Mike hung up the phone and then looked at the clock and watched as it turned nine O'clock. He had just called the police to see if Micky had gotten into trouble, but nobody with his name or description had been brought in. Earlier, Davy had called the local hospitals to see if anybody resembling Micky was admitted, but came up with zilch. A few discreet calls to some of Micky's friends had turned up nothing as well. Peter and Davy looked anxiously at Mike as he went to sit down on the couch with them.
"The police told me that Micky hasn't been arrested or anything." Mike said, shaking his head, "Only thing we can do is file a missing person's report when twenty-four hours have gone by since Micky was last seen?unless foul play is suspected."
"That's like a whole day!" Peter exclaimed.
"That means waiting until tomorrow morning." Davy replied, "When we last saw Micky at breakfast."
"We can't wait that long!" Peter cried, "Micky's in danger!"
"We don't know that, Peter." Davy said, "Still..."
"Still we have the paper with the torn out want ad." Mike added, "That's the only clue we have."
"But it's torn out." Davy countered, "We don't know what the ad said so we don't know where he went."
Mike looked at the floor for several seconds, then back to his friends. "The newspaper office will know."
"How?" Peter and Davy asked together.
"Tomorrow we'll go get another copy of today's newspaper." Mike said. "We'll see what ad Micky cut out and look for him there."
"Great idea, Mike." Davy said, and Peter nodded as well.
~~~~~~~~~
Mike, Peter and Davy got little sleep that night, waiting for Micky to come home. Despite Mike's urgings, Peter and Davy slept in the living room with him in order to hear Micky coming. At first light, the three Monkees went into the kitchen and had some coffee, then washed, shaved and changed clothes. Fortunately, it was their day off so they didn't have to be at the Burger Barn.
Finally, around eight Mike and Peter drove to the Malibu Sun to pick up another newspaper while Davy stayed at home by the phone, waiting for news about Micky.
After awhile, Mike and Peter came back and rushed inside with their prizes. They had two papers with them; yesterday's edition and today's early one. Mike tossed aside today's paper and pulled out the want ads from yesterday's edition. Putting the ripped copy next to the one he just bought, Mike quickly found the ad Micky had ripped out.
"Wanted:" Mike read, "Mechanic to work on race car. Excellent salary, apply in person only between hours of one and two p.m." Then he read the address.
"He applied for a mechanic's job?" Davy asked incredulously. "He can barely fix the Monkeemobile."
"Micky often said he wished he could find a job too so he could help out." Peter replied.
Mike shook his head. "He was helping out by keeping the pad in order. Besides, that address is in a residential area. Who would be working on a race car there?"
"You'd need a big garage." Davy added.
"I know a lot of garages around here." Mike said, "I don't know of any in that area."
"Maybe he's gonna help out one of the race cars in this upcoming race." Peter said, pointing to the front of yesterday's sports section. "The International Speed Championship is being held in a few days at the Los Angeles Motor Speedway."
"That doesn't explain why Micky didn't come back home last night." Davy said. "If he got the job, he should've called us."
"This isn't getting us any closer to finding Micky." Mike said, "Let's get over to that address and try to find out what is going on..."
"We're just going to go and knock on their door?" Peter asked.
"If Micky's in trouble, we'll get in trouble too." Davy added.
"You're both right." Mike replied, "So let's go about this a different way."