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That privacy turned out to be available only in her office.
The minute she walked in, she closed the door. Rather than call Bowie, she crossed to her desk, sat down and proceeded to text him back. The message she sent read: I’m back in my office. What did you want to tell me?
In less than a minute after she had hit Send, her cell phone rang. She didn’t have to look at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Are you planning on staying put?” Bowie’s deep voice rumbled against her ear.
A warm shiver danced through her in response to his voice. She needed to get that under control, she told herself.
Rather than answer Bowie one way or another, she had a question of her own. “Why?”
“Because I need to see you.” As if realizing how that had to sound to her, Bowie added, “I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”
Now what? she wondered. She wasn’t exactly feeling very social. “Listen, now’s not a very good time,” she began, getting ready to put him off.
As if he’d anticipated this move on her part, Bowie deftly blocked it. “No time is a very good time with you,” he commented. “Stay put,” he ordered. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
She didn’t like being told what to do—she never had, not even as a child. She could feel her back instantly going up. “Listen, I—”
“—can stay put for twenty minutes,” he informed her, managing to predict what she was about to say.
Marlowe stared at her phone screen. The connection had been terminated. She could feel her temper rising quickly. For a second, she fought against the urge to throw her phone against the wall. Taking in a deep breath to help her get hold of her escalating impatience, Marlowe told herself there was no reason to take her anger out on her phone when she could just as well wait for Bowie and take it out on him in person.
Two more deep breaths later, she buzzed for Karen. The petite assistant was inside her office almost immediately.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Colton?” Karen asked.
“Bowie Robertson will be coming to see me. Bring him in as soon as he gets here,” Marlowe instructed.
Although she was obviously surprised, Karen did a good job of hiding her emotion. “Very good, Ms. Colton,” the assistant replied. “Anything else?” She stood by the door, awaiting further instructions.
“Not as far as I know.”
She knew that it was a vague response to her assistant’s question, but at the moment Marlowe wasn’t feeling all that focused. On the contrary, her mind felt as if it was spinning around here, there and everywhere. A little like a sparrow caught in a storm, searching for somewhere to land before being helplessly blown completely off course.
About to withdraw from Marlowe’s office, Karen looked at her boss over her shoulder.
“May I get you some tea, Ms. Colton?” her assistant offered. “You look a little pale, if you don’t mind my saying so.”
Mind? Why should she mind having an employee tell her that she looked like death warmed over? Marlowe thought.
She realized that her hands were clenched. She was flying off the handle again, Marlowe thought. What was going on with her, anyway? Her assistant was just trying to be kind, not criticizing her.
“Herbal tea would be very nice, thank you, Karen,” she agreed. “Cream, no sugar.”
“Cream, no sugar,” the young woman repeated. “Got it.” Karen said it almost happily, appearing glad to have something specific to focus on.
Marlowe leaned all the way back in her chair and closed her eyes, trying to think.
Why was Bowie actually coming here? They’d just seen each other this morning.
And then she remembered that he had said something about getting her a bodyguard, as well as having someone look into trying to track down the source of that awful email she and the others had all received. Could that be it? Had he found out something important and was coming to tell her in person because he thought the phone lines were being bugged? Was the person who had uncovered all this for her the person he wanted to introduce her to?
Or should she be worrying about something else entirely?
Not for the first time, part of her really regretted ever having gone to that energy conference. If she hadn’t gone, then none of this would be happening and she could focus on the drama surrounding Ace’s case instead of feeling so scattered right now.
