Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Islipped into the bathroom and called Grant back. As it rang, I checked to make sure no one was in any of the stalls, but it went to voicemail.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
The rest of the day crawled by. It wasn’t until two o’clock that I did a double take and saw Grant walking toward our work area.
“Well, well, well…” I said, looking at my wrist even though I wasn’t wearing a watch.
“Well, well, well… you must be dying to know what I discovered,” he said, throwing himself into his chair.
I swiveled to face him. “It must not be that important if you didn’t come right out and tell me as soon as you discovered it. So you couldn’t have found Maggie.”
He smiled like a little boy with a secret.
“You found her?” I asked, even though I had already guessed the answer.
“Okay, no, I didn’t find her. But we can definitely keep Kirkman on our list of suspects.”
“Why? What did you find in the house?” I asked, hoping I wouldn’t be called upon to testify against Grant in a court of law.
He spun in his chair and turned on his computer. “You know, K, you were being pretty judgmental about my investigative methods, but now you seem to want to be given all the findings for free.”
“Free? What, you’re going to charge me? Get over yourself.” I also turned to my computer.
“Well, if you agree to go out with me this weekend…” he trailed off.
“Ha!” I’d never been so happy to throw something in his face. “This weekend I will be traveling on the company dime with Colin Slade for the Sheldon & Bing account.”
He threw both hands on the desk. “Goddammit! You said you didn’t want a promotion. Were you just trying to get me to lower my defenses? That’s very sneaky of you. Well, I’m definitely not telling you what I found now.”
“That’s okay. I trust the police to do their job. Besides, I have to plan what I’m going to wear to the meeting. And for the plane ride. Oh, and I was looking for things to do, so I’ll need to have something to wear to explore the city on Friday afternoon and evening.”
He ignored me the rest of the afternoon, and I welcomed the peace and quiet to get as much work done before Friday.
After work, I stopped at a large department store, hoping I’d find something for the meeting that would be sophisticated and proper.
I found a lot of low necklines, but decided against having my “girls” out that evening.
Then, the colors seemed too bright and overpowering.
Finally, I saw something that might easily have stayed hidden forever because it was black and blended into the corner—a mid-calf, cap-sleeved sheath dress with a round neck.
I slipped into the fitting room, hopeful. Thankfully, it fit beautifully. Everything that should be covered was covered, and the color was perfect and neutral. The last thing I wanted to do was stand out.
I paid for the dress and went home to pack, a process that I soon found would take me all evening, as my indecision kept me from progressing as fast as I would have liked.
On Thursday, Grant and I gave each other the silent treatment. Until Colin appeared at our desks.
“Nothing on Maggie yet, huh?” he asked.
I froze. Maggie. Not “Ms. Flame.” Not “your boss.” Maggie.
I wanted to look at Grant to see if his eyes would convey the same confusion that I was experiencing. Why would he use her nickname if they’d never met? But I didn’t look at Grant. I kept my gaze on Colin Slade.
“Ms. Flame still hasn’t contacted us,” Grant said, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. He’d never called her Ms. Flame, not once in the three years she’d been working with us.
“Strange. Based on the reputation she has here, I wouldn’t have expected this,” he said.
“You never got to meet her, right?” Grant asked in a way that sounded offhand and casual.
“Oh, I did. But it was only one evening as a meet-and-greet. She seemed lovely.” He looked at his phone, held up a finger, and walked off toward the elevator.
“He said, ‘She seemed lovely.’ Seemed. Past tense,” Grant said.
I wanted to contradict him, but the truth was, I too had a niggling suspicion that something was off about our new boss.
“If you’ll speak to me again,” I said, almost regretting it, “I can keep you updated throughout the work trip and try to bring Maggie up to him again. See what he says.”
“Are you crazy? You’re seriously going out of town with a guy you believe might have done something to her?”
“Come on. I don’t think he did anything. Why would he? He’d just met her. Besides, I don’t plan to be alone with him,” I said to ease his concerns. And my own.
He turned back to his computer. “I’ll accept a text or two from you for the purposes of our investigation.”
I stifled a laugh and returned to my work.
The next day, I boarded the plane to find Colin already seated in the row in front of me. We greeted each other casually, and I was delighted with how normal I felt. No racing heart. No sweaty palms.
When we landed, I followed him off the plane, had a conversation about the city, and actually relaxed around him as we sat in the SUV that took us to the hotel. Colin took call after call on the way, and I wondered if I’d be able to ask him more about his meet-and-greet with Maggie.
It didn’t seem I’d get the chance. As we were getting to the hotel front desk, he covered the phone and whispered to me, “I’ll meet you back here at noon tomorrow to go over a few things.”
I spent the afternoon walking the Magnificent Mile, taking an architecture boat tour, and pretending I wasn’t lonely. After taking an embarrassing number of selfies at the Bean in Millennium Park, I was absolutely beat.
When I walked into the hotel at 7:30, the idea of showering to leave again for dinner was like asking me to prepare to climb Mount Everest. I berated myself for not getting something to eat at the line of food trucks I’d seen on my walk back to the hotel.
At that moment, Colin walked into the lobby. He walked past me and toward the elevator, still wearing his suit. If he could walk around the city in a suit, then I could definitely manage to shower and get some dinner, I told myself.
After a long, hot shower, I headed out to Navy Pier, enjoying the sights and sounds of the lively waterfront. I’d never hear the end of it from my mother if I didn’t try deep-dish pizza, and so I took a picture of myself eating it.
After visiting a bar, having a drink, and chatting with a group of women on a bachelorette trip from Phoenix who insisted on adopting me for the evening, I told them I’d have to call it a night.
It was past midnight, and while I was having a lovely time and wished the bride-to-be well, there came a point when I realized I was truly an outsider.
One woman gushed on and on about her lifelong friendship with the bride, and that was my cue.
It was a reminder of my group of friends. Well, ex-friends.
The friends for whom I’d been a bridesmaid. Even the maid of honor to one of them. Four bachelorette parties. Four weddings.
All it took was one husband with a wandering eye and loose hands making a pass at me.
I never would have imagined my friend would believe the lies her husband told to cover it up after I’d told her what happened.
He’d said that I was the one who’d tried to kiss him in their jacuzzi while she went inside to get snacks.
Never would I have thought that the rest of the girls would follow her lead to protect their husbands against me. That’s how I lost my best friends, except for Angie, who was never close with those other girls, anyway.
Unfortunately, Angie didn’t live near me anymore. She’d moved around a bit since college and currently lived in San Francisco. We talked often enough over the phone, but it wasn’t the same as having her over almost daily like during our high school years.
I sent up a quiet prayer for the women from the bar—for their easy laughter and their loyalty to each other. And maybe, a little selfishly, for myself too.
The next morning, I woke up with a hangover. I hadn’t drunk that much, but there I was with a pounding head. I took two ibuprofen, ate breakfast downstairs, and lay in bed until my alarm jolted me awake again.
By noon, I was waiting in the lobby with my tablet and notes when I spotted Colin coming in from outside.
At the same time, one of the women from the bachelorette the night before stumbled past, asking the front desk for coffee.
She looked my way, opened her eyes wide in recognition, and waved. I waved back.
“A friend?” Colin asked, joining me at the table.
The woman nodded in an exaggerated manner and gave me a thumbs up of approval at Colin. I bit my lip and ignored her, returning my attention to him.
“Just someone I ran into at a bar last night and shared a couple of Cosmopolitans with,” I said.
“Ah. Sounds like you had a good evening.” He sounded sincere, and then I remembered I should try to cross him off the suspect list.
“Yes, it was unexpected. So… any news about Maggie?”
I waited with bated breath for his response, itching to study any vocal spasm or facial twitch that might betray something.
He simply shook his head. “No. And it is strange, from everything I know about her. I hope she’s well.”
Something in his tone made me wonder if he already knew more than he let on.
I got little chance to ask anything else, as he steered the rest of our conversation, bringing up every possible scenario for that evening’s meeting. He wanted to discuss every fact, proposition, and number that I’d be presenting that evening.
“I’m asking you to repeat yourself a lot right now, but I like to be prepared,” he said, sitting back for the first time since I’d met him.
But he was wearing a suit and tie again.
“You’re thorough. It’s probably how you got to where you are,” I said.
One corner of his mouth turned up.
“Partly,” he said. “I made my way up the ranks at my previous company. You are aware of who I am, correct?” He sat up again, his back straight as a board.
“Colin Slade, Vice President of Sales?” I said, wondering what I was missing. Was he a celebrity as well?
“And son of Charles Gordon,” he said.
I blinked a few times, waiting for him to tell me it was a joke. But I soon realized that the stoic man before me probably didn’t tell too many jokes.
“The CEO and owner of the company is your father?” My brain froze at this new information.
“I assumed it was common knowledge. I used my mother’s last name to avoid nepotism all of my adult life, and yet, here I am.”
I couldn’t tell if he was happy, proud, or cynical. But I was shocked, and I was sure it showed. To think I’d been so rude to him the first time we’d met, and he was the owner’s son.
“Anyway, I am thorough, and there’s one more set of numbers I’d like to go over,” he said. And with that, we fell back into the meeting while I fought the strong urge to bang my head against the table.
That evening, after a much-coveted shower, I slipped into my new black dress, curled my hair, and made my way downstairs to wait by the restaurant bar next to the hotel.
Colin wasn’t there yet, so I took a seat and watched as people came in and out.
I fidgeted with the buckle on my gold clutch until my phone vibrated inside the purse.
I sighed when I saw Grant’s name light up on the screen. What could he want right now?
“No, I have nothing Maggie-related to share,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Well, I do,” he said, then paused—dramatically, of course.
“Grant, come on. Spill.”
“Since you asked so nicely… Maggie called.”