139 Changying Is Missing

To Nero's surprise, Changying had not arrived at his office for her morning session. With less than a week left of her trial, she had been given more freedom to move about the grounds and upper floors of the facility and were she any other girl he would assume she lost track of time. Changying, though, had diligently followed every instruction of the Marshall's and Commander. The girl needed no consequences not even from Francesco, who was notoriously hard to please. The truth was that she had arrived at the facility with far better conditioning than some of the girls who left having finished their trials with passing status. Nero stood from his desk and walked to the mess hall. He approached the purple table and the two women who remained finishing their breakfast.

"Did Changying have breakfast this morning?" He asked pleasantly.

"She wasn't here when we arrived, Marshall," one of the women answered.

"We did arrive slightly later than usual," the second admitted.

"Thank you," Nero walked to the stairs pulling his phone from his pocket and calling Francesco. "Hey did you see Changying late last night, she hasn't arrived for our session," He said as soon as Francesco answered the phone.

"She didn't come to me after supper last night," Francesco said. "Not like her to be late for anything have you checked her room?"

"I'm on my way there now," Nero answered shortly.

"Okay I'll meet you there and help you search if she is missing," Francesco said.

They met at the bottom of the stairs and continued to her room. It looked like there had been a fight or, at least, a tussle within the small cell. There was no sign of Changying and their anxiousness increased.

"Call Marco to meet us in security, I'll call the commander," Francesco said through gritted teeth. They had all relaxed in their observation of her because she had accepted her status here without complaint and followed their instructions without question. They had no concerns about her commitment to the trial, what they had not bargained on was someone else interfering in their well-designed plans. It had been easy to dismiss her special circumstances and the diligence needed in her care.

Sitting in the security room, they scrolled through the video of the corridor in front of her cell from the evening before. Looking for anything unusual that might tell them of her movements or who she had fought with.

A woman in a purple toga who was quite obviously not Changying had gone into her room late in the evening. She had stayed a few minutes and left again. As if aware of the camera she had never looked up as she passed its lens. They watched it over again to try and discern who it was but the best they could tell it was someone who had borrowed a toga or taken Changying's as it was far too short for the tall woman.

"Show me the main corridor after supper, I did not see her last night so she should have gone straight to her room," Francesco said as the commander walked in, his foul mood showing in his expression and body language.

"Well?" he asked belligerently.

"All we have so far is an unknown woman entering her room and leaving again," Nero informed him.

"Show me," he leant forward putting a hand on Nero's shoulder to get closer to the screen. The picture was brought up, and the Commander frowned.

"Baozhai Donati," he said abruptly standing once again. "Marco go and search her room."

"No sign of Changying in the corridor after supper," Francesco added, "I don't think she will be there."

"Perhaps not but I would bet that purple toga will be," the Commander said with certainty. He knew the full story of Baozhai's incarceration here and anxiety that she may be involved in Changying's disappearance gnawed at his gut. She had been responsible for harm to Changying on at least one other occasion before she had come to them. The question was how she could have pulled it off.

"She wasn't on the stairs after supper," Nero announced as his head spun between the four computers and the two security men who helped him search. "Which means she never left the first-floor after supper last night.

"That limits the search area, just in case, check with the front gate and lock it down, no one in and no one out until she is found," the Commander spoke with authority.

Francesco left to start the search as Nero picked up that nearest phone. He spoke in clipped tones asking a battery of questions in rapid fire before slamming the phone back into its cradle.

"Someone using the name of Changying Ma left in the middle of the night but she doesn't fit the description. The person using her name was tall, slim with long dark hair," Nero recounted the phone call.

"Call the men on duty last night and have them pick up Baozhai Donati and bring her to the Athenaeum. Keep me informed of the search," the Commander said his voice dangerously low. He knew that delaying informing Joseph any longer was not worth the added disgrace this incident would incur.

Francesco made his way back down to the first floor gathering some of his family as he went to help with the search. He spoke rapidly describing the girl they looked for and suggested some harm may have come to her.