“Know who?”
“The guy on the security footage? My guy told the detective the name on the badge was Littlejohn.”
“Oh . . . well, I lost my ID badge. And I guess the guy must have found it.”
“No worries. We’ll get you a new one. I’ll send it over to Anita.” Hardy threw his hands up in front of him. “Aaah . . . there I go again, rambling on. You said you needed some information from me. What can I do for you?”
I decided to enlist Hardy’s wide network of security contacts without going into detail. “I’ve got some crank calling my phone. I was wondering if I give you the number, maybe you could get me some details.” I handed Hardy the slip of paper with the number I found in the documents, the same one on the phone at Sam’s house.
He looked at the number. “Hmm . . . sure, no problem.”
“Thanks, Hardy.” I rose from the chair and tried to brush off the back of my dress without Hardy noticing.
“Hey, not that it’s any of my business.” He touched the side of his own face with a couple of fingers. “What happened there?”
“Took a nasty tumble on some stairs. It’s fine.”
Hardy gave me a long suspicious stare. “You sure everything’s okay?”
“Everything’s fine.”
*
By the time I returned to my office, my landline was ringing and Anita was nowhere in sight. I hustled behind my desk and picked up the phone. “Ellice Littlejohn speaking.”
“Ms. Littlejohn, Chris Knight again, from Gallagher, Grant & Knight. I checked our files and we don’t have anything for Houghton. In fact, it looks like we’ve never done any work for your company.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I checked for Houghton and any holding and subsidiary companies. Nothing.”
“Not even a miscellaneous memo to the general counsel . . . ? How about an email dated a couple weeks ago?” I asked as I sank into my chair.
“Absolutely nothing. I’m sorry.”
This didn’t make any sense. Gallagher’s email to Michael was in my tote bag. “When do you expect Mr. Gallagher to return to the office?” I asked again.
“We’re not sure.”
I released a deep, impatient sigh. “Is there a number I can call to reach him? This is urgent.”
“Ms. Littlejohn, I don’t mean to be difficult. Hold on a second.” I heard him close his office door before returning to the phone line. “We’re not sure when to expect him back. His family has reported him missing.” Knight’s voice was softer, filled with concern.
Missing. “Oh . . . I’m sorry. Uh . . . How long has he been missing?”
“He didn’t come home last night. What’s the name of the company you guys are doing the joint venture with?”
“Libertad Excursiones.”
“Hold on a minute.” I could hear Knight typing on a keyboard in the background. “Hmm . . . we have no record of doing work for that company, either. Sorry.”
“Yeah, I am too.” Now I was confused and angry.
“Wait a minute. You said Geoff worked with your predecessor? Michael Sayles . . . the general counsel who was murdered?”
“Yes.”
“I think we’d better call the police,” he said.
“Um . . .” This mess was more complicated than I imagined. I had to find Sam fast. “Listen, thanks . . . thanks for checking.” I hung up the phone.
Anita walked in my office to drop off some paperwork for me to sign. “Hey, do you want me to get you a cold compress for that bruise?”
I gently touched the side of my face. “No. I’m fine. Thanks.”
Anita left. A few seconds later, my cell phone buzzed on the desk. I glanced down. A text from Sam: U called. What’s up?
I immediately dialed his number. It just rang. Damn it, Sam. Pick up the phone. He let it roll over to voice mail. “Sam, call me. I really need to talk to you. It’s urgent.”
A few seconds after I hung up, another text: Can’t talk now. Call u later.
Something wasn’t right about this entire thing. All these disjointed little pieces to a frightening puzzle floated around me. Max and Jonathan arguing about Libertad. My boss dead. Another attorney missing. And my brother connected to them both. I stared back at the door of my freshly renovated office, the same door someone had walked through just a week before and killed Michael. The only thing I knew for sure was that Sam didn’t kill Michael. I felt it in the marrow of my bones.