Page 28 of Whispers in the Dark

Opening up one of my drawers, I saw what had to be at least fifty business cards lying in the shallow space. I moved them around until I caught the one I was in search of. I picked up my cell phone, then called the number he’d scribbled on the back which was to his private cell phone.

It rang a few times, then a gruffly accented voice came through the line. “Josef here.”

“Kalispera, Josef. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I was in your restaurant with some friends a while back. My name’s Adrian Ben-”

“Oh, yes. I remember you. Mr. Benedict was it?”

“Yes. That’s me.” It was a relief that I didn’t have to rehash that previous encounter.

“What can I do for you, son?”

I leaned back in my chair. “Apologies in advance for the late notice, but I’m calling to see if I could get reservations for two this evening.”

The man chuckled. “I’d told my Daphne all about you and your friends. I’m not at the restaurant this evening, but we always save a table or two for those we consider friends. I’ll give her a ring to let her know to get one of them set for you. What time do you plan to arrive?”

“As soon as possible. I’m leaving the office, but BT is just a few blocks away.”

“Everything will be ready for you, Mr. Benedict. Just give them your name up front.”

“Thank you so much,” I told him before disconnecting the line.

My eyes fell back on the ugly tree Brynn had left on my desk. The next time I got her naked, she needed to get a damn good spanking. Tonight was about celebration and not punishment. Remembering that she was waiting at her desk for me, I powered down my computer and grabbed my briefcase and cell phone before leaving my office.

Brynn was at her desk, but she’d already gotten her things together. At the sound of my approaching footsteps, she looked over at me, then her eyes widened at the sight of my briefcase.

“You’re leaving early tonight,” she mused.

“Yes, and we’re leaving together. I just hope you didn’t have a big lunch earlier.”

I suspected most of it was spent in the lobby which looked like something from my nightmares. It was a Christmas monstrosity from the doorway to the elevators, and on both sides. She smiled at me, and shook her head. “I actually ate very little today.”

“Then it’s time to remedy that, Brynn. Let’s go!”

She got up, then looked over at me. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” I said while giving her a slight wink.

We left the office area, then took the elevator downstairs. Once out of them, I noticed how the gifts from earlier had multiplied since even this morning. “For fuck’s sake,” I mumbled under my breath as I maneuvered us both through the maze of presents.

Brynn smirked, but otherwise said nothing. In the garage, I told her to ride with me, and she offered no argument about it. After she slid into the passenger side, I got behind the wheel. I could tell that she wanted to ask me where we were going, and I couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t as if I had ever done this sort of thing before.

I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, focus on that. Instead, we rode in silence the few blocks to the Michelin-starred restaurant which served all the food from my youth. Not sure whether she had ever had Greek food, or even liked it, I started to second guess my decision. By acknowledging my concern, I would only feed into the truth which was that I was breaking yet another rule with her. They’d been agreed to and put into place to protect everyone at Lotus, but I was spitting on them now.

We finally arrived at our destination which helped me stay in the present. Over the course of the next several minutes, we were greeted and led to our table. It was in the corner which worked well for me. I made sure that she was strategically placed to look at the guests while I only had a view of her and the weathered bricks behind her.

Wine was poured, but I opted for a glass of iced water instead. Brynn didn’t follow my lead and as I watched her bring the red liquid to her mouth, I tried to focus in on her lush lips, but all I could see was the red from other visions, and this one was of Aria as she’d laid lifeless on that wet dock. She’d been bludgeoned to death, and blood had been dripping from thecorner of her lip as I held my sister in my arms and prayed for her to come back to me.

The glass of water nearly slipped from my hand, but I caught it in time. Quickly putting it down, I busied myself by picking up the menu. She picked up her own, and while I knew what I was having already, I watched as she tried to mouth certain words in Greek.

“Thankfully for you, the English translations are underneath the name,” I pointed out.

“Was I butchering those words that badly?” She asked.

“Absolutely. What dishes interest you?”

Brynn looked back down at the menu, then placed her finger over the lobster pasta dish. “That’s astakos,” I said making sure to clearly enunciate. “It’s the Greek word for lobster, and here it is the Homarus Gammarus which basically is European lobster.”

“That does sound good. I think that’s what I want,” she said just as our waiter returned to get our order.

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