An Undisclosed Vocation by Meg Wolfe

Author:Meg Wolfe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: temp
Publisher: Wolfe Johnson Inc
Published: 2015-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Tuesday, May 19th

Focus on the mundane. Coffee. Yogurt and granola. Feed the cat. Open some windows for fresh air. Shower, shampoo. Favorite black jeans and striped boatneck tee.

She leaned against the back of the sofa with a second cup of coffee, watching the town come awake. The usual dog walkers and joggers were out. Lucas Nantakarn ran by. He didn’t look up this time. Shamus half-dozed on the windowsill, paws tucked in, a furry black and white Buddha.

She finally listened to the messages on her voice mail. As she expected, most of them were expressions of concern and support, and wanting updates. Benny wanted to know if he should mind the shop again. Then there were the messages from Chris Bysell.

The first was that he was having another showing for someone who was interested in buying her house, and he “had a good feeling” about it.

The second was that he found Donovan’s phone in the mailbox at her house.

The third was to say that he’d heard that Donovan was missing, so he was going to get the phone to Detective Barnes, and hoped that was okay.

Yes! Absolutely okay!

It was still pretty early, but she called Barnes. He sounded out of breath.

“Yeah, Charlotte,” he puffed. And puffed some more.

“This a bad time?”

“Nah. Treadmill. Was gonna call you in a little bit, anyway. I take it you know about the phone?”

“Yes! I just finished listening to my messages. What happened?”

“Chris Bysell was showing your house, then heard a phone ringing in your mailbox. It was Donovan’s, and your name was on the caller ID. Good timing. He might never have looked in there, otherwise.”

Good timing, indeed, thought Charlotte. “So the Jeep was found in Axle, but the phone in Lake Parkerton. What does this mean?”

“I’m thinking he somehow put it there himself, to let you know he’s okay, but to also protect you—so they can’t immediately tie him to you or Mrs. Dalmier. I’m convinced he’s allowed himself to be abducted or somehow drawn in by whoever is responsible for the shooting and the bombing. And I think it’s likely he’s somewhere in Lake Parkerton.”

“But he wasn’t in my house?”

“No. No sign of anyone else having been there, either.”

“What do we do now?”

“Let me think on that a bit, will you? The phone is being checked out for calls and messages. Then I’ll get back to you a little later this morning. How are you holding up?”

“I’ve been better. Trying not to scare myself more than I already am, you know?”

“Yeah, but remember that your fellow’s a pretty resourceful guy. He’ll be all right. Just keep your nerve, don’t go running around and looking for more trouble, okay? I’ll talk to you later.”

Just knowing that Barnes considered the phone in the mailbox to be a good sign gave her a small boost of hope. She called back Benny to confirm that he should mind the bookstore, and was surprised by the extent of her relief when she got his voicemail prompt. She clearly wasn’t ready to deal with the rest of the world just yet.

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