Chapter 6: The Man in the Lobby
I took the long way to the lobby.
Down the back stairs, through the copy room, out past the filing alcoves so I could see him before he saw me.
He was standing near the reception desk with his hands in his coat pockets.
Carol had said sixty — she was close.
He was trim, well-dressed, with the kind of stillness that doesn't come from being calm.
It comes from being practiced.
He turned before I reached him.
Like he'd heard me coming.
"Mrs.
Calloway." Not a question.
"I don't know you," I said.
"No.
But you found something last night that belongs to a conversation I need to have with your husband.
I was hoping you might be able to help me reach him."
Everything in me went careful.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The letter behind the insulation," he said quietly.
"I need to know if it's still there."
The reception desk was six feet away.
My colleague Dana was behind it, pretending to look at her screen.
"I think you should leave," I said.
"Mrs.
Calloway, I'm not here to frighten you.
I'm here because Brian has put himself in a position that is going to become very public very soon, and there are people who would prefer it didn't.
I'm one of those people."
"Who do you work for?"
He smiled.
It didn't reach his eyes.
"People who are trying to keep this quiet.
The same thing Brian wants.
The same thing, I'd imagine, you want."
"What I want," I said, "is for you to leave my workplace."
He reached into his coat pocket and set a business card on the reception counter.
No company name.
Just a phone number.
"When Brian gets home tonight, tell him Warren called.
Tell him the timeline has moved up.
He'll know what that means."
He walked to the door.
Stopped with his hand on the glass.
"Mrs.
Calloway.
The letter is evidence of something your husband did willingly.
Whatever you're thinking about doing with it — think carefully.
The consequences won't only land on him."
Then he was gone.
Dana looked up from her screen.
"Do you want me to call someone?"
I picked up the business card.
Just a number.
No name on the front, nothing on the back.
"No," I said.
"I'm fine."
I was not fine.
I went back to my desk, closed my office door, and called Carol.
"Someone just came to my office," I said when she picked up.
"He knew about the letter.
He knew I'd read it."
Carol's voice dropped.
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know.
But Brian must have told someone.
Or someone has been watching the house."
"Are you safe right now?"
I looked at my closed office door.
"I think so.
But Carol — this is bigger than I thought."
"Yes," she said.
May you like
"It is.
Don't go home alone tonight."
