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Finally, he hung up the phone and slumped down on the couch next to me. I shifted away from him and was about to get up when he put a hand on my leg.
“Stay,” he said.
I frowned at him. His hand wasn’t holding me down but his voice had a commanding tone, so I decided not to move.
“You’ve had a long day,” I said. “You’ve been busy.”
He shrugged and took his hand away. I let out a breath and relaxed back a little bit, although I was still on edge.
“Normal day,” he said.
“What were we doing?” I asked. “All those meetings… what was that?”
He gave me a look and laughed. “You want to know about my business?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I’m just curious.”
“Well, don’t worry about it. If you really want to know, stick around and I’ll tell you one day.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not like I have a choice.”
“What would you be doing right now, if you weren’t here?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “That’s not the point though.”
“I think it is,” he said. “Humor me. What would you be doing?”
I frowned a little and looked up at the ceiling. It was smooth and white, broken up by shadows cast by the chairs set around the kitchen table.
“Something similar to this,” I said. “Probably eating dinner. Watching Wheel of Fortune. Probably would’ve gotten home from work an hour ago.” I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of work, and realized I probably didn’t have a job anymore.
“Work,” he said. “What do you do?”
“I was a receptionist for a law firm,” I said.
“Fancy.”
I gave him a look. “It paid well and my boss was pretty nice. I wanted to get into their Competitive Intelligence department.”
“What’s that?” he asked, head tilted. “Sounds like something I could use.”
I laughed a little. “Basically, it’s getting information about clients or potential competitors. It’s all about gathering knowledge.”
“Interesting,” he said. “I do something a lot like that.”
“I bet you have access to all the best databases.”
He smiled, leaned his head against the couch. “Just a network for junkies, thieves, and killers,” he said. “But they can be effective.”
I felt a little shudder run down my spine.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” I said. “I’m sure I’m fired.”
“Maybe not.” He frowned at me. “We could call your job. Tell them you got hurt. Tell them you’re taking some vacation time.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. How much time do you have saved up?”
“Ten days,” I said.
“Call and use them.”
“I don’t… I don’t know the number. And I don’t know what I’d say. Oh, hey Richard, sorry I didn’t show up, some mobster is keeping me prisoner, also I got shot? I’m not sure that’ll play very well.”
“Just tell him that there was a family emergency and you’re okay, but you can’t come in for a little bit. Tell him you’re using your ten vacation days, apologize profusely, say you’re totally fine though and you’ll check in again in a few days.”
I bit my lip and shook my head. “You’re insane. Why would I do that?”
“Because you want to keep this job, right? You want to be a Competitive Whatever Analyst.”
“Competitive Intelligence,” I said. “Are you sure?”
“Try,” he said. “Can’t hurt.”
“I need my phone.”
He stood up, walked over to bookshelf sat against the wall, and pulled out a book. He reached behind it, fished around a little and pulled out my phone. He walked back over and tossed it to me.
I caught it and powered it up. Sure enough, I had a bunch of missed calls, texts, and emails.
“Call your boss, leave a message,” he said. “Don’t do anything else.” He stared at me, watching the screen. “Go on.”
I stared at him for a long moment, my heart beating fast. But he was right, I had nothing to lose, and if anything this would be bad for him. It might actually make Richard come looking for me, or maybe report me missing to the police, unless someone had done that already.
“Fine,” I said, as I pulled up Richard’s number and called it.
I let it ring and it went to voicemail. I knew he wouldn’t be in his office. He’s out the door every day at five without fail.
“Hi Richard,” I said. “It’s Colleen. I hope everything’s okay at the office. I know I disappeared, and I’m so, so sorry that happened. I had a family emergency that took me out of state, and I’m still dealing with it. Everything’s okay, I’ll be fine, but I have to take ten days vacation. Really sorry about that, but I promise I’ll check in again in a few days. Hope you’re okay.”
I hung up the phone. I was tempted to type a quick text to my best friend Tracy, but Steven stooped down and snatched the phone from me.
