“You have to listen to me. I need to talk to Andy. It’s really important.”
“I understand that sir, but-”
“No, you don’t seem to. If you did you would be doing something instead of sitting behind that desk.”
“Sir, calm down. Please just take a seat and I’ll will go talk to him and be with you shortly.”
“But-”
“Sit and I’ll go get Andy.”
Oliver took a deep breath, turned from the front desk and stalked over to the chairs lined up along the wall. In his hand he clutched the note. He had read and reread it so many times he just about had it memorized. Oliver continued to take deep breaths trying to calm his thoughts. It had been almost twenty-four hours. He wasn’t sure where Clair was, but he knew that his former company had her and the note proved it. His fingers absentmindedly folded and unfolded the scrap of paper while he waited.
Finally, after what seemed hours, Oliver looked up at the sound of footsteps to see Andy walking toward him; he sprung to his feet.
“Oliver? What are you doing here?”
“Andy I need your help. They’ve done it. She’s in danger.”
Andy scanned his face and must have seen the sincerity in Oliver’s eyes. “Alright, come back to my office and we can talk.”
Neither spoke as Andy led Oliver through a maze of cubicles and printers. Only once they were seated in his office with the door closed did Andy speak.
“Who’s she? Are you sure?”
“Her name is Clair and yes. This was on my door when I got home earlier today.” Oliver held out the note.
Andy read it aloud although he did so quietly. “Stop your snooping or the girl dies.” He gave Oliver a significant look, “you haven’t.”
“So what if I have?” His words were defensive, but poorly masked the worry behind them.
“Oliver, we left for a reason. We wanted to be done with all of that. They’re bad, we reported them. That was supposed to be the end of it all. Why have you kept searching? What good will it do?”
“The police weren’t going to do anything.”
“You can’t possibly know that.”
“Yes I can. I-” Oliver stopped abruptly.
“You what?” Andy prompted, concern plain on his face.
“I may have looked through their cases.”
“Oliver! You promised me you would stop once we left. It’s not safe, we knew that then, and we defiantly know that now.” He waved around the note. Oliver said nothing. Andy signed. “What do you need from me?”
“Wait really? I thought I’d have to beg.”
“Yes really. Knowing you, there’s a reason why you didn’t stop digging and you wouldn’t have come here with this,” he handed Oliver the note, “if you didn’t have a good reason. I’m guessing that reason is Clair?”
“Yes it is. I dragged her into this by mistake and now she’s paying for it.”
“By mistake? You sure about that?” Andy’s tone was not angry, it was exasperated, as if he had heard all of this many times before.
“Yes,” Oliver said defensively. “I met her in the park and we started talking. We were starting to become friends, but I could tell she knew I was hiding something from her. When they announced it, the first thing I thought was that I needed to tell her, tell a friend.”
“You could have come to me. Why go to someone who you’d only just met? Someone who doesn’t know anything about any of this?” Oliver didn’t say anything, just looked straight at Andy. “Oh right, I made you promise not to talk to me about this anymore.”
“And I keep my promises.” Andy opened his mouth to speak. “Except for not digging, yeah I know. But that’s the first one I’ve broken and for good reason. I might have found something that the authorities can’t ignore.”
“So why are you here?”
“I need your help getting Clair out. And before you ask, I’m not going to the police, they’re not going to do anything.”
Andy held up his hands before him, palms facing out. “I wasn’t going to suggest it. What do you need me to do?”
“Find where they’re keeping her.”
“That’s not going to be easy.”
“I know, but if anyone can do it it’s you.”
“And what are you going to do once we find her?”
“Use what I found as leverage.”
“Are you sure? You said it could be the thing that can take them down for good.”
“I know, but I’m not going to risk someone’s life, my friend’s life, trying to do so.”
Andy gazed at his friend. “If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
I have been holding my breath for several days waiting for this new entry for “Newspaper Spies”. Now, another deep breath, to wait for the next part of the story!
I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Sorry for the long wait.
It feels like Clair has been held for weeks..We must free her, can i .help? the suspence is killing me. :-]
I’m glad Clair has another person in her corner. Until the next installment maybe try to figure out what Oliver could know 🙂