Chapter 90─Bruce goes missing

Mishka frowned at Joan in concern.

“I don’t know what to do now. Bruce isn’t answering his phone,” Graham responded after dialling a number on his cell phone.

Mishka took her cell phone out of her bag and glanced at the screen.

“He last sent me the video. Nothing else since we chatted,” she remarked, casting a quick glance at Graham.

“Let me go and search for him,” Graham remarked as he got up from his chair.

“Where can he be then?” Joan asked as she gazed at Mishka.

“We were still going to discuss where we were going to have an actual show, with me singing and his models walking the ramp,” Mishka responded, frowning in confusion.

“Well, he’s a busy man, so, maybe someone called and he had to be off somewhere else,” Joan replied with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

“But then wouldn’t Graham know that? Why is he so worried then?” Mishka asked, still with a frown between her brows as she tried to think.

“Well, if Theresa and this woman called Jean is here, then they’ve probably found a way to occupy him. Maybe they asked him to go with them to another event, since they’re all werewolves,” Mishka added with a resigned shrug.

“You mean they could be busy with wolf gatherings? That could be it. They have their own way of socializing,” Joan commented with her eyes widening up.

“Yes, well, we did say that there could be quite a number of wolves here,” Mishka admitted.

“And we were also going to round up the witches. Where’s your grandma? And what about the magician who’s a cat?

I think we should stop stressing about Bruce and carry on with our project for the moment,” Joan remarked as she rose from her chair.

“It would be interesting if the magician was here in his identifiable magician outfit. Maybe he’s also dressed as a normal human,” Mishka remarked as she followed Joan.

“Where do we start looking?” she asked next.

“Let’s check the patio, people love to have private conversations there,” Joan suggested.

“Great, let’s go,” Mishka responded.

Out on the porch they saw a couple of people chatting while some were dancing.

“Let’s look carefully. Myrtle won’t want to be seen so easily if she’s entertaining other witches,” Joan remarked.

“Oh, there she is now talking to a man in that corner,” Mishka remarked, pointing in Myrtle’s direction.

“Okay, now he does seem different and quite important,” Joan remarked.

“Do you think that he could be a wizard?” Mishka whispered.

“He could be. Let’s keep on watching,” Joan responded.

“Where are they rushing off to now?” Mishka asked the next moment.

“Let’s follow them,” Joan responded.

The two of them went around the corner of the outside of the hall, trying to keep track of Myrtle and her companion.

“They’re not anywhere around here, strange. How could they just disappear?” Joan asked when they reached the side of the building.

“I don’t think my grandmother has the skill of disappearing into thin air, in spite of everything that I’ve seen and heard so far,” Mishka responded.

“They must have gone in through a door somewhere here,” she added as she began to search the side of the building.

“I don’t see a door anywhere,” Joan commented after a few minutes.

What about a hidden entrance? Something that’s disguised?” Mishka asked as she looked carefully at the wall of the building ***

“Bruce seems to have vanished,” Graham announced when he met up with Mishka and Joan a while later.

“Yes, we thought that he might have received a call to go somewhere else,” Joan responded.

“No, something strange is going on because he wouldn’t leave his phone behind. It’s quite a while that we can’t find him and he’s apparently not even looking for his phone. That’s not like him,” Graham remarked with his eyes clouded over with worry.

“He left his phone?” Mishka asked staring at Graham in confusion.

“Yes and he never does that,” Graham responded as he swept his hand across his forehead in frustration.

“Then he was lured away from here by some kind of trick.

Probably by Jean since she’s obsessed with him,” Mishka commented.

“That could be true. And I think Mishka should be careful with Jean around since Jean apparently knows how Mishka looks, but she has never seen Jean before. She’s only seen Theresa,” Joan commented as she looked straight into Graham’s eyes.

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that possibility. I was still in the process of seducing Jean and Theresa.

Then, I only took a short break away from them, but now I don’t see them or Bruce around,” Graham responded.

“Well, you noticed that Bruce wasn’t around, so you forgot about them,” Mishka responded.

“Before we leave here we have to see how this Jean woman looks, otherwise Mishka can run into trouble without suspecting it. She needs to know exactly how Jean looks,” Joan insisted in a serious tone of voice.

Mishka took a deep breath before answering.

“It’s a little nerve-wrecking to not know how one’s opponent looks,” she agreed.

“Yes, we won’t do that to you. We can’t leave you to be that vulnerable,” Graham responded as he scanned the room with his eyes.

“So, we’re searching for Bruce, Jean and Theresa,” Joan commented as she glanced at Graham for confirmation.

“We could ignore the fact that Bruce is not around if only his cell phone was not left abandoned. That means that he wasn’t suddenly called off somewhere,” Mishka commented with a concerned look in her narrowed eyes.

“Who do we inform to report him as temporarily missing?” Joan asked, looking at Graham in concern.

“We can call his fashion manager, or we can also call Jean, since we can’t see her around,” Graham responded.

“Yes, try calling her,” Joan agreed with a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Oh, wait a minute. I’m not supposed to know her phone number right now. I was going to ask for it while seducing her,” Graham remarked, stamping his foot in frustration.

“Oh, but doesn’t Bruce have her number? It should be on his phone,” Joan responded.

“Oh, yes, you’re right. Why didn’t I think about it,” Graham responded, slapping himself on the forehead.

Mishka’s breath was caught in her throat at the mention of Bruce having Jean’s number.

“Why does this make me uncomfortable and worried?” she asked herself inwardly.

“It’s not as if we’re dating,” she thought again.

“Will Jean pay attention to you and tell you the truth, though?” Joan asked Graham with deep concern in her eyes.

“She should because she’s beginning to fall for my charm,” Graham responded as he studied Bruce’s phone contacts.

Mishka glanced up at him with her heart in her throat at that moment.

“I really hope that Jean is falling for you,” she murmured with her breath held.

“Why does this Jean girl’s name affect me so much?” Mishka asked herself inwardly.