My phone buzzes on my desk. I pick it up at lightning speed.
Elliot: Need to fly down to New York for a conference. Will call you when I’m back.
I stare at the screen for an entire minute, processing the words. What conference? We’ve practically spent the entirelast month together. He never mentioned a conference other than the one that’s not for at least another four months.
I don’t buy it.
Ihatethis. It feels like we’ve taken a thousand steps back right when I was ready to take the final one forward.
The worst part is this is coming when I don’t even have the time to decode his mind games. I look at the laptop screen again. The pages and pages of bank statements that hold the key to one of my uncountable open cases taunt me. I pull my focus back to work. Elliot will have to wait.
“Dude, I can’t find the field interview report of the witness. Your lackey was at the scene, right?” Serena calls out from her desk.
“God, he has a name, Serena,” I say.
“Don’t be so scandalized. Get me the report. We need to close at least one of these cases today, or I’m going to lose it,” she says.
She’s right. And who was I kidding? These bank statements aren’t getting analyzed today. Or maybe it’s time to unleash the power of delegation again. I try to remember the last time I saw Dom. “Don’t think he has a shift today.”
Serena pouts at me.
“I’ll call him,” I throw my hands up placatingly.
She smiles and looks pointedly at the phone on my desk until I pick it up and dial Dominic. I swear the caseload is making everyone lose their sanity.
Dominic’s phone goes straight to voicemail. Serena is going to throw a fit. She’s still looking at me with hope.
I’d have laughed at her face if I wasn’t worried she’s capable of throwing that stapler on my head right now.
I get up and go around her desk, taking the stapler with me on my way to the men’s room.
She tries to get my attention, but I escape with the phone still attached to my ears. If she wants me to contact Dominic, I have my ways. But the less we talk about it, the better.
I walk into the men’s room and scan for stragglers. When I find the stalls blessedly empty, I sneak out my Bureau-issuedphone I keep hidden inside my inner pant pocket. We never intentionally switch off our Bureau phones, so Dominic should be available on it.
I’d feel bad about interrupting his off-day plans, but we really need to close at least one case today. Ineedthe open case pile on my desk to be smaller before it crumbles to the ground, taking us with it.
I dial Dominic’s cell. It rings. I breathe a sigh of relief.
But then it keeps ringing until that damned voicemail message plays again. I call him again and again.
Maybe he has some exciting outdoor plans or something? Ugh, Serena is going to freak out.
I find her glaring at my empty chair when I trudge back to my desk. “What did he say?” she asks.
“He didn’t pick up,” I murmur.
“This is a disaster, Nick. We might as well turn in our resignations,” she says dramatically.
“Alright, tell me what report you’re talking about. Maybe he emailed me something about it. He does that sometimes,” I offer.
She tells me exactly what she’s looking for, only raising her voice twice. I look at my email, but there’s nothing. So, I wrangle the number of Dom’s partner from the Sergeant and call her instead. She helps us locate the almost-finished report on her laptop, and Serena finally stops breathing down my neck.
The report also proves that we were on the right track, and we now have enough to make at least one arrest today.
***
By the time we recovered the jewelry, it was too late to go to Elliot’s place unannounced to check if he was just being a coward, and ending us by ghosting me.
