Authors: Steve Gerlach
Zoe was silent for a few seconds.
“It would be devastating for her,” she said finally.
John looked deep into her eyes, “It was devastating for me too.”
They stared at each other.
Her eyes were so richly brown and so deep he could lose himself in them. Her braids framed her face beautifully and her smell was all around him. The scar across her left eyebrow was so small, and yet it was so endearing, just like the bend in her nose and her lovely, inviting lips.
He leaned towards her.
She leaned towards him.
“Excuse me,” called the receptionist from her desk.
John’s head snapped around to look at her.
“I can’t seem to find Mrs Murdock.”
John let go of Zoe’s hands, stood and walked towards the receptionist. As he did so, he glanced over at the man reading the magazine. His eyes were set firmly on Zoe.
Maybe he
is
an old pervert,
he thought.
“I’ve paged her three times now and she’s not answering,” the receptionist said as he reached her.
“Could you try her office once more?” he asked.
The receptionist sighed, “I don’t think there’s much point.”
John smiled at her, “Please?”
“Okay, I’ll give it a go.”
The receptionist picked up the phone and dialled.
As she did so, Zoe walked up and stood next to John.
“No luck?” Zoe asked.
“Doesn’t look like it,” he said. “She must have gone home.”
“Oh, hello,” the receptionist said into the phone. “I didn’t think anyone was there.”
John smiled.
Success!
“I’m looking for Mrs Murdock. Her husband is here.”
John’s smiled disappeared.
The receptionist nodded, “Ah-uh. Okay.” She cupped her hand over the mouthpiece and leaned over towards John. “Carol says she’s not here.”
“But she must be,” John said. “Did she just leave?”
“Hang on,” the receptionist removed her hand from the mouthpiece. “Carol? Did Mrs Murdock just leave by any chance?’
John turned to Zoe with a puzzled look on his face. She shrugged.
“Oh, I see,” the receptionist said into the phone before turning to face him. “Carol says she hasn’t been in all day.”
“What?” John said. “That can’t be right.”
“Well, that’s what Carol says,” the receptionist replied.
“Can I talk with her?”
“Huh?”
John reached out for the phone, “Can I talk to Carol?”
“I don’t know,” the receptionist replied, unsure of what to do. “Usually we don’t allow –”
“Please,” John asked. “I’ll only be a minute.”
The receptionist thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Okay,” she said. “But only for a minute.”
John took the phone from her.
“Hello, Carol?”
“Ah, yeah. Who’s this?”
“It’s John Murdock, Helen’s husband.”
“Oh, hi, John. We met at last year’s Christmas party, remember? We bumped into each other at the bar and I spilled that cocktail over Maggie Chambers.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “Listen, I’m trying to find Helen. It’s rather important I do because she was searching out some information for a friend of ours.”
“I wish I could help you John, but I haven’t seen her all day.”
“But you must have!”
“I wouldn’t lie to you about it, John. I haven’t seen her.”
“She told us she was coming here to do some research,” John said, trying to keep his voice calm.
“Well, if she did, I haven’t seen her.”
“Is there somewhere else in the building she could be?”
“I doubt it. She would do most of her research at her desk PC. Unless she’s gone down into the archives or something, but she’d always leave her handbag and other stuff up here.”
“She won’t be in the archives,” he replied. “She’s trying to trace something that happened only a few days ago.”
“What happened?” Carol asked. “Maybe I can help.”
“Ahh, that’s okay,” John tried to think of a story he could give her, but none came. “I think we’ve solved it now anyway.”
“Isn’t Helen at home?” Carol asked.
“No, that’s the point. She said to meet her somewhere but she didn’t arrive, so I thought maybe she was still here.”
“Well, I’m sorry John, but I haven’t seen her all day.”
“Is it possible she found something last night and went to follow it up at another hospital or library or something?”
“Anything’s possible, but I haven’t seen her since last night when she said goodnight to me.”
Yes!
he thought.
“So you
did
see her last night?” he asked.
“Of course, she was here.”
“So she was trying to find out something?”
“I don’t understand, John.”
“You saw her when she came back to the hospital to search for something?”
“Came back?”
“Yes, after she returned to the hospital.”
“John, I think you’ve got it all wrong. Helen said goodnight to me when she finished her shift at five last night. She didn’t come back. She went home at her normal time and I haven’t seen her since.”
John’s stomach fell and a feeling of dread ran through his spine.
Something was wrong.
“Are you sure?” he whispered down the phone.
“Of course I am. My shift starts just before hers ends,” Carol replied. “She left at five just like she usually does.”
Dead wrong.
“I see,” John said.
“Is everything all right?” Carol sounded concerned.
“Yes,” John said. He nodded as he stared at the receptionist. She had a worried look on her face. “It’s fine. I just got my story confused.”
“Are you sure?” Carol replied. “Is everything okay, John?”
“All okay,” he muttered. “I just got the wrong story. I should’ve listened when she told me.”
“She’s not due back until Monday, now,” Carol continued.
“Monday, yes. She’ll be here Monday.”
He turned to face Zoe. There was a hopeful look in her eyes.
“Well?” she asked.
John shook his head.
Zoe’s face crumbled and her eyes fell to the floor. She turned and walked back towards the couch in the waiting area.
John turned to watch her.
“And it’s a good thing too…” Carol said in his ear.
John noticed that the man reading the magazine had gone.
“…because she won’t be too happy when she returns if security don’t get their act together…”
John glanced around the reception area looking for the man, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Zoe slumped onto the couch, placed her hands under her chin and rested her elbows on her knees.
“…she’ll tear this place apart to find out who parked in her car spot.”
John focussed back on Carol’s voice.
“Sorry?” he said. “What were you saying?”
“I said Helen will
kill
whoever parked in her car spot. She hates it when someone does that and I’ve already called security to have it removed or towed away or something. But they only have one or two staff on duty at the weekend and I suppose it’s not a priority. But I have made the call and they assured me –”
“Car, what car?” he interrupted.
“The car in her
parking spot
.” Carol sounded as if she was beginning to get exasperated. “It’s a red four wheel drive.”
“A Jeep?” John asked, his eyes focussing in on Zoe.
Zoe’s head lifted in a flash and there was fire in her eyes again when she heard him mention the Jeep.
“How the hell should I know?” Carol replied. “It’s red, it’s big and it’s in Helen’s car spot and if someone doesn’t remove it before Monday, she’ll kill them.”
John pushed the phone back into the receptionist’s hands.
“Thanks,” he said to her as he dashed over to Zoe.
Something’s not right…
“She’s not here,” he said.
“She has to be!” Zoe replied.
“She isn’t, at least not now. They say she never came back here after she finished work at five o’clock on Friday.”
“But that’s
crazy!
”
“You told me she came back here,” he said, staring deep into her eyes.
“That’s right,” Zoe nodded. “At least, that’s what she told me she would do! After I arrived and told her what had happened she said she was coming back here,” Zoe’s forehead creased. “And when she called she said she was calling from here. I’m
sure
that’s what she said. I know I wasn’t thinking straight at the time, but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said.”
John grabbed her by the arms, “Carol says she hasn’t seen her, but your Jeep is in her car spot in the staff car park.”
“So she
did
come here, then?” Zoe looked hopeful.
“Looks that way,” John said. He felt his world spinning. He was sure he was speaking too fast as he put all the pieces of information in his mind into some sort of order. “So Carol hasn’t seen her, but that doesn’t mean anything. The Jeep proves she came back here to check out whether Fox was alive or dead.”
Zoe nodded, “I get it. But where is she now?”
John shrugged and put his hands on his hips. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe she left a note on her desk or something.”
John shook his head. “Doesn’t look like it. Carol seems to think she hasn’t been in her office since five o’clock last night.”
“So, what do we do now?” Zoe asked, running her hands over her braids.
“We’ve just got to hope she’s found something and has been delayed somewhere and is trying to contact us at home.”
“Yeah,” Zoe nodded. “Or she might already be home waiting for us.”
“You could be right,” he nodded.
“But what if she isn’t?” Zoe’s looked uncertain again. “What’ll we do then?”
“One step at a time,” he said. “We’ll take it one step at a time.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him as they dashed back to the receptionist.
“Where’s the staff car park?” he asked.
“I’m sorry,” the receptionist looked confused. “I don’t think I can –”
“Please!” John raised his voice. “It’s important!”
The receptionist sat back in the chair and took a deep breath, “Go down that hallway and follow it to the end. Turn left and take that corridor until you see some double doors. Go through the doors and you’re in the staff car park.”
John smiled at her, “Thanks.”
Holding on tightly to Zoe’s hand, they sprinted down the corridor.
The staff car park consisted of ten rows of car spaces, two cordoned off for doctors and the rest for general staff. About half the spaces were filled but there was no one in the quiet and badly lit area.
“What do you think?” John asked as they stopped just outside the doors.
“It could be anywhere,” Zoe answered. “Do you know where she usually parks?”
“No.” John shook his head. “Okay, I’ll take the front five rows and you take the back five.”
“Alright.”
John turned to face her. “But be careful, okay? Any sign of trouble, just yell.”
She smiled, “Sure, Johnny. I will. First one to find the Jeep wins!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just be careful.”
She giggled and ran off into the car park.
After a few minutes, as John was about to enter his fourth row, he heard Zoe call to him.
“John, I’ve got it!” she yelled. “Over here!”
John followed her voice and found her halfway down the final row, standing next to the Jeep with her hands on her hips, waiting for him.
He ran up and stopped in front of her.
“This is it,” she pointed to the Jeep.
John gave the Jeep a quick glance. It was a standard red Jeep Wrangler with a soft-top and wide tyres, and it was parked with its hood against the wall. It still had its new car shine and looked as if it had just been driven out of the factory. Only the mud-splattered tyres and mud guards proved the Jeep had been driven anywhere. He turned to Zoe when he read the licence plate.
TAMEME
“Tame me?” he groaned.
She giggled. “Yeah, really funny, huh? That’s Ricky’s idea of a joke. He always thought I was rough in bed and that he was the only man alive who could tame me. So that’s why he bought the plates. He had them specially made and everything.”