Jennifer looks at Jonathan, thoroughly puzzled. The expression on his face mirrors the one on hers.
"Now Allison I need you to take a deep breath and start at the beginning for us," Jonathan gently prods. "What's happened to make you think that James has been kidnapped? Couldn't he be at the office taking care of that phone call he received last night?"
Taking the tissue that Jennifer offered her, Allison looked up at him, horrified. "Oh no, Jonathan, I'm positive he's been kidnapped. There is no way that he would leave without telling me where I could reach him. After the two of you left, he told me that he was going to make a phone call, to go on up to bed and he would join me in a few minutes."
The Harts wait silently, fearing that any interruption would cause Allison to go into hysterics. They didn't have to wait long for her to continue.
"I didn't think much of it when James hadn't come up by the time I had finished getting ready for bed. I know how he can get when he's working. I just assumed that he would come up shortly. I tried to stay up for him, but the long day caught up to me. When I woke up this morning, I noticed that James hadn't been to bed. I thought that maybe he had fallen asleep at his desk again, so I went to the study to wake him," she continued. "The study is a mess Jonathan, it looks as if tornado went through it. It looks like someone was searching for something, and from the shape the study is in, I don't think that they found it."
"Is it possible that James made a mess of the study?" Jennifer asks. "Perhaps he was in a hurry and forgot where he had left whatever it was he was looking for."
Allison answered her with a smile. "Jennifer, James is the most meticulous man you could know. He has a place for everything and everything is always in its place. Not even one paper clip can be out of its proper place in his office without him knowing about it. He is almost too meticulous sometimes."
"Did James keep any important papers in his study? Would he have put them in a safe?" Jonathan asked with a frown, wondering if the papers he had been reading this morning had anything to do with what was happening now.
Allison regarded Jonathan strangely. "You don't think that this has something to do with James' business, do you? I know that James is certainly no angel when it comes to the boardroom, but who is? I would bet that even you have had your moments Jonathan. You can't get to where he's at without stepping on a few toes, but I'm positive that he has never done anything that would cause this kind of reaction."
Jonathan gave her a strange look. "If you are positive that James wouldn't do anything to cause this kind of reaction, I would like to show you a report I was just reading and see if you can tell me what it means. It points to something strange going on in James' business. I was about to call him when you came up. Maybe you can shed some light on it. Let's go inside and take a look at it."
Jennifer put her arm around Allison and helped her into the house. "Max?" she called.
Max stepped out of the kitchen, Freeway right behind him. "Yeah Mrs. H?"
"Can you bring Mrs. Sullivan a glass of water?" Jennifer asked, as Freeway skidded to a halt and sat patiently waiting for his mistress to scratch his head.
"Sure thing." Turning toward Allison, Max asked, "Is there anything else I can get for you? I have some extra muffins from breakfast if you'd be interested."
"No thank you, the water is more than enough," Allison replied as she sat down on the sofa.
As Max turned to go back into the kitchen, he called to Freeway. "Let's go, pup, I could use your help," and went back into the kitchen to get the water. Freeway followed him, and when he got to the other side of the kitchen door he barked at the back door. "Hmm, that's strange," Max says looking at the open door, "I thought that I had that thing shut. Oh well the wind must have caught it again. Or did one of your friends come over to see you Freeway?" he asks, giving the pooch a bemused grin. Getting the glass of water Max returned to the living room.
"Here 'ya go Mrs. Sullivan, are you sure that I can't interest you in a muffin?" Max asks, trying to make Allison feel more at ease.
"No, thank you, this is fine," Allison replied. She turned toward Jonathan as she continued to dab at her eyes. "I just can't believe that this is happening. We were finally settling into our new house, starting to make new friends - like you and Jennifer - I was beginning to feel that California was home. Now this."
Jennifer quietly took her hand to reassure her. "Don't worry Allison, together we will get to the bottom of this."
Jonathan started to turn toward the kitchen. "That's right, there has to be a logical explanation for all of this." He continued, "let me go get those papers for you."
When he reached the kitchen table, Jonathan found that most of the report he had been reading was on the floor. "Max, has Freeway been playing on the table again?"
Max answers with a shrug, "Nah, Mr. H. he's been sittin here waiting for me to feed him. Why?"
"That report that Stanley sent over is on the floor now. I wonder how it got there?"
"Oh," Max informs him, "I found the back door open when I came back in the kitchen. I thought that I had it shut, but the wind must have caught it again, and also blew those papers off."
Jonathan agrees. "I guess so. Maybe you should call a locksmith to come over to check out the door, since it's been blowing open so much."
"Sure thing Mr. H.," Max tells Jonathan as he's heading back into the living room.
Handing the papers to Allison, Jonathan tells her "I hope you can make some sense of this, Allison, because the more I read the less I like."
"I will certainly try to do my best, Jonathan, however James doesn't discuss all of his business dealings with me. He usually only discusses the ones that he feels would be important to me."
"All I ask is that you try Allison. Since James is not here to explain all of this, I'm hopeful that you can explain at least some of them to me," Jonathan answered with a smile.
As Allison starts going over the report, Jennifer quietly excuses herself. Jonathan is somewhat curious as to where his wife could be going until he remembers that she was supposed to be having a meeting this morning. He correctly assumes that she has gone to call Marcia to tell her that she won't be able to make it today.
When Jennifer returns from the kitchen she is surprised to find that Allison is no longer crying, she's now very angry.
"Jonathan, I can't believe what I'm reading. How can this be? If I'm reading this correctly, James knowingly did business with crooks, not one time but many over the last 10 years or so. How did you find this out when no one else ever did?"
"I have a man working for me that can find out everything about anything, especially those things that people try to hide," Jonathan answered with a smile. "Stanley is one in a million," he continued, "and I try to make sure that he always knows that."
"You know Jonathan, I think that I saw a report in James' study this morning that had these same names in it. I can't be positive because I wasn't trying to read it, I just happened to glance at it, but I do remember a couple of names that stood out. I'm sure that if we went and got that report it would explain a lot. Could you come with me to get it? I don't think I could go back into that study by myself."
Jonathan didn't need to look at Jennifer to know that she would want to go, therefore he answered "Oh course we will come with you, and maybe we can get to the bottom of this mess."
Allison was visibly relieved. "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me."
As he stood, Jonathan reassured her, "it's our pleasure to help, Allison. Just let me tell Max that we are leaving and we'll be off."
Jonathan gets up and goes into the kitchen. "Hey Max, Jennifer and I are going to go over to the Sullivan's for a while. If Stanley should call, tell him I did read his report and to keep digging."
"Sure thing Mr. H, and I got a hold of the locksmith, said he'd be over this afternoon."
"You're one in a million Max, thanks," Jonathan replies as he leaves the kitchen. When he returns to the living room he looks at both Jennifer and Allison. "Come ladies, your chariot awaits." Smiling, Jonathan opens the front door for them and they all get into Jennifer's car for the drive to the Sullivan house.
As soon as they arrive, Allison leads Jonathan and Jennifer straight into James' study. When she opens the door she is shocked to find that nothing is out of place. Jonathan and Jennifer are confused.
Allison turns to Jonathan more confused than ever. "I swear that this place looked like a tornado went through it when I left this morning. I didn't imagine it." She opened all the desk drawers but found no papers. She found that the same was true for his filing cabinet. "Jonathan, that report I told you about is gone, along with all of James' papers. It's as if this room was never used as an office. What's going on?"
"Is it possible that your housekeeper cleaned this up while you were at our house? Perhaps she thought the mess was trash and put it out in the garbage."
"Definitely not, Jonathan, today is her day off. She told me she was going to visit her sister and that she would be leaving early this morning. Even if she had cleaned in here, what happened to all of the papers in the filing cabinet? I know that James had some in there yesterday, I saw him put some away when I came in here to tell him it was time to get ready for the party. I just don't understand what's happening."
Jennifer tried to reassure her. "Don't worry Allison, we will get to the bottom of this. Until then though, I don't think that you should stay in this house by yourself. Why don't you go pack a bag and stay with us? We would feel better knowing that you were safe in our house instead of here all alone."
Jonathan agreed with his wife. "It will be much easier for us to work on this together if you are staying with us."
"Thank you, I would love it. It will also make me feel better. Let me leave a note for James in case he should come back, and then it won't take me but a minute to pack a few things."
While Allison packed her bag, Jonathan and Jennifer waited in the living room. "Jonathan what do you think is going on?" Jennifer asks quietly. "Could James' be in real danger?"
"I don't know, but I certainly hope not. I have come to admire James Sullivan and I can't believe that the man I know would be involved with something so shady. I'm going to talk to Stanley when we get home and find out what put him onto this. I also want to hear what else he has found out. Hopefully by later this afternoon we will have a good idea of what to do next."
Allison comes into the room just then, bag in hand. "Oh, Jonathan, I hope so. I just have this fear that something bad is happening and I can't stop it."
Jonathan gives her a smile. "Let's go and find out what Stanley has for us. After that we can have Max whip up something wonderful for lunch, and plan our next move."
"Max, we're home," Jennifer calls as she walks in. "Just put your bag down here for now, Max can take it up later," she tells Allison.
"Max, we have an extra for lunch," Jonathan says as he goes into the living room. "Max? Where are you?" He heads into the kitchen. "Hmmm, I wonder where he is. He hasn't left a note on the refrigerator. He's probably outside watering his roses." Jonathan opens the back door and calls "Max! Are you out here?" He's about to yell again when he hears Jennifer in the living room, "Jonathan, come here please."
When he comes out of the kitchen he is shocked to find ……………
