Page 9 of Playing A Risk
Hunter must know where Dori is. His steady voice is enough to give it away. He’d be going out of his mind if he didn’t know where she was.
A helpless puff of air escapes my lungs. “Well, if you speak to her, will you let her know that I have some items she needs?”
“What things are these? Maybe she doesn’t need them.”
I place my hand on top of the bag of her belongings. “She does. One of the things she left was her phone. If her brother tries to reach out and can’t get a hold of her for two weeks, he’ll have the entire FBI searching for her.”
“Very well. I’ll have Hailey send her a message to let her know.”
My heart lurches. “Does Hailey know where she is?”
He sighs out his annoyance. “No, Jamison. Hailey would merely produce an email from me explaining you have her phone. Now if there’s nothing more, I have an important appointment I need to attend to.”
Yeah, I bet you do.
We end the call, and I throw a pen across my office. I stand and run my hand over my stubbly beard as I pace in a circle.
Nothing about last night went according to plan. It was disastrous—everything I feared would happen coming to fruition. I knew if Lauren and Dori came face-to-face, it would end in blows.
My stomach spits out acid. I can’t imagine how Dori must be feeling. If I could find her and explain, she would see why I kept Lauren and Aricin to myself and understand that it wasn’t out of malice.
Why didn’t I listen to Chuck when he told me I needed to improve my communication skills?
This is the same situation as the time she saw me in the club, except a thousand times worse.
My phone rings and my heartbeat kicks up a notch. I rush over to my desk. It’s Aiden.
Shit!
I was going to talk to him about my feelings for Dori, but now… No, I need to find out if he knows where she is.
I steady my voice. “Aiden, thanks for calling me.”
“You knew I would.” He sounds as if he just woke up.
“That I did. Hey, I was wondering if you’ve heard from Dori?”
“What’s this about? I can hear in your voice something’s wrong.” And now he is wide awake.
He always picks up on shit when I don’t want him to. I take a deep breath and try to come across as calm, even though I’m anything but that.
“Nothing’s wrong, but she took vacation leave early and I have a question about work. I can’t get a hold of her. Do you know how to reach her?”
He hesitates for a moment, then sighs. “No, but I didn’t know she was taking vacation either. She told me she wasn’t coming home this year for Christmas because work has been too hectic. I guess she missed some deadlines and is trying to make up for her mistakes.”
“Yeah, she did, but work has slowed down due to the holidays. Half the staff are out of the building. They pushed all pressing issues to January.”
“Well, then I’m going to assume she’s taking the time off to recuperate. She likes to do that when she can.”
“Yeah, I guess my question can wait.” I can’t tell him she’s disappeared without going into why, so I give up. “If you hear from her, will you tell her I have a semi-urgent issue to discuss? I’d like to get an answer before the holidays are over.”
“Sure thing. Give her some time, though. Knowing her, she’s probably taking some exercise classes and then doing spa treatments until she feels refreshed. It’s what she does the first few days of every vacation.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and run my hand down my face. “You’re probably right.”
“How about you? Are you coming home for the holidays?”
“I was thinking about it, but I don’t think it’ll work out now. I still have a lot to do on the app. My team isn’t a skeleton crew until next week, so I want to take advantage of it.”
