Honeymoon

Chapter 107

I WAS ALWAYS lousy at sitting still. Now I was supposed to be doing it for an indefinite period. After two days of being chained to my desk, I was already stir-crazy. There was paperwork to be done, but I wasn’t doing it. All I could do was stare out the office window at the gray gloom of downtown New York. And wonder.

Where the hell is she?

The reports coming back from the field were short but hardly sweet. No sign of Nora anywhere. No trace of her. How the hell could she disappear?

The routine was maddening. The phone would ring in my office, I’d listen to the update, and then I’d slam the phone back down. I was being consumed by frustration. The sign on my back was clear for everyone: WARNING! CONTENTS UNDER EXTREME PRESSURE.

The phone rang again. I picked up and braced for more of the same. “O’Hara,” I said.

I heard nothing back.

“Hello?”

Still nothing.

“Is anyone there?”

“I’ve missed you,” she said softly.

I shot up in my chair.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?” Nora asked. “Did you miss me? Not even the sex? Not even that?”

I was about to answer—I’d opened my mouth, prepared to unleash a venomous rant, but then I stopped myself. I needed to keep Nora on the line.

I hit the RECORD button on my phone, followed by the button next to it, which triggered a trace. Deep breath. “How are you, Nora?”

She laughed. “Oh, c’mon, at least yell at me. The man I knew wasn’t the type to hold back.”

“You mean Craig Reynolds?”

“You’re not going to hide behind the Insurance Man, are you?”

“He wasn’t real. None of it was real, Nora.”

“You wish that were true. Right now the only truth is, you can’t make up your mind. You don’t know if you want to fuck me or kill me.”

“I’m pretty clear on that,” I said.

“That’s your wounded ego talking,” she said. “Speaking of wounded, how are you feeling? You didn’t look too good that night.”

“No thanks to you.”

“I’ll tell you something, O’Hara. It hurts knowing we won’t see each other again.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I said through clenched teeth. “Trust me, I’ll find you.”

“That’s such a funny word, isn’t it? Trust. I’d imagine your wife doesn’t have much of it for you these days. Gee, I hate to think I broke up your marriage.”

“You can rest easy, your timing was a little off. She’s been my ex-wife for two years.”

“Really? So you are available, O’Hara?”

I looked at my watch. She’d been on for over a minute. Keep talking, O’Hara.

I shifted gears. “How are you managing without money?” I asked.

She snickered. “Plenty more where that came from. It’s everywhere.”

“Is that all this is about? Money?”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing. A girl needs to look out for her future, doesn’t she?”

“What you did goes a little beyond retirement planning.”

“Okay, so maybe there’s a little bit of sport, too. We’re angry, O’Hara. Most women are seething at men. Wake up and smell your bacon burning, sweetie.”

She was beginning to get worked up. Maybe I’d touched a nerve. Good for me.

“What do you have against men, Nora?”

“Do you have an hour? Several, actually.”

“I do. I have all the time you need.”

“But I’m afraid I don’t,” she said. “It’s time to go.”

“Wait!”

“Can’t wait, O’Hara. I’ll see you in your dreams.”

Click.

I flipped my wrist and locked in on the second hand of my watch. “Please,” I whispered. I called down to the tech guys. “Tell me you got a location!”

The initial silence ripped through my ears. “Sorry,” I was told. “We missed her.”

I picked up the phone, base and all, and whipped it against the wall. It shattered into pieces.

I’ll see you in your dreams.