“I’m sorry, but who are you, and why are you in my office?If there is some kind of maintenance being done, I wasn’t informed, and I did not approve of you being in here,” he said sternly.
Than ducked his head, chuckling, as he ran his thumb under hit bottom lip.
“Please, finish your phone call,” I said.
His gaze was back to me.He ended it and started to slip it into his pocket.
“Ah, we’ll be taking that,” I told him, motioning at Gathe to get the phone.
His bravado showed its first crack as Gathe sauntered over to him and snatched his phone easily enough.
“You can’t take my phone!”he shouted, glancing back at the door, as if hoping someone might hear him.
“The building is closed today,” I informed him.“All others were notified that there was a rodent infestation found in the basement and it must be fumigated.”
He shook his head.“I didn’t get that call.”
“We know,” Than replied.
Arthur narrowed his gaze, trying again to appear unafraid.But his eyes told another story.
“You’ve got shit taste in books,” Gathe said, tossing one onto the floor and picking up another one to pretend to look over.
“I’m going to call the police,” he threatened, stalking over to the desk and watching me closely as he jerked the landline up.When he realized I wasn’t going to stop him, he turned to the other two while pressing 911.“You all need to leave.”
The confusion in his expression would have been comical if I wasn’t barely containing myself from ripping him apart with my bare hands.He pressed the phone to his ear finally and started to open his mouth to speak when he was met with the silence.
“That infestation took out the phone lines in the building,” I told him.
His arm slowly lowered as he put the phone back down.
“Why are you here?”he asked, his eyes darting to each of us.
“I’ll be the one asking the questions,” I told him and let his pen fall from my knuckles to his desk.“Who are you looking for?”I asked him.
He appeared to not understand me.
“The phone call,” I reminded him.“You paid to find someone.”
He let out a nervous short laugh.“Oh, that is just family issues.”
I stood then.“What kind of family issues?”
He took a step toward the door.He was planning on running.The survival instinct that all humans had.
Gathe was faster though and dropped another book before stepping between the exit and Arthur.
Panic flashed across his face.“Look, if this is about money, I’m broke.I have nothing.”
“If it were only that simple,” Than said.
“What do you want then?”His voice trembled this time as he spoke.
“So many things,” Gathe said with a sigh.“I could go for a chicken biscuit, for starters.”
That almost made me smile.
“What?”Arthur asked, looking at Gathe, as if trying to decide if he was all there or not.
