He had to stop Lee before he left the building.

He should never have let him leave the dressing room.

He should never have gone into the dressing room.

I should have figured something was up when the straight guy started coming on to me.

And hard on the heels of that thought, came a second.

If that thing’s in Lee’s head, then Lee knows how I . . . what I . . . want.

And a third.

This just keeps getting better . . .

Completely redrawn, the pattern appeared to be a random squiggle. A pointless collection of curves. Nothing had happened when the final line had been retraced. The pencil set aside, a hand laid flat on each side of the paper, CB stared down at the nondesign and wondered exactly what he thought would happen.

How could he recognize the answers when he didn’t know the questions?

“CB?” Rachel’s voice over the intercom broke into his fruitless speculation. “Mark Asquith from the network is here.”

He swept the paper into the trash. “Send him in.”

Tony pounded out into the middle of the production office and realized his quarry was nowhere in sight. Had he guessed wrong? Had the thing gone through the soundstage instead? He took the half-dozen extra steps to Amy’s desk. “Have you seen Lee?”

“Yeah. He’s gone.”

“What do you mean gone?”

“I mean, gone. As in not here.” She snorted derisively. “As in was an ass to Zev and strutted out. As in Elvis has left the building. As in . . .”

“I get it.” Gone. But maybe not too far gone. “He didn’t take his helmet.”

Amy shrugged. “ ’Cause he didn’t go for a ride on his motorcycle. He walked out the front door and grabbed the network guy’s cab.”

“Oh that’s just fucking great.” That thing had Lee’s wallet, Lee’s credit cards; if it got to the airport, it could go anywhere in the world.

“You got a message for him from Peter?” Amy picked up the phone before he could answer. “No problem. I’ll just call his cell.”

“That’s not . . .” He frowned. “Do you hear a phone ringing?”

She glanced down at the flashing light and back up at Tony as the office line rang again. “Duh.”

“No, in the distance.” He turned slowly, trying to make it out. “It’s in the dressing room.” The sound could have been coming from any one of half a dozen small rooms behind the thin interior walls, but Lee’s phone had been in the charger on the coffee table. “He didn’t take it with him.”

“An actor without a phone.” Heavily penciled eyebrows rose dramatically. “Isn’t that against some kind of . . .”

“Amy!” Rachel’s bellow cut her off. “Would you answer that damned thing, I’m on another line!”

As the familiar “CB Productions” sounded behind him, Tony ran for the basement stairs. Arra. The wizard. She’d know how to stop him. It. How to stop the shadow and get Lee back.