Author's note: This is a teaser of my new novel that I'm working on. Please let me know what you think.
After a sleepless night, Todd dialed Claudia's number, still drumming his fingers on the counter. "Hello?" someone answered in a midwestern accent.
"Uh... Claudia? This is Todd. Why do you sound like that, sweetie?"
There was a pause. "Who the hell is Claudia?" The guttural voice returned. "My name is Lucy. Wrong number." She hung up.
Todd smashed his fist on the table. What in the world was going on? He dialed again. If this was some type of joke, he was not amused. The call went straight to voice mail.
"Hi, you've reached Claudia. I'm out and about and I'll call you back as soon as I can!" she chirped in her sweet southern accent. The one he fell in love with. The one he hadn't heard last night.
"Hey, Claw. This is Todd. Look, I don't know what's going on, but if it's a joke, come on now. What's going on? Please call me back."
He paced back and forth. An hour had passed and no call back. He decided to drive down to her apartment. He hopped into his car and drove the mile through the sunny suburban neighborhoods of Brighton, California. It was a Saturday morning, so traffic was light. He arrived quickly and rapped on her door. Silence. He tried again. No answer, though her car was in the lot.
What to do, what to do.... he fretted, pacing on the stoop outside the door. He decided to call the Meyers, her mother and step-father. He scrolled through his contacts. They lived in Tennessee, so they couldn't offer immediate assistance, but he felt they needed to know. He made his way back to his car. He found Mrs. Meyer's number and dialed it without hesitation.
"Hello? Todd?" Mrs. Meyer answered in her southern voice, so remniscent of Claudia's.
"Hi, Mrs. Meyer. I don't know how to put this, but... Claudia's missing. I mean, I think she is, anyway."
There was a pause and Todd heard a male voice in the background. Claw's father. "Has she been harmed?" he asked, his thick midwestern accent evident. He was Claw's stepdad and not a native of Tennessee. Claw's last name was Brennan. Her father had died when she was very little.
"I'm not sure, Mr. Meyer. She started acting strangely last night. She took on a different name and accent." An accent like yours. "And claimed to not know me. I called her and she answered this morning, going by this different name. Lucy. Then she hung up on me."
He snorted. "She probably just wanted to break up with you. Claudia's always been prone to theatrics."
"I don't think- " Todd was cut off as Mrs. Meyer picked the line back up.
"What are you waiting for? Call the cops!" she shrieked. "Or - or the hospital. She sounds delusional. She could have a concussion or something..."
He took a deep breath. He knew she was right. She must have some sort of injury, though she hadn't had any complaints of head pain the day before, nor had she told him of any such incidents. The emotional impact of the previous night had procluded the idea that she had had an injury. He thought that this was all some game she'd started, brought on by stress, or... some sort of weird way to break up with him. Mr. Meyer hadn't been incorrect - Claudia had been prone to being a little overly dramatic. But, the fact that that was her step-father's immediate reaction left a bitter taste in Todd's mouth.
"We'll be on the next flight out," Mrs. Meyer stated, interrupting Todd's stream of thought. "Please... do whatever you can. Call her friends, anyone..."
Todd nodded. He knew it would take most of the day for them to fly from Tennessee to southern California. He also knew that he couldn't report her missing. It had been less than 12 hours since the incident. He knew that, typically, law enforcement required 72 hours to report someone missing. Technically, was she missing? She'd answered her phone, albeit in a seemingly different personality. But he knew it was her. What was the protocol here?
"I'll phone you as soon as we get there, to the airport," Mrs. Meyer stated, suppressing tears.
"I'll pick you up," Todd promised, then ended the call after telling her that he would call them immediately if he spoke with her.
After hanging up, still sitting in his car, Todd went through his mental rolodex of Claudia's closest friends. He dialed her best friend Laura. She answered after several rings, her voice groggy with sleep. "Hello?"
"Sorry to wake you, Laura, but it's Todd. Have you talked to Claudia today, or much, lately?"
Despite her sleepy voice, Laura laughed. "We had a coffee date planned later this morning. I assumed you'd stayed over with her." She paused. "She's not with you?"
"No, no she's not." He briefly explained the previous night's incident and the strange reaction to the phone call this morning.
"Claudia? Really? Come on. It has to be some kind of joke," Laura insisted.
"Call her and find out for yourself. I'm curious to see who answers for you - Claudia or Lucy." He hung up with Laura and about two minutes later, she called back.
"Lucy," she said with a defeated sigh. "It didn't even sound like her, Todd. She didn't know me."
