Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
This was the first time we’d been on the job this long without any results, and though we knew it was going to be harder this time around, we thought for sure we would be done within six months. It’s true the pandemic had added more time than we’d expected, but things had let up there a while ago, and nothing had changed on our end.
Now, my partner was in the wind, and I had no clues. My fear of letting the boss know this before I knew anything more about her location or what was going on left me in a bind.
I find myself looking over my shoulder for the first time since coming here. What makes it worse is the fact that just days before she disappeared, she’d run into Trudy at the restaurant, and now I’m beginning to wonder if all those things were indeed a coincidence or if someone here had figured us out.
The not knowing is playing hell on my nerves, not to mention I can’t get to her apartment to check things out myself because there’s always someone lurking around the building for some reason or another. The little paved yard behind the building where the trash was kept that I used to use to get to her place without being seen has a new gate that’s always closed these days so there was no way in or out without going past the front desk
Things like that are making me paranoid that someone has been watching us. But since no one has approached me or said anything to me, and Mark does not seem to be onto me, I’m still left with questions. The not knowing is wreaking havoc with my life.
I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. I’ll have to report to the boss sooner or later, but I dread telling him about this new screwup after all the time we’ve wasted. On the other hand, if he were the one to take her, I would have no idea what that means for me.
She’d had a few mishaps in the last few weeks before disappearing, like the snake that appeared in her apartment. I was sure that it was someone’s pet that had gotten out somehow and ended up there, but now I’m not so sure.
But if all the things that occurred in her last weeks here were more than coincidence, who or what was doing these things, and where the hell did they take her? Or maybe she was dead. In which case, what the hell happened?
I still have to go to work to keep up appearances, and that’s about as uncomfortable as you can imagine. Mark has been the same as always, which only makes me more nervous for some reason. No one had asked me about Jessica’s disappearance because we’re not supposed to be that close, but there’s been talk around the office about her not showing and not calling.
As each day passes, speculation has been running high among the staff, and now, something even worse than not knowing has happened, and I don’t know what to think anymore.
That’s because five minutes ago, Wilson had claimed in my presence while speaking on the phone with HR that he’d heard from Jessica, and she was fine. She had a family emergency and had to go back home, so she won’t be back at the company.
None of that made sense, and that was the reason I was now looking over my shoulder every few seconds. I was beginning to feel hunted. I have to get out of here, but where can I go? I’ve been working for the boss for the better part of fifteen years. I have no doubt he would find me wherever I go. But I can’t stay here. Something is very wrong.
CHAPTER 21
“Cierra, what’s going on? I didn’t expect to hear from you this soon.”
“Someone wants to talk to you.”
“Oh, okay.” The child that I had taken to calling Shirley Temple came on the line. Her greeting, as always, was respectful, and she’d taken to calling me Aunty Britt; I mean, seriously, could she be any more adorable?
“Let’s play a game.” I don’t know how I knew she wasn’t talking about ‘game’ in the normal sense or why my heart started racing.
“What game?”
“Do you still have the cloned phone, or did Uncle Mark get rid of it?”
“I still have it.”
“Do you know what that means?”
“Not really, no.” I didn’t think it meant anything.
“It means he knows you’re going to stay involved, and this is the only way he will allow.” How did she come to that conclusion?
“Do you understand?”
“Not really, no.” I think she sighed, which made me feel like I needed to keep up.
“It means he knows you have the phone and still lets you keep it. If he didn’t want you to have it, he would’ve taken it. Do you get it now?”