Lifeboat Katie

Chapter Eight

Callum set up his laptop and waited as McMillan finished his phone call. Once he'd hung up he turned and handed Callum a piece of paper.

"Security incognito log-ins for Twitter and Instagram, and the three biggest fan sites along with an Aussie fan site. I'd start with Twitter. Use the hashtag Stepping Out and Nate Blaine before you scroll through the tweets that are on the accounts page. We follow a lot of fans so if there's any chatter you might find something. Then I would move on to the forum of the Australian fan site. You can login with this name and password." McMillan pointed to the paper.

"What am I looking for exactly?"

"Any mention of anyone seeing Mr. Blaine since he disappeared yesterday. If you find anything make a note of it."

"What if it's not him?"

"At this stage we just want to gather intelligence and then we can sift through it and discard anything that is clearly not relevant."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to speak to the hotel staff who were on duty, and see if anyone noticed him slip out. Tate says he last saw Mr. Blaine at around three and assumed he'd gone back to his room."

"Great bodyguard he is."

"I'm guessing Mr. Blaine was fairly determined to give security the slip."

"You could be right." Guilt washed over Callum. Nate was his best friend and he'd ditched him to get laid more than once in the last few days. Who even knew when Nate had last had a good night's sleep? Callum sure as hell hadn't been in the room they shared long enough to notice. "He's been up in his head for the last week or so. I should have spent more time with him."

"Now is not the time to lay blame, Callum. Shall we get to work?"

Callum nodded and turned his attention to the laptop's screen as McMillan left the room, closing the door behind him. He checked the paper, logged into Twitter and searched the hashtag Stepping Out. The first few tweets were inane enough with fans sharing pictures from the bands last concert and declarations of love for the group and the individual members. Nate was by far and away the most popular. Nate's personal Twitter and Instagram accounts had twice as many followers as the next most popular member, Ethan. When he scrolled further he shuddered at a discussion about the dimensions of various band members' body parts. He needed a coffee, or better yet a beer. He might not get any clues about where Nate was but he had a feeling the whole online experience would be educational.

* * * * *

Katie grabbed a hold of the dashboard and squealed as Nate took the corner way too fast for her liking. "Do you have plans to be a formula one driver when the singing gig isn't working anymore?"

"What does that mean?"

"Well your boyish good looks and soprano voice won't last forever."

"Soprano? Unless you're talking about the TV show with the hit men I think I'm offended."

"Nope, not the TV show. Little boys with teeny tiny penises or is that peni?"

"You want to discuss the size of my willy?"

Her face flushed with heat and she shook her head. "No. I have no interest in your what did you call it? Willy."

His laughter gave her a warm glow. She loved to make him happy. They'd managed lunch without him being recognized but she'd insisted they needed to keep moving so he would have to get money out of an Autoteller at Lakes Entrance. She didn't want to tempt fate by staying in the one place too long. He might like the freedom but if those women in Melbourne were any indication a lust filled mob could gather at any minute and love him to death.