't entirely hide the pain on his face when he addressed Lauren; her behaviour last night had hurt him deeply, Al could see.

"We're living a fucking nightmare, that's how we're feeling," Lauren said, voice shaking.

Sunny sighed. "Al gave me the lowdown. I'm choosing to believe you when you say you don't remember what happened, and that some outside agency caused it to happen."

Lauren nodded. "If I did anything to offend you or your wife last night, I'm really sorry," she said.

Sunny nodded soberly. "Thank you." Then, to Al's relief, his pearly white grin returned, seeming to grow out of his long beard. "You know what also made me stop and stare at you two?" he asked.

"What's that?" Al asked.

"It's the fact that the three of us are here without Joe and Rachel. Actually, mainly it's without Rachel. I don't think the three of us have ever been in a room together without her."

Al chuckled at how apt his point was, and to his horror his chuckle turned into a sob. "Yeah, you're right. Shit. We need her here."

"We do," Lauren said, wiping her own eyes. "This is so fucked up, Sunny. We don't know where they are! Joe's phone is supposed to be here somewhere but we can't find it! Do you know how many square metres a cell tower triangulation can cover? We're just flailing here!"

Sunny's face softened. "The Lawrence Street Detective Club is down two star hitters. I know that's a mixed metaphor, but it describes the situation we're in. Maybe one extra person combing the grass on the other side of the highway while one of us calls his phone will make a difference."

"Yeah, maybe," Lauren said, though she didn't sound convinced. "But each time we call, we're draining the phone's battery. If we don't find it soon, we'll never find it. What I can't understand is why his phone is here when he's not."

"Unless he dropped it here on purpose," Sunny said.

Lauren blinked in surprise. "Why the hell would he do that?"

Sunny shrugged. "Just working through possibilities."

Lauren sighed in resignation. "I don't think we're going to know what happened until we find them."

"Before we get started calling again, can you show me the texts and play the voicemail that you got from Rachel?"

Al drew out his phone and unlocked it.