Page 38 of Wildcard's Wager

“What are you doing?”

“Rafe’s questions reminded me of something I forgot. I received several voicemails while I was sleeping. More than usual. Since I don’t work nights and weekends, staff members who do will leave me messages. I listen to them first thing when I arrive at work. But well…”

“Got it.”

“I turned the phone off when I left Boston so they couldn’t trace me, so I think it has power. But I should grab the charger, just in case.”

“Wait. Don’t turn it on yet. Go back to Puma’s office. I’m going to grab Spark.”

Nodding, I re-enter Puma’s office.

“I brought my phone. There might be voicemails on it from the staff who worked that night. Wildcard went to get Spark. He doesn’t want me to turn on the phone in case someone tries to track my location.”

“Good thinking,” Rafe says. “I finished typing up your statement and printed it out. Can you review it and sign it?”

I take it from him and read through it before taking the pen and signing at the bottom. As I finish, Spark and Wildcard join us and take seats at the table. I slide the paper back to Rafe.

“This is just for my records. I won’t officially submit it. But I might refer to it when I speak with the FBI.”

“Do you have a contact?” Wildcard asks as Spark whispers a request for me to unlock my phone.

“I called Pence and gave him a broad overview of what we’re up against and asked if he knew anyone in the Organized Crime Division of the FBI. He’s making some calls.”

“Good,” Wildcard says.

“Okay, we’re set.” Spark slides the phone back to me. “Go ahead.”

I take the phone and scan the voicemails from that night. Most nights, I don’t get any calls. However, on that night, I received six.

“Six messages,” I tell them. “That’s unusual.”

“Play them,” Rafe suggests.

“Ms. Jones, this is Marcia Green, the night receptionist. A police officer stopped by at the desk, asking to speak with the manager. I tried calling Mr. Calloway, but he isn’t answering his phone. Neither is Mr. Perry. I’m not sure what to do. The cop is insisting on seeing Mr. Calloway immediately.”

“Ms. Jones, this is Mark Granville, head of night security. We have a situation. There is a cop asking to speak with themanager, but we can’t locate Mr. Calloway. The cop’s name is Detective Mark Harding. He says he has a search warrant but won’t show it to me. I’ve tried calling Mr. Perry… Wait, I see Mr. Perry now. Never mind, Ms. Jones. You have a nice evening.”

“Ms. Jones, this is Maria Alcazar. I’m in housekeeping. I’m assigned to the conference rooms, but Mr. Perry told me not to clean Conference Room 210. He has the door barricaded and a security guard in front. I’m afraid he’ll forget to tell my manager, so I left her a message. But, I want to make sure someone else knows, too. I can’t lose my job.”

The other three messages are from employees also looking for George.

“I don’t understand,” I say to Rafe. “Mike didn’t work at night. That’s George’s shift. Why would he be there? Where was George?”

“All good questions. George is George Calloway. Correct?”

I nod. “He’s the night manager.”

“Could he have gotten sick and Perry came in to cover for him?”

I consider the suggestion and nod. “That’s possible. What about the cop and the search warrant? Could this have been the cop Misha mentioned?”

“Maybe. I’ll do some digging and see what I can learn,” Rafe says.

“What about my employees? My former employees. Should I call them?”

Rafe and Wildcard share a look before Rafe says no. “Not a good idea to reach out to them right now. Not with Detective Sully in town and searching for you. I’ll make some inquiries about the cop, Detective Harding and George Calloway.”

“I could have Puma call Havoc. Havoc could figure out a reason to call this in. We have names to give him. He can reach out to them and find out more information. Maybe get them to call the cops. He can also follow up on this detective. Mark Harding? Havoc couldn’t search for the cop Misha mentioned without a name. Especially if he was undercover. But now we have more information.”

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