Page 104 of Plan Interrupted

“I know Mr. James is involved with this in some form. I just know he is,” Elizabeth insisted.

“We agree. Nick’s here now, and we’ve been discussing just that,” Joe replied.

“Have you or Mr. Kent received any phone calls today from Mr. James?”

“No, not yet.”

“Do you know if he is in the New York office today, and if Patrick is in the office?”

“I can’t say for sure. I can try to find out.” A hint of unease coiled around her spine at the thought that Mr. James, and possibly Patrick, were actually in Chicago, or at least on their way. “I’ll call you back in a minute.”

She walked down the hall to her boss’s office and asked if he could find out if Mr. James and Patrick were in the office today. He nodded as he began clicking the keys on his keyboard.

He glanced up from the computer screen. “I see on our shared calendar that Mr. James has blocked his morning off with meetings.” Mr. Kent picked up his phone receiver and dialed the New York office. “Hi, Gloria, is Mr. James or Patrick in today...uh huh...okay...no, I’ll just call back on Monday...thank you.”

He hung up, and glanced at her. “I think Mr. James is really in the office today, but I’m not sure about Patrick. Gloria just said that he’s unavailable.”

Elizabeth returned to her office and buzzed Darcy.

“Yes, Ms. Shaw?”

“Can you please get Patrick on the line for me?”

“Patrick?”

“Yes, Patrick.”

Darcy cleared her throat. “I would if he was in the office, but he’s out so I can’t.”

Her heart leaped into her throat. He’s out. She swallowed hard. “How do you know he’s not in the office?” Her voice squeaked.

“I talked to Gloria earlier today, and she said Patrick didn’t show up for work yesterday, or today. And Mr. James is pissed.”

Elizabeth repeated her assistant’s words in her head. Yesterday or today. Her body quivered.

“Oh, okay, thank you,” she replied as she hung up the phone receiver and immediately dialed Joe’s home number with her fumbling fingers.

* * * *

Joe waited impatiently for Nick to finish up his call with his co-worker. From the one side of the conversation he could hear, he knew they were discussing the details of a flight log of a private charter from New York to Chicago.

Nick disconnected his call and looked at him. “Hmm, the 7:16 p.m. flight log from New York to Chicago showed three passengers were on the aircraft when it landed, but the 5:00 a.m. return flight log only showed two passengers. The flight had been chartered and paid for in cash by someone using the name, F. Manning.” His brother cocked his head to the side. “Who is F. Manning? And why did only two passengers return to New York?”

Joe shrugged at him just as his cellphone buzzed. Elizabeth’s face flashed across the screen.

“Hi, sweetheart. Did you find out anything?”

“Yeah, Patrick wasn’t at work yesterday, and he didn’t show up today either.”

His heart pounded in his chest. Maybe his brother was onto something with the F. Manning flight.

“Does the name, F. Manning, ring any bells with you?”

“No, should it?”

He informed Elizabeth of the flight information his brother had discovered moments before she called.

“So, Patrick could be here?”

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