Page 10 of Fever

Larry snickered, and I turned to glare at him. With no words to offer, I did -an about face and took my leave through the showroom. Outside, I hit the alarm on my Infiniti Q70L. Jumping in, I pushed out a code and hit the startup button, dropping the keys into the middle console.

“Back so soon?”

The electronic voice system was a gift from my father. Surprisingly, it was pre-installed before being shipped to me. The electronic voice system was designed to be a helpful navigation mate along with a couple of other silly features, like noticing I’d only been gone a short while before returning. I’d named it after a past girlfriend who liked to boss me around and crowd me with questions of my whereabouts the full two months I could stand dating her.

“Yes, going home, Clarissa.”

The frustration in my voice was apparent. I put the car in drive and pulled onto Frazier Boulevard. Clarissa was also wired to the Bluetooth in my car, and she informed me of incoming calls. The call would then be connected to the subwoofers if I decided to answer.

“You have an incoming call from Samantha Lean,” Clarissa informed.

“Answer it,” I said.

Samantha Lean was my father’s assistant at Gemz. She didn’t call unless there was some business meeting or event he wanted me to attend. As with most fathers mine wanted me to take an interest in his company.

“Ms. Leans,” I said.

“Hello, Josiah, how are you today?”

“Not so good actually. I’ve managed to catch the flu of all things.”

There was a light snicker from the other end of the phone.

“Oh, you poor thing, summertime colds are the worst,” she teased.

“We can both agree there.”

“I have something important to go over with you and would like to know if you could meet me today at 4 o’clock?”

I looked at the time on the dashboard: 9:52 a.m.

“You can meet me now if you like. I’m free all day. I was sent home early because of this virus. It seems no one at the dealership wants to catch it.”

“Oh, so sorry to hear that, but good for us. Meet me at the office downtown in thirty minutes.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

The call dropped, and I spoke to Clarissa. “Pandora.”

“Playlist?” Clarissa asked.

“Any.”

The R&B sounds of “Adorn” by Miguel pumped through the speakers. It wouldn’t take me thirty minutes to get to the downtown office, so I made a pit stop to grab a bite to eat at Panera Bread. I steered the Infiniti into a parking spot away from other cars so no one could accidentally ding or scrap my doors while pulling in or out of a spot next to mine. Saw it happen a million times. I pulled hand sanitizer from my glove compartment and applied the liquid to my hands. After exiting, I entered a code that left the car running but locked the doors. Inside the restaurant, I stood behind a stocky Caucasian man who kept turning around to look over his shoulder.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked.

The man glanced back to me before turning back around, leaving my question lingering in midair. After the man ordered, I stepped forward and placed my order.

“I’ll have the all-natural Sonoma chicken stew in a bread bowl, please.”

“Great choice,” the cashier gleefully stated.

She entered the order and gave me my total. After paying, I stepped to the pick-up line and waited. The man who stood staring before looked back at me again. His eyes lowered as he squinted.

“You wouldn’t happen to be one of those Rose brothers, would you?” he finally asked.

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