Page 21 of The Business Trip

We all looked at one another, eyes flicking back and forth. Bruce gave a slight nod, Nora a more enthusiastic one. They turned to me. I realized I had a big decision to make. I had more information than they did. I had talked to Robert. I knew she was shacked up with some guy. Maybe she just needed space, or maybe the new boyfriend was texting on her behalf as she was sleeping or in the shower. But what if he was controlling her? Keeping her trapped somewhere and using her phone? I gulped at the thought. This was Steph, a trusted employee, someone I cared about.

“OK, I guess,” I said. “Try it and see what happens.”

Lucy eagerly took the phone and started typing. When she was done, she read it aloud.

Your brother stopped by to invite you to lunch. Since you’re out, he said he would call you to schedule a time.

She looked at all of us anxiously. “How does that sound? If it’s really her, she’ll be like, ‘You know I don’t have a brother! What are you talking about?’”

“Fine, hit send,” I told her. She took a deep breath, her finger hovering over her phone, then pushed it down. We all reflexively leaned forward, trying for a better view. Lucy was staring at the screen, waiting.

“Nothing yet,” she said. “It might take a while.”

I sighed. This seemed like a fruitless exercise. How long could I have these three in my office away from the newsroom? I was just about to usher them back when Lucy jumped.

“Wait! The typing bubbles are going,” she cried out. We all sat, collective breath held. The room got very quiet, and the sound of a car driving past was the only noise. Lucy’s hand began to shake a little bit.

“It’s taking a long time to write back,” she said in a loud whisper. Nora leaned over to watch the bubbles. My throat felt dry.

Lucy’s face and Nora’s simultaneously contorted into shapes I couldn’t make out. Nora made a guttural moan.

“What does it say, Lucy?” I asked.

“It says, ‘OK, thanks,’” she squeaked out.

Bruce slumped in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. Nora’s eyes filled with tears. A prickle overtook my spine.

Lucy began typing something back, but we were all too preoccupied for the moment to stop her. I saw her hit send.

“What did you say back?” I asked. She passed me the phone and I read the text out loud.

I know you have a couple of brothers. This was the youngest one—I forgot his name, what is it again?

“Since she has zero brothers, I want to see how she responds,” said Lucy. “I know she saw it, the read receipt is up.”

We waited for a full five minutes, but there was no return text.

“Let me try again,” she said, typing quickly and then reading:

Something with an A, right? I just can’t recall

“The real Steph would think I was nuts at this point and say something snarky back. She read this one too. Why is she not saying anything?” Lucy said.

A few more minutes passed. We all looked at one another with worry.

“Something is really wrong here,” said Lucy. “I’m going to just ask her straight up.”

Steph—are you OK?

Lucy’s voice shook a little as she read it aloud and hit send. I felt a twitch in my right thumb, something that always started up when I was nervous. We stared at one another. There was no response, and somehow we knew, we all knew, that this was very, very bad.

CHAPTER 20Robert

The Tuesday After the Flight

It was snowing when I woke up, kind of a sleety snow, not very pretty. Instant slush all over the place.

Ugh. Given that it was supposed to hit a deep freeze later that night, I knew I would have to put some salt down on the front walk or it would be a skating rink. Guess I’d need to do Steph’s side too.

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