you there is nothing to worry about. Perhaps there’s been some kind of mistake.”
“Thank you both for your time and service,” Sarah replied, “but someone called from my office this morning, and I want to know who and why.”
“We can look into it,” replied the other officer, a grey-haired male in his upper thirties. “But we won’t have a definitive answer any time soon, if ever. There’s a guard at the front doors, which was the only accessible entrance at the time you received the call. He swears nobody checked in, and like we said before, the cameras show nothing either. There must be some kind of mistake.”
“OK, I get it,” she replied. “You think I’m crazy.”
“No, no,” the officer assured her. “That’s not it at all.”
Sarah reached into her leather purse and pulled out her cellular phone, which had been charging in the car during the entire drive in.
“Look here,” she said as she pressed a button and brought up the call log. “Someone called me twice, once at …”
She stopped mid-sentence, unable to understand what she saw. The log was empty, and not a single call had been recorded since the following evening.
“That’s impossible,” Sarah explained to the confused police officers. “I swear someone called me this morning. Once from an unknown number, and once from inside my office. Something must have happened when the battery died, but you have to believe me.”
“We do believe you Ma’am,” said the female officer. “But there’s nothing we can do at this time. We have no evidence at all to go on. Perhaps you should just go back home and enjoy your vacation. We’ll take care of everything here, and contact you if anything comes up.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Sarah replied, unable to think of a better option herself. “I’ll just run up and check things out before I go back. You guys are free to go. I’m sure the office is crawling with people by now. Thanks for your help.”
“No problem Ma’am,” replied the male officer. “Don’t hesitate to call if this happens again.”
Sarah and the police officers parted ways in the underground garage, and she made her way inside. After riding the elevator up to the thirty third floor, she saw for herself that everything appeared to be in order. Perhaps the police are right, and this is all some kind of mistake, she thought.
Her office was locked, just as she had left it. The papers on her desk were still neatly arranged, and the drawers were all closed. She examined every inch of the luxurious suite, but did not find anything suspicious. I have to be missing something, she thought. Someone was in here. There’s no other explanation.
After speaking with a few of the other associates in the area, she decided not to worry about it, and made up her mind to head back and join the family for the big trip. She hurried back to her car, still a bit confused. She started up the sporty vehicle, and made her way to the garage exit.
As she pulled out onto the main road however, she was surprised once again by the unusual amount of traffic for a Saturday morning. It was practically at a standstill.
“The World Cup,” she said aloud to herself. How could I have forgotten?
CHAPTER 6
As Sarah crawled along in traffic on the downtown streets of London, Thomas and Janie prepared for the trip back at home. After packing and double-checking their to-do list, it was almost time to depart from their country estate, but they were stuck waiting on Sarah to return.
Thomas considered the time it would take to travel into London, and decided it would be more practical to meet Sarah at the airport. He called to let her know, but she didn’t pick up. He tried again... and again... but still no answer.
She’s probably on the phone with someone else about work, he thought. She’ll check her messages as soon as she’s done.
“Hi, this is Sarah,” the answering machine said. “I’m busy at the moment, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.”
The line beeped, signaling for Thomas to leave his message.
“Hey Sarah,” he said. “I hope everything’s going alright at the office. We’re ready to go, and running out of time, so just meet us at the airport in London. It’ll be easier for us both. See you there in a few hours. Love ya.”
Thomas hung up the phone, confident that Sarah would get the message in a few minutes.
“All right sweetheart, you ready?” he asked Janie as she rounded up her teddy bear and her little beach hat.
“Readier than ever!” she said with excitement. “What about mommy?”
“We’re going to meet her at the airport,” he answered. “She must have gotten tied up at the office. You know how much she loves her job.”
“Yea, I know,” answered Janie. “She loves it too much sometimes.”
“Hey now,” your mother does her best to give you everything you need. She works hard to give you the things she never had as a child.”
“I know,” answered Janie. “But I already have everything I need. I just want her to be home more.”
“Don’t worry sweetheart,” Thomas answered. “That will all start to change this weekend. That’s why we’re taking a break for this trip. It’s going to get our priorities back on track. Trust me, it’s just what we all need.”
Meanwhile, back in London, the traffic finally began to clear, and Sarah made her way onto the highway. She felt that if she hurried, she could still get home before they had planned to leave. If not, they would just catch a later flight. At least she didn’t have to worry about the office now.
In the passenger seat of the black BMW M6, Sarah’s phone was tucked neatly in the pocket of her fancy leather purse. Though the red light blinked every few seconds, indicating a message had been left, she had no idea. If only she had not turned the phone on vibrate the night before… but it wasn’t so.
She pressed the gas pedal closer to the floor, and sped off into the pouring rain.
CHAPTER 7
Thomas and Janie locked up the doors back at the house, and made their way to the garage. With Sarah’s mother off on a vacation of her own, it would be a quiet week there at the estate. They finished loading up the car, and Thomas buckled Janie into her car seat. After pulling out onto the long winding driveway, it was finally time for their week-long escape to paradise.
A few minutes later, the pearl colored Range Rover eased up to the gate, and Thomas gave a few parting instructions to the guard.
“You have a good weekend,” he said before advancing to the main road. “We’ll see you when we get back.”
“Enjoy your trip Sir,” replied the guard while waving good-bye. “We’ll keep an eye on the mansion.”
With that, Thomas turned onto the main road, and began
