Blood Loss

25

Ren pulled out her cell phone and texted Matt.

Saw shrink: priestly (not Jason). Next contestant to the stage to perform! Or not …

Matt: There has to be a next! Hang in there!

Ren: Not teetering on cliff edge just yet …

Matt: It’s not the teetering. It’s the jumping off drunk and nekkid for fun

Ren didn’t reply. She leaned her head against the window and stared out at the snow.

Matt, you’re like a dark cloud of doom.

Ren got back to the office at six. Gary had forwarded her the email with Mark Whaley’s calendar. She opened it and started to go through it.

She called Gary. ‘Did Nolan Carr mention someone called Hillier?’

‘Yes,’ said Gary. ‘It’s not a person. It’s MeesterBrandt’s Contract Research Organization — the company that takes care of their clinical trials.’

‘MeesterBrandt don’t do that themselves?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Gary.

‘So, it’s pharma-ed out …’ said Ren.

Silence.

I deserve silence.

‘So, Hillier’s in Boston?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Gary.

‘So it would be standard practice for the CFO of a pharma company to visit with their Contract Research Organization …’

‘Yes,’ said Gary.

‘It’s here in his calendar that Mark Whaley had two appointments: Thursday afternoon/Friday morning. He stayed at The Lowry Hotel …’

‘And in terms of recent hotel stays — is that it?’ said Gary.

‘Yes,’ said Ren. ‘I’ll get in touch with The Lowry, see if there’s anything there …’

‘What are you thinking?’ said Gary.

‘Hotel room precedent,’ said Ren. ‘And I’m thinking affair. Was he meeting a lady friend? A man friend? A paid-for friend? A Fisherman’s Friend? I could go on all day.’

‘Hold up,’ said Gary. ‘Where are you right now?’

‘In the office. Why?’

‘Can you hear that?’ said Gary.

‘What?’ said Ren.

‘Crying,’ said Gary.

‘No,’ said Ren. ‘Oh, I do … it’s coming from reception.’

‘Meet you there.’

Erica Whaley was standing in reception with Leo in her arms, her hand pressing his head to her shoulder. They were both crying. Bob Gage was standing beside her, a bewildered look on his face.

‘What’s wrong?’ said Ren, rushing to Erica. ‘What happened?’

‘Mark’s gone,’ said Erica. ‘He’s … he went for a walk after lunch, he didn’t come back, I figured he just lost track of time. So I came here for Leo’s interview with Agent Ross, and I just … I really thought Mark would be here by the time it was over, but he’s not. He’s not, and I don’t know where he is. His car keys and his cell phone were at the hotel. I … I … I don’t know where he is.’

‘OK, there’s no need to panic,’ said Ren. ‘Why don’t we take you somewhere quiet, you can sit down, we can put on some cartoons for Leo, get you a glass of water …’

Paul Louderback appeared as Erica was heaving for breath, struggling to calm herself down.

Now, what the hell is going on?

Ren turned around to the grim faces of Bob Gage, Gary Dettling and Paul Louderback.

Ren followed Erica down the hallway. Leo was staring at her from over his mother’s shoulder.

I have a bad feeling about your daddy.

Ren turned on the television in the break room for Leo. She tried to talk to Erica, but she had descended into a disturbing silence. Ren asked her if Leo had seemed OK after his interview with Sylvie Ross, but Erica didn’t seem to hear. After ten minutes, a Sheriff’s Office detective came in to relieve Ren.

Ren walked into Bob Gage’s full-to-capacity office.

‘We got a match on the blood on the headboard,’ said Gary. ‘Blood is Laurie Whaley’s, prints are Shelby Royce’s …’

‘What the …?’ said Ren.

Sylvie Ross appeared in the doorway.

‘I think I know why Mark Whaley disappeared,’ she said.

Everyone turned to her. ‘Leo said he saw Shelby Royce’s privates.’

‘What — he walked in on her in the bathroom?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Sylvie, ‘he saw her in his parents’ room.’

‘Was she alone?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Sylvie. ‘He said that his daddy was there.’