I needed to trust Ronan.
I had my chair angled toward the window, only half paying attention to work, when my computer dinged with an incoming email. Reluctantly, I spun toward the monitor, but my phone rang before I reached the screen. I stabbed the speaker phone button and answered the call, “This is Kevin.”
I clicked the new email as my secretary Hank’s voice filled my office.
“Sir.” He cleared his throat, and I bristled at the honorific he insisted on using. “The police are here to see you.”
“What?” My heart sank, worry and fear and anger culminating in the center of my chest all at the same time. I scrambled for my phone to call Ronan to make sure he was okay, but I dropped it, the screen shattering into a magnificent spiderweb as it landed against the polished concrete floor. I’d just decided to be better, to be good; this couldn’t be happening.Had Ronan’s worries, his fears…had they come to fruition?
“I’ll let them through,” Hank said.
I shoved out of my chair and picked up my phone, dragging a shaking finger over the cracked screen. It was usable, just destroyed.
How I like you most, Ronan’s voice filtered through my brain and the door to my office opened. Two uniformed officers filled the doorway and I typed out a furious text to Ronan before greeting them.
Me: Please call me.
“Mr. Bryce?” one of the officers asked and I nodded, staring down at the screen, but unable to tell if the message had been read or not because of the damage.
“Yes. That’s me.” I cleared my throat. “Is everything all right?”
“We’re just following up about a missing person. Ben Harper. Our records indicate he was the general contractor for one of your jobs?”
My phone buzzed in my hand the same time my heart left my throat. I looked down at the screen.
Ronan: gimme ten.
Me: Never mind. It’s fine. Not urgent. We’ll talk later.
I set the phone back on my desk and braced my hands against the edge of the tempered glass, relief coursing through my body. As my breathing regulated, I decided I hated this desk. It hadn’t occurred to me until that very moment, when I wanted something strong and sturdy to ground myself and found nothing more than a thin plate of glass beneath my hands. I flexed my fingers against the cool material and looked up at the cops.
“He’s missing?” I asked.
It was Wednesday; we’d been back from Big Bear for three days and work had been progressing at the site as far as I’d assumed. I hadn’t gone to check because I hadn’t had any complaints, but it wasn’t like Jared, the foreman, to not call me if something had gone wrong or weird. I frowned, making a note to follow up with him after the cops left.
“Since the end of last week. His brother reported him missing on Monday. When was the last time you saw Mr. Harper?”
“Uhm, last week sometime? I went by the job site, but went out of town for the weekend with my boyf…my fiancé.”
“Did Mr. Harper let you know he would be gone?”
“He’s not my employee,” I answered. “He doesn’t report to me, but I wasn’t aware of anything that would have sent him away.”
One of the cops handed me a business card. “If you hear from him, can you please let us know?”
“Of course.” I slid the card toward my work phone, tucking the corner under the edge.
The cops said their goodbyes, closing the door behind them. As soon as the lock engaged, I jumped out of my chair and paced the room, stopping in the corner and banging my head against the drywall.
Ronan is fine.
Ronan is fine.
Everything is okay.
If it had been any other day, any other life, I would have been more worried about Ben than I was, but the relief at knowing the visit had nothing to do with Ronan was visceral.
My cell phone rang, the vibrations clattering loud against the stupid glass desk. It danced toward the edge, threatening to fall again, but I caught it and stabbed at the screen, having to hit it a few times for the touch to register.
