‘Miss Norton hasn’t shown up yet,’ he said, and there was an annoyed look in his eyes. ‘I can’t understand it. She hasn’t been late since she’s been here.’
The waiter came up at this moment and whispered in his ear.
‘She isn’t in the club,’ Luigi told Dallas when the waiter had gone away. ‘I’m very sorry, Mr Dal as, I haven’t an idea where she is.’
‘That’s okay,’ Dallas said shortly, and went back to the lobby.
‘Miss Norton has left the club,’ he told Schmidt. ‘Did you see her go?’
‘She hasn’t been this way, sir,’ Schmidt said, looking surprised. ‘If she’s left the club she’l have gone by the back exit.’
‘Thanks,’ Dallas said, and went quickly down the stairs to Zoe’s room again. He was worried now.
What had happened to her? he wondered, as he again entered her room. He stood looking around, then he went to her wardrobe, opened it and found her hat and coat on a peg. He stood for a moment staring at them, his uneasiness turning to alarm.
If she had gone out, why on earth hadn’t she taken her coat? It was raining a little outside, and she couldn’t have gone just in her evening dress.
He went over to the telephone and dialled her home number. There was no answer, and he dropped the receiver back on its cradle.