Page 30 of Mann Hunt
“Mr Hunt is…in conference at the moment. May I take your name and number and have him return your call once he’s free?”
There was a prolonged silence on the phone. “Hello,” Charlie continued. “Are you still there?”
“My name is Katherine Mann. I…I think it would be best if I came in and met with Mr Hunt in person.”
“Certainly,” Charlie replied, checking Declan’s schedule. “Would…ten tomorrow morning work for you?”
“Thank you.”
“Do you know where we’re located?”
“Yes. I was given your address.”
“Good. We’ll see you at ten.”
The woman disconnected.
Interesting. She didn’t want to discuss things over the phone, and she was referred to Declan.Charlie sat at the computer to see if he could find out who Katherine Mann and her husband were.
Twenty minutes later he had located the information and cribbed together a brief biography of them both. This was movie-of-the-week stuff. Once Charlie had printed the document and proofed it, he added a handwritten note to the top—For tomorrow’s ten a.m. meeting.He underlined the time for emphasis. He looked at the report to ensure that he’d missed nothing, then, to be extra certain it could not be missed, he highlighted the time in bright pink. He placed it in the very centre of Declan’s desk and left for the evening.
* * * *
Declan dried himself off after his shower and threw himself onto the bed. He was exhausted.
His cell phone rang. He looked at the clock. How was it nine p.m.? He must have dozed off. “Hello.”
“Hey, it’s Luke. Hope I’m not interrupting.”
“No. Not at all. I was just lying here in bed.”
“Pretty early night. I thought you’d be out at a bar with friends, partying it up.”
“Yeah. That’s me all right,” Declan replied.
“Look, I got a call from Charlie this afternoon. He said you’d had to cancel our lunch. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I had a bit of a rough day. I found out a close friend of mine had a heart attack and might not make it.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Luke said.
“I’ll be all right. It was just a bit of a shock.”
“Would you like some company tonight? You know, if you want to talk…”
Declan thought for a moment. “Yeah. That would be nice. Just buzz from downstairs and I’ll let you in.”
“Be there in thirty.”
Declan did a quick tidy on the place, then a quick check of himself. He threw on some jeans and a long-sleeved white linen shirt. The street-door buzzer sounded. He hurried down to the office.
Declan got to Charlie’s desk, and buzzed Luke in.
When he opened the door, Luke was standing there, his strawberry-blond hair perfectly coiffed. He wore a tight T-shirt and even tighter jeans, and white cotton trainers on his feet.God, they must be size thirteen.
The moment was broken by Luke, who said, “Can I come in?”
“Uh, yeah, of course. Sorry.”
