The Mystery Caller
It was the end of summer, and things had been pretty quiet around the office for a while. Sean had broken up again with Amy, this time for good, but Dani and I were on solid ground. Robin hadn’t said anything lately, but my partner and I both suspected she’d been seeing someone all summer. It was just like her not to want to share her relationship status with either of us.
Friday morning saw me unlock the front door and hurry inside before Robin got there. I made a pot of coffee and was sitting in her chair drinking a cup when the door opened and she rushed in, with a look of concern on her face. “Something wrong?” she asked.
I stood and held her chair for her. “Nope, not a thing. Just thinking about the weekend.” Dani and I were driving up to Santa Barbara to spend two days at a little B & B she’d found online. It sounded luxurious, breathtakingly beautiful, and relaxing.
“Don’t get too excited, I have phone messages for you. And there’s one there that doesn’t have a name or a number on it because he wouldn’t leave either one.”
“You didn’t recognize the voice?” I asked her.
“No, but something about the whole thing was familiar. Like I’d talked to him before and gotten the same response from him – none at all. Does that ring any bells with you?”
I took another swallow of my coffee and gave it some thought. “Maybe. What did the voice sound like? Young, old, happy, sad, cranky, scary, soothing . . . ?”
“Wait, wait! There’s no sense listing every emotion you can think of because it was none of those. His voice was flat, monotone even. No indication of who, what, where, or why.”
Something set the alarm bells off in my head, and I began to think back. “This has happened before.”
“That’s what I asked you,” Robin reminded me.
“No, that wasn’t a question. It was a statement. This has happened before when we were working on the arson case. Same time of day, same lack of identification. I told you if it was important he’d call back, and he never did. Until last night. Tell me everything that was going on – the time, other phone calls just then, what you were doing, where I was. Everything you can think of.”
Robin poured her coffee and pushed me in the direction of my office. Sean had just come in and told us “Good morning” in that obnoxiously cheerful tone of voice he has, which Robin teases him about unmercifully. “Why the secrecy?” I asked as we both settled down in my office. She’d closed the office door behind her, and looked at me strangely.
“I just have a feeling . . . this isn’t business, it’s personal.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“Instinct. If you decide to involve Sean that’s your business, but his head’s not in a good place right now.”
“Even with the incessantly cheerful ‘good morning?’”
“Yes. Now, the call came in after six o’clock and nothing was going on with the phones. You’d gone home to plan the weekend and I was getting ready to leave. Sean was in his office going over the latest financials. I almost didn’t answer it, but I picked it up at the last minute. I don’t remember anything about the original call, other than you weren’t in the office when we got it. He asked for you both times. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Did he have an accent of any kind?”
Robin gave that some thought before answering. Then she shook her head. “No, I didn’t detect any accent. Could have been from right here in California – or he could have been good at disguising his voice. Either way, there was just nothing distinctive about him.”
“Okay, sweetie, thanks for the info. If he calls again, make sure you get me right away.”
She nodded and went back to her desk, leaving my door open. It was maybe a minute later when Sean appeared. “Got a second?”
“Sure,” I agreed, and for the second time that morning someone came in and closed my door.
“Have I done something wrong?”
“Absolutely not. Robin wanted to talk to me about something that sounds like it’s personal, and you’ve got enough on your plate right now.” Since the arson case, Sean had gotten increasingly busier and he was juggling four or five different clients right now, all of which demanded his undivided attention. And, of course, all at the same time. I didn’t want to involve him unless it became necessary.
My partner exhaled a visible sigh of relief. Sean had been a good cop, and he was turning into a great partner, but his insecurities got the best of him from time to time. I had no reason to complain – he’d taken to the business a lot faster than I expected him to. And he’d rapidly become a good friend. So just this once I didn’t want to burden him with something that might turn out to be nothing. It was almost a fatal mistake on my part.
“You and Dani still going to Santa Barbara this weekend?”
“You bet. As soon as I get done today.”
“Good,” he grinned. “You haven’t taken any time off since I’ve been here.”
“You’ve got all those balls in the air. Sure you don’t need any help?”
That elicited a laugh. “Got it all under control, chief.”
I wouldn’t let him call me ‘boss’ – because I wasn’t. We were partners. So he’d taken to calling me ‘chief.’ Most of the time it made me laugh. Sean seemed to want some sort of hierarchy and refused to put the two of us at the top as equals.
“Well, you know how to get me if you need me.”
Sean nodded and went back to his office. I returned the phone calls I needed to and finished up the billing for my last client, then began some research I’d promised to do for a doctor client of mine. I didn’t go to lunch because I wanted to leave work early, and it was about four o’clock when I was finally able to do so. I was no more than five minutes from Dani’s apartment when my phone rang.
“Robin, darlin’, you miss me already?”
“Rick, he just called again.”
“Our mystery man?”
“Yes. This time he asked if you would be in tomorrow, and I told him no, you were gone for the weekend. Then he hung up.”
“Nothing else?” I asked her.
“Nothing. What should I do?”
“Hang up. I’ll call Sean.”
Robin disconnected, and I called my partner. “Hey, you can’t have gotten very far yet,” he told me.
“Listen, that meeting with Robin this morning, I lied. It was a personal matter, I think, but it wasn’t about Robin. It was about me.”
“What’s wrong?” Sean questioned, immediately concerned.
“I’m not sure there’s anything wrong, but I’ve got a funny feeling.” And I proceeded to tell him the whole story, including the latest phone call. “You weren’t planning on working this weekend, were you?”
“I was. But I can take most of it home with me if you think I should.”
“I do,” I told him. “Stay away from the office. And make sure Robin knows to do the same. Better safe than sorry. I’m going to have Dani postpone the trip.”
“Don’t do that, Rick. There’s probably nothing wrong, and you need the time away. Besides, it sounds like it’s you he wants to see, and not the office. And he already knows you won’t be here.”
“But what if I go to Santa Barbara and something happens down there?”
“What if you don’t go to Santa Barbara and nothing happens? Besides, you’re not even certain who this is or what he wants. Maybe he just wants to scare you. Maybe it’s something perfectly innocent, like an old friend wanting to surprise you. Go, and have a great time. I’ll keep track of what’s going on here.”
He was right; I didn’t know anything at this point except something had set off my Spidey Senses. Maybe it was just fear of the unknown. This would be the first time Dani and I had gone away together, and the thought of being alone with the woman I loved for two and a half days was daunting. Not that I didn’t want to be with her . . . I was just afraid I’d find a way to screw it up, and I desperately wanted to avoid that. Day to day life was complicated enough at times, and I’d never been involved this seriously with a woman before – at least not one I was in love with. The more time we spent together the more the thought of marriage, and everything that went with it, was on my mind. I honestly didn’t know if I could be married or not, but I was at least considering the prospect.
“Alright, you’ve talked me into it, you silver-tongued devil, you. Call me if anything changes.”
“Aye, aye, chief.”
I disconnected and finished my trip to Dani’s, but I couldn’t shake the feeling something was coming with my name on it.
XXXXXXXX
Dani and I had dinner, then I loaded up the car and we made the trip to Santa Barbara. We were more than halfway there when Dani asked me a question and I didn’t hear her. Finally, she laid her hand on my arm. “Rick, what’s wrong? And please don’t tell me ‘nothing,’ because I know that isn’t true. Is it work?”
“No,” I answered her truthfully. “It isn’t work.”
“Then what is it?” she persisted.
“Nothing, really. Somebody’s called twice, months apart, and refused to leave his name or number. Then he called again today and asked if I was going to be in the office this weekend. There’s nothing to put my finger on, baby, and Sean gave me all kinds of reasons it’s probably nothing.”
“You should listen to your partner.”
“I did. That’s why we’re almost to Santa Barbara.”
“It won’t make any difference where we are if your mind isn’t on being there and enjoying yourself.”
I nodded. “I know. I’m trying, baby. I want this to work, I really do.”
“Why do I have the feeling we’ve just changed subjects? Are you still talking about this trip, or something entirely different?”
“Yes and no. Once we get checked in, I’ll have a drink or two and quit thinking about it all. I promise.”
“Won’t matter if your hearts not in it. You have to be with me, Rick, not just with me. Do you understand what I’m talking about?”
At that exact moment I turned into the parking area for the B & B and found a spot to put the car. It was beautiful here, green and lush, and the ocean was wild and magnificent. I turned my full attention to the woman sitting beside me. “I understand perfectly what you’re talking about, and I promise you, here is where I want to be, and you’re the one I want to be with. And we’re going to have a great time this weekend, I can feel it.” And we would, by God, no matter what I had to do.
