Laurie took the messages with alarm.

“What is it?” Jack asked, with equivalent unease. He looked over her shoulder.

“It’s Neil,” Laurie said. She looked at Jack. “Do you think it could be about Jennifer?”

As Laurie got her mobile phone out of her bag, the group moved over to a sitting area overlooking the hotel’s extensive grounds. Not knowing Neil’s cell phone number, she called the Amal Palace Hotel and asked to be put through to Neil’s room.

Neil picked up before the first ring had completed, as if he were hovering over the phone.

“Jennifer has been kidnapped,” he blurted, even before he was sure it was Laurie.

“Oh, no!” Laurie cried. Hastily, she repeated the news for Jack’s benefit.

“It must have been this morning when I was with you guys,” Neil said. “When I came back, I thought she was sleeping. I didn’t find out she wasn’t here until almost six o’clock. I’m so angry with myself I could die.”

Neil went on to tell the whole story, including how the missing safety chain was the only clue. That and the fact that nothing is missing from her room.

“Has there been any note? Any demands?” Laurie asked.

“Nothing,” Neil admitted. “That’s what scares me the most.”

“Are the police involved?”

Neil laughed derisively. “They are involved, but a lot of good that’s done.”

“Why do you say that?”

“They refuse to fill out their First Information Report for twenty-four hours. And an FIR has to be filled out before they do anything. It’s like an Indian catch-twenty-two.”

“Why won’t they fill out an FIR?”

“Get this! They won’t fill one out because they’ve had too much experience, especially with Americans, that whoever is missing, whether supposedly kidnapped or on their own, end up reappearing and all the work required to fill out the FIR is for naught. The lazy bastards are willing to give the kidnappers a twenty-four-hour free getaway time because the paperwork is too demanding. It makes me sick.”

“How has the hotel been about it?”

“The hotel has been terrific. They are as upset as I am and have a whole private team on it. They’re also busy watching all the security tapes they have for the lobby and the front entrance.”

“Well, I hope to God they find something and find it soon,” Laurie said. “I’m sorry we’re not there.”

“Me, too. I’m a wreck with worry.”

“At least we got the urine samples we came for,” Laurie said.

“I hope you’re not too disappointed that at this point, I couldn’t give a flying crap about the urine samples.”