Quicksilver Dreams(186)
“Any word on Reggie? Is he sick or something?”
“Not sure, Taylor.” Elaine’s crisp, usually no-nonsense monotone actually sounded concerned. “He was gone the last two days, he hasn’t called in and he isn’t picking up at his home or on his cell.”
“Maybe he got hurt at home. Do you think the police should do a quick check on him? Make sure he doesn’t need medical attention?” Part of me was afraid the police would find a body at his residence.
“That’s a very good idea. I’ll let you know if they find out anything.”
I felt better after having done that. I grabbed my cell phone to call Ryder and update him, and I noticed my newly charged phone had updated to include a missed call. Someone had called me while I’d been on Te’re. Tapping the various touchscreen options, I was able to pull up Reggie as the missed call. My phone was indicating that he’d left a message.
Double creepy.
“Taylor, I won’t be in for a few days. Take care of Paul’s meeting, and I’ll get with you later.” His voice sounded serious. Heavy. Or did it? Was I reading into it because of my own frightening experiences? But I also knew that Reggie never took time off.
My desk phone rang, pulling me from my thoughts. Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Reggie Mason’s office,” for the hundredth time in the day already.
“Taylor? Is that you?”
“It is. Who is calling?”
“It’s Paul.”
“Paul!” The Paul whose family was friends with Frank. I felt a sense of caution as I asked, “What’s going on? Reggie’s not going to be here this week, but he asked me to hold the meeting anyway, so we can sign off on the contract for legal.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m calling about. I need to meet sooner.”
“Sooner? You mean like sooner than two o’clock?” I frowned.
“I mean like right now. I’m going out of town for a while, and I’m not sure when I’ll be coming back.”
“Oh. Well, I’m limited in how far I can go. I don’t have a car available to me right now.”
“Why don’t I pick you up, and we’ll grab some sushi down on Sunset?”
I was immediately uncertain. Where did Frank figure into Paul’s life? When I tapped into Paul’s mind during our lunch meeting, he’d felt pretty innocent. Did I trust my intuition? I did. I truly didn’t think Paul was an evil guy. I knew that Ryder had told me not to leave the building, but I also knew how important it was to Reggie to sign this guy. And he’d asked me to handle it all in his absence. I didn’t want to screw this up because I still needed the job.
“You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Okay. When are you coming by?”
“I’m already outside the building.”
“Wow. You don’t mess around. Let me get your file and make some copies of the contract, so I can go over it with you. Can you wait for five or ten minutes?”
“Sure.”