Ryan looked up from a box.
“Huh?”
“Who lives in the mauve?”
Ryan came up beside me and studied the mauve.
“Some old dude. He’s a jerk.”
I turned from the window and faced him.
“Does Josh use drugs?”
Ryan frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not talking about weed. Does Josh use illegal drugs?”
He squinted and shrugged and looked uncomfortable.
“Maybe some weed every once in a while, but nothing illegal.”
I thought about Josh rebranding their show. I thought about Ryan’s enthusiasm when he told me about the Grays. “Did you and Josh argue about changing the show?”
Ryan stepped back.
“Not like you mean. Yeah, there’s give and take, but the show is our baby. We were having a blast.”
“Were you? Best friends and partners, having a blast, and Josh left without telling you. He must’ve had a reason.”
Ryan Seborg blinked and wet his lips. He glanced away, and glanced back. I could see wheels spinning in his head without gaining traction.
I said, “You’re the person he would have told, Ryan. I agree. But he didn’t. So maybe he thought you wouldn’t approve or you wouldn’t want to be involved. Why wouldn’t he tell you?”
The wheels spun faster and Ryan dug deep for an answer. Then his eyes lost focus and I sensed he saw someone or something he hadn’t seen before. He suddenly turned and hurried down the hall to their studio.
“I think I know how to find him.”
5
Ryan pointed at a poster of a red-haired woman wearing eight-inch stripper heels and red lingerie. It was pinned to the studio wall along with the UFOs and aliens. A banner at the top of the poster read: MEET XXX-STAR SKYLAR LAWLESS—live and in person—one day only!
Ryan said, “Her.”
An inscription was scrawled across her legs in looping red script. Josh, I luv you! Thanks for the best O ever! Luv, SkyXXX!
I looked at Ryan.
“A pornstar?”
Ryan dropped into a swivel chair as if he hadn’t heard me and tapped at the computer’s keyboard.
“Skylar Lawless. We’ve had her on the show twice, but the last time was like five months ago. Then, two weeks ago, she called. She probably called four or five times. They were talking a lot.”
I studied the poster.
“About what?”
Ryan suddenly stopped typing.
“Josh was kinda vague. I thought she wanted back on the show, and he didn’t want to tell me.”
I reread the inscription she’d written. Thanks for the best O ever!
“Maybe she wanted something else.”
Ryan swiveled around to frown at me.
“Please. Josh didn’t have sex with her. We’re journalists. You get involved with a guest, you lose credibility.”
I glanced at Skylar Lawless in her sexy red lingerie. Her back was arched and the tip of her tongue gleamed between unnaturally white teeth.
I said, “Oh.”
“I’m serious. Standards matter.”
He pulled a cell phone from his shorts, tapped at the screen, and held it to his ear.
“You said Josh probably told someone where he was going, so maybe she knows.”
“What are you doing?”
“Calling her.”
He suddenly scowled and held up a finger, the finger telling me not to speak.
“Skylar, this is Ryan Seborg, Josh’s producer. Call me as soon as you get this, please. It’s important.”
He left his number, ended the call, and scowled even harder.
“Bitch.”
He swiveled back to the keyboard.
“If she doesn’t call back, maybe she’ll talk to you. Here. Look.”
I moved closer and peered at the monitor.
“What is this?”
“Our website.”
The In Your Face with Josh Shoe home page showed a picture of Josh in headphones beside the show’s logo. A nav bar with a row of buttons ran below it.
“The index guide lists our episodes. Just scroll through the list and pick the show you want. We’re looking for Skylar.”
Ryan clicked a button, and a numbered list of the episodes appeared. Their most recent episode topped the list.
#66: CELL TOWERS OR SPYCRAFT?
Is your local cell tower spying on you? Dr. Adrian Reece, Ph.D., offers proof of a Silicon Valley conspiracy.
He scrolled past titles like “Alien-Human Hybrids,” “Big Pharma’s Hidden Nanobots,” and “Is LSD the Key to Other Dimensions?”