Excerpt of Turning Up The Heat by Laura Florand

"Wh—what the hell is going on, Dan?" His neighbor Grégory stumbled as Daniel dragged him out in front of his house two hours later. After listening to that message over and over. After sitting on their bed gnawing at it. After hunting through the house to see exactly what she had taken—not her family heirlooms, at least. A deep breath there. And he didn't see her wedding rings abandoned anywhere.

"Did you see anything?" Daniel gestured toward the view of his own house. "Any signs of trouble?"

"Danny...it's not even dawn yet. Wait—what? What do you mean—trouble?"

"Léa is gone."

"What?"

"She said she was going on a little trip," Daniel said, but then wished he hadn't. He didn't want to falsely reassure anyone who might help in the search. "I just—did you see her when she left yesterday?"

"Sure, she waved. She did have a suitcase."

"Did you see anyone in the back of the car?" Daniel asked tensely.

Grégory gaped. "You mean—like a lover? Merde, Dan...do you think...?"

Daniel stared at him in white shock, feeling as if the man had just detonated a grenade in his belly. "A lover? You think she has a lover?"

"No." Grégory backed up a step.

Daniel followed. "What the fuck have you seen?"

"Nothing! Just...when you said about someone being in the car"—

"Someone forcing her to go! Her voice sounded funny! Not a—lover, damn you."

"No! No. She seemed—fine. Happy, even."

That stopped Daniel for a moment. He looked back over at his house. "Happy?"

"You know. Like someone going on a vacation, in fact."

"Oh." Daniel continued to stare at his house. He couldn't remember what it was like to go on a vacation. In his teens, his father had taken him camping in the mountains sometimes. He had given all that up for Léa.

And she hadn't even invited him?

Not that he knew when he could have gotten away, but...

He rubbed the back of his neck. "All right. All right. Sorry."

"Were their signs of foul play?" Grégory asked, still worried by Daniel's worry.

"No, I—no."

"She had a suitcase. She must have packed."

"She forgot her toothbrush," Daniel said lamely. Not really a sign that a woman had been drugged and dragged out of the house, when you looked at it closely.

"You must be jetlagged out of your mind," Grégory decided finally, giving him a clap on the shoulder. "Give her a call. She probably won't mind being woken up, if you're this worried. I'm sure she's fine."

Daniel went back into his house, sat down on her side of the bed, and stared at her phone. After a minute, he picked it up, typed in her code, and started checking through all her recent calls.