He returned to his office early morning. As he dumped himself on his office sofa, he turned his cell phone to airplane mode. Then he lifted the receiver of the office landline phone off the hook and placed it on the table. The ceiling fan was spinning at a low speed. It was another one of those things he put in, just to give an impression that he was a hard-boiled detective. His office was fully air-conditioned, and there was no need for that fan. Yet, it was there. Spinning at low speed, constantly. He must have laid there on the sofa for hours. He could hear his receptionist walk into his office. She was not allowed inside the office unless Russo asked her to. However, she was there.
“John...you have to put the receiver back on the hook. And, get your phone out of airplane mode.” she said.
John Russo continued to stare at the ceiling; he was half asleep. Sheila came a little closer to him, grabbed the client chair, and sat in front of him.
“Should I tell the clients that you are off duty?” she asked him.
He did not move. She opened her mouth to say the something, but decided against it. Over the last few weeks, Sheila had noticed that something was not right. She had been with John ever since he opened shop eighteen months ago. Business got off to a good start from the first week itself. John came with excellent references and the clients were very pleased with his work. He paid well, and his demands were very limited. Sheila was a happy employee. She is also the closest friend that John has in the city. John would occasionally go out on dates and have some female companionship, but nothing serious. Sheila was aware of this too. John may never admit to it, but she is the best friend that he has; which is why she was the only one who had a rough idea why he was sort of losing it lately.
The first time she noticed something was wrong was about a month ago. It was a standard day. It was ten o clock in the morning. She walked into the office and found that her boss was not in. John Russo was the most punctual guy she had ever met. Unless John was working on something, he was never late. As his personal assistant, she knew everything he ever did. John told her everything. He did this out of the trust he had for her. He also did this because he was required to do so by the law. His license clearly specifies that he has to document all of his actions, and that includes when he is on duty, and when he is not. So she knew he was not working on any case.
She wanted to call him up, but decided against it. She decided to see him at his house. She locked her office up, and reached his home. His door was locked from the inside. Of course, she had his keys. She unlocked the door, after knocking three times. She walked in to find a house that was in complete disarray. The TV was still running and there was John. He was lying on the sofa. He was sleeping sound, but he still had his work clothes on. Then and there, she knew something was not right. She wanted to wake him up, but decided to let him sleep.
She checked his messages. There were a few of them, and two of them were from his housekeeper. The housekeeper had messaged to tell him that she would not be coming over that day. Sheila decided to do some housework. She cleaned up his living room while listening to her favorite playlist on her phone. She used headphones, so that she did not wake him up. With the living room taken care of, she headed over to the kitchen. The kitchen was messed up too. There were food items spread all over the counter. It looked like someone had tried to cook dinner when they were insanely drunk. By the time she was done with the kitchen, it was already afternoon. That was when she heard some movement in the living room. John was up.
He came in wading through like an insect with a broken leg.
“Hey, Sheila. What are you doing here?” he said.
“I came in, boss, to see what happened to you. Are you alright?” She asked the question with concern. She placed the teapot with water on the gas stove and then added some coffee and sugar. She was preparing coffee just the way he wanted. John noticed this and took a seat next to the refrigerator.
“I see that you are making coffee. Thanks, Sheila. Very nice of you.” said John.
“Don’t change the subject, boss. Tell me, what happened to you?” said Sheila, not giving up.
“Nothing. Everything is fine. I am...just fine.” said John, picking up the coffee that Sheila handed over to him.
“Boss, I know you. The last time you were late to the office was…never. Seriously, is everything alright?” asked Sheila.
“Really Sheila, I am fine. Just leave me alone. I will see you in the office in an hour. Just please leave.” said John.
That was almost a month ago. Now, back in the present, she sat there for a few minutes, looking at her formerly happy boss, all sullen and unhappy. Eventually, she decided to give up and got up. She was just about to pull the office door open and leave the room.
“Sheila, sorry about not responding.” said Russo, getting up.” Could you get me a cup of coffee?” he asked.
“Just one minute, boss”, said Sheila. She liked to call him ‘boss’, even though Russo had insisted that she address him with his first name, John. Two minutes later, she returned to the office with two mugs filled with coffee. John rarely asked for her to bring coffee. He usually got it himself. There are times when he did ask her to get him coffee, but those were the times when he wanted to discuss something. Sheila had been expecting something like that for a while. John was now seated at his regular chair, closer to the window. Sheila took the chair that was reserved for clients. As she dropped into the comfortable leather chair, she turned off her cell phone.
“Do you remember that day, about a month ago?”
“That day when you were passed out on your sofa. At your place?” said Sheila.
“Yes, that was the day. You asked me if something was wrong.” said John. He wasn’t really looking into her eyes. He was looking like a small boy confessing to his elder sister about something he denied but now was admitting to his mistake. Sheila did not say anything. She did not wish to interrupt the flow.
“Do you remember when we started? About eighteen months ago, when we started out. You were just out of college, and I was just starting out. The whole thing was amazing. Both of us were just thrilled to begin our business.” said John. He was sounding like an old guy. A guy much older than his age.
“I remember, boss. I liked what you were about to do with your job. It sounded pretty exciting. Otherwise, I doubt if I would have taken this job.” said Sheila, nodding along with him.
John took another sip from his coffee and continued. “That was the thing. I had this idea in my head, and I thought I had everything figured out. I really thought I did. I did all things I was supposed to do. I got this fantastic office, decked it up, made the right connections, and it seemed like we were on a roll. Let me ask you something, Sheila. In the last eighteen months, how many jobs have we taken up?” asked John. His coffee cup was completely empty. He started looking around, for a refill. Sheila noticed this and got up. She returned from the kitchen with another cup of coffee and took her seat. Then, she picked up her tablet from the table and started opening up her document list. She spent a few minutes, while John waited patiently. Then she was done and read out her report.
“Sixty-three. Sixty three cases from fifty two clients. That is a final tally, boss. If you don’t mind me pointing this out, about sixty of them came to a satisfactory conclusion.” said Sheila, putting her tablet back on the table.
“I have to admit, we have done a good deal of work. You and I both. Now, tell me something. Of all those cases, how many are related to marital affairs?” asked John.
Sheila picked up her tablet again. She worked on her spreadsheet, tallying numbers and everything. This time, it took her a little longer than expected. Ten minutes later, she was still working on it, and then finally she put her tablet back on the table. She looked a little pained. She hesitated a little more, and finally spoke her mind out.
“Well...John, that would be fifty nine. More than ninety five percent cases had to do with marital issues, or sometimes, child custody related investigations. Man, is that all we have been doing all these months. That is kind of depressing.” said Sheila.
John got up from the sofa, placed the coffee mug on his table, and walked from one corner of the office to another. Then, he took his seat on the sofa.
“That is when it hit me, about a month ago. I realized that night, that we are not doing what we are meant to be doing. I am not happy with any of the jobs that I have taken for the last eighteen months. I am thinking of quitting, Sheila. What would you suggest?”
“I don’t know boss. You are, after all, the boss. If you want to quit, you should quit.” said Sheila. Deep inside her mind, she did not want him to quit. At the same time, she did not know what to do either.
John knew that she was giving an honest opinion. When she joined his office as a receptionist, it was supposed to be a temp job. Over time, Russo ended up hiking her salary to much more than what a receptionist would be paid. She seemed to like the job, and Russo was not a bad person, once she got to know him better. Given her educational background, she would have no difficulty getting another job.
“I don’t want to quit being a detective. I just want to quit working on these ridiculous divorce cases. It is the same drill every time. Pay a hacker to find out the email passwords. Pay the phone company to give us the phone records. Tail the cheating husband or wife. Tiny cameras that can capture high definition. The job is just too easy, and I am pretty good at it.” said Russo. He took another sip from his cup. The coffee was trying its best to cheer him up, but Sheila could tell that the coffee was failing miserably. John seemed to have forgotten about the coffee completely.
“I really thought I was signing up for something else entirely. This is complete crap!” John shouted, losing it. He rammed the coffee across the hall. Fortunately, the cup was empty, and he hit the soft foam decoration on the wall on the other side of the office. Sheila turned to look at the dropped cup. She stood up to pick it up, but Russo asked her to be seated. He went up to the cup, picked it up, and threw it across the room, into the trashcan.
“Should I get another cup of coffee?” she asked, a worried expression on her face.
“No. Coffee is not going to help me today. I need to take a walk. If anyone calls, tell them I am sick. Take the rest of the day off, Sheila.” said Russo. He grabbed his coat off the hanger, stepped out of the office, and headed toward the elevator. Sheila noticed that he had left his cell phone behind. She gave a loud sigh, and proceeded to shut the office down. Her boss wants her to take the rest of the day off, and that is what she is going to do.
John knew that he was going to regret shouting at the one good friend he had in his entire life. He still had his parents, but they wouldn’t count. I mean, parents would always be best friends, but there are a few times that one needed actual friends, not birth parents. He was angry with himself for everything. He knew that he should have seen the signs. When his largest paycheck came from a woman who was happy that she would finally get that separation from her six year old marriage, he should have guessed that something was not right. He knew it was not right, but he went with it. He was young, and the money was good. He was running so fast, he forgot to stop and smell the roses. Roses that were now nowhere to be found. He was lost in a garden filled with thorn-filled bushes.
He had reached the elevator. He smashed hard on to the button and stood there. His entire body language screamed restlessness but even he knew that he could not just act crazy like that. As he was waiting, another person joined him in his wait for the elevator to come to his floor. He did not wish to see who it was. He did not care to see who it was. It could be the city mayor or a rock star, but it did not matter. Normally, he would have at least smiled at the person. Today was not one of those days. The elevator came and he got in. The other person also got in with him. John pressed the button for the ground floor lobby and took his place, leaning on one of the corners. The doors closed as the music kicked on.
It was moving along smoothly for a few seconds, but then it jerked. It jerked again, and that snapped John out of his anger. He looked up at the now flashing lights, and the music that had suddenly stopped. The power went out and the elevator stopped. It was completely dark and then with a flip, the emergency lights turned themselves on. John knew what that meant. Something was wrong, and he was stuck.
“It had to happen to me.” said the other person to his left. His voice seemed casual, and he seemed least perturbed about the fact that they had stopped moving. John was already mad, and this only made him more upset. He smashed hard against the metal wall. The other stranger reacted calmly and spoke.
“You alright, detective?”
For the first time since waiting for the elevator, John looked up to see who it was. It was the fifth floor janitor. John tried hard to remember his name. He could not, no matter how hard he tried. He remembered speaking to him once, but that was a long time ago. He tried again, but could not recollect the name. He just gave up, and the janitor seemed to realize that John was trying really hard to think of his name.
“Don’t worry, detective. A lot of people have a hard time remembering my name. It’s okay. My name is Sam. Last name not required.” said the janitor.
The detective looked at him, then stared for a few minutes. John’s face turned into a smile. It was the first time that he had smiled in a while. Then, he broke into a small laughter, and the janitor joined in. The two men, stuck in a box that was hanging by brake lines over hundreds of feet, kept on laughing for a while. Then, they stopped.
“It’s been a while since something like this has happened to me.” said John.
“Getting stuck in an elevator?”
“No. I haven’t laughed in a while. Thanks, Sam.” said John.
Sam acknowledged his thanks and nodded. John might have considered himself a bit of a failure right then, but his senses wouldn’t take a break. He did a quick scan on the appearance of this janitor who spoke like he had seen things in his life. Sam was wearing a shirt which seemed simple enough. He had the sleeves folded all the way up to his elbow. His jeans were torn at several places and had been patched. The jeans did not really fit him. John figured that the jeans were probably given to the janitor by one of the business owners. Sometimes, people give away their old clothes like that, John thought. Sam’s shoes did fit him, and the brand name showed that it was a local make. Nothing fancy.