Adelaide Confused (12 page)

Reed, loosening his tie and
shedding his jacket, walked the length of the room. “What did you
learn?”

“
Eleanor Bryant is an ice
queen, with little to no emotion.”

“Forget Eleanor, she’s a valuable employee. I
respect her,” he said simply.

His quick disregard of my
insight did nothing to endear him. “Okay, you’re really starting to
piss me off. You’ve hardly given me any instructions, feeding me
vague details along the way. I’m not a fucking machine, and there’s
no program for finding secrets.”

“That was thoughtless, I apologize.”

“Don’t bullshit me, I can tell you aren’t
sorry.”

He nearly smiled. “Fair
enough, I won’t interrupt you again, please continue.”

I waited a moment, trying
to shed my irritation. Finally I admitted, “I don’t much care for
Tim Beckett.”

“Yes, I had noticed. Any reason why?”

“
The man that died, his
mentor, it doesn’t bother him. He isn’t sad and he isn’t
mourning.”

“That doesn’t make him a criminal,” Reed
said.

“But why bother with pretending?”

“
There is an explanation,”
Reed admitted. “Theodore Dunn never worked for my company and
neither does Tim, though I pay for their services. They’re dream
interpreters. Theodore was experienced and Tim sought him out,
needing guidance.

“
Shortly after they met Tim
dreamt of Theo’s death and hurried to warn him, hoping to change
the outcome. But Theo stopped him from revealing the
details.

“
Theodore wanted to teach
Tim the first lesson of interpretation, which is: learning to
understand the purpose of the message. Sometimes they’re warned so
they can change the future, but sometimes not.

“
Tim came to understand
that he wasn’t meant to stop Theo’s death, and probably couldn’t
even if he tried. Tim was only meant to be prepared for the
inevitable. So if he isn’t sad, it’s because it wasn’t a shock for
him. In fact, he’s been expecting it for a long time.”

“Did they tell you? Did your friend Theodore
tell you he was going to die?”

He shook his head, the
sorrow invading. “No. Tim told me all of this after Theodore’s body
was found.” He pulled at his collar. “And as for the pretending, I
suppose he does it out of respect.”

To change the morose mood,
I said, “I met an employee of yours who is none too pleased to be
here. He said this whole retreat is mandatory.”

Reed was unworried by his
employee’s complaint. “I needed a reason to get them all together.
I’d hoped that the guilty party might become evident.”

“
Guilty, guilty of
what?”

He gave me a bland look, unwilling to
tell.

Fine, whatever, I could be
coy too. “Well,” I said slowly, “I did run into one very guilty
individual.”

“
Who?” he
demanded.

“You won’t believe me,” I said lightly.

“
Adelaide,” he growled,
growing impatient.

“
What was the name of your
secretary?”

He knew where this was
going and didn’t believe me. I could feel his resistance to the
idea, but he was smart enough not to say so outright. “I believe
you’re speaking of Karen, my personal aide.”

“
Karen is a very unstable
woman. I suspect she’s jealous, but I can’t feel anything past all
that anger. Before you gave your speech she was mad, but after she
was guilty. Very very guilty. She hardly noticed me her head was
sagging so low.”

“
Karen has been with me for
years. I don’t think she’s capable of duplicitous behavior. But,”
he said, cutting off my argument, “I’ll take your word for it and
speak with her.” He pulled out his cell phone as if he was going to
call her just then.

“
Wait,” I said, stalling
his call. “Before you confront Crazy Karen, don’t you want to know
about the seedy conversation I just happened to
overhear?”

His eyes were sharp,
drilling holes into my own. He was out of patience. “I’m not
interested in gossip.”

“So if there was, let’s say, a snoop hiding
beneath your very nose, you wouldn’t be interested?”

“
What did you
hear?”

I thought about drawing out my answer just to
annoy him. But the look he was giving me had an edge I didn’t much
like. I found myself wishing we weren’t shut up in a room together.
So I explained everything I heard without preamble.

I could tell he understood,
the words meant something to him. I felt his sense of discovery,
his comprehension. After that his emotions became a stewing turmoil
of complication. I pressed myself into the wall, putting as much
distance between us as I could manage.

It was a while before he
noticed me, and a bit guilty-like he tried to tamp down his
emotions. It was a futile gesture, he lacked my emotional control.
“That was inconsiderate of me.”

“
You understood what they
were speaking of.”

He turned, pacing with his back to me.
“Yes.”

“Well?” I prompted.

“You don’t need to know,” he said coolly.

I scoffed, but I wasn’t
surprised. Throwing up my arms, I said, “The party’s over. Can I
go?”

“
In a moment. First I’d
like you to stay while I interview Karen.” He began to unfold
chairs.

“Uh, that’s not appropriate.”

“You’ll stay out of sight. She won’t know
you’re behind the partition.”

“
That’s even less
appropriate.”

“
Yes I know, but I feel
it’s necessary. You see Karen in an unflattering light, and I’d
like to dispel the image from your mind once and for
all.”

“
That’s ridiculous! What
does my opinion matter?”

He arranged the chairs so
they faced each other. “When you’re done suspecting Karen you can
focus on the truly guilty party.” He took up his cell phone once
more and began to dial. “Close yourself behind that
section.”

I didn’t want to, but I did
as he instructed. Unhooking first one side and then the other, I
pulled the partition closed. I could hear Reed’s half of the phone
conversation and then his pacing.

When the door opened I
assumed it was Crazy Karen, though I could never have guessed by
her emotions as she wasn’t being hateful. But I doubted being alone
with Reed stirred that feeling.

“
Hello, Karen. Please,
won’t you have a seat,” I heard Reed offer graciously.

She was thrilled to. “Is everything
alright?”

I heard him move, guessing
he’d taken the chair across from her like a good therapist would.
“That’s actually what I wanted to speak with you about. You didn’t
seem yourself this evening. How are you?”

She was both ecstatic and
ashamed. I’d like to say this made her crazy, but it didn’t.
Everybody feels in contradictions. “I’m surprised you noticed,” she
said. “You were so busy with the speech and that... and your date.”
She was angry again.

“Have I said something to upset you?” Reed
asked.

“
No! No, of course not,”
she rushed to assure. “You could never say anything to upset
me.”

“Well something obviously has.”

“
I... I made a mistake,
I...” Her voice cracked. She began to cry softly.

I could hear Reed moving
closer to comfort her. She began to feel a longing desire, and I
began to feel uncomfortable. “Tell me what happened,” Reed
coaxed.

I waited a bit breathless
to hear the dirty deed that was filling us both with guilt and
shame. “I slept with Rich Addler!” she sobbed. “I’m sorry... I
don’t know why... I’m sorry!” She was babbling through her
tears.

Perplexed, Reed asked,
“Sorry—whatever for?” She kept crying, but from hopelessness, not
guilt. She had hoped that he would care, be jealous or something.
Any reaction would have been better than his indifference. Obtuse
as ever, he continued, “Seeing someone from the office is usually
discouraged, but I’m certainly not going to penalize you for
it.”

“
No, I didn’t think you
would, but... but if you tell me not to see him again, then I
won’t!” I assumed this was her last ditch effort to force a
reaction.

Reed had none. “That’s not
for me to say. You may see whomever you like.”

I found his last statement
ironic as the ‘whomever she liked’ was currently giving her the
letdown. Eventually she stopped crying. Reed talked business for a
little while, giving her time to collect herself. And when she
finally left she took her disappointment with her.

I pushed open the
partition. “That was a great idea,” I said
sarcastically.

He glared, feeling slightly
irritated. “It served its purpose. Now you won’t waste time
suspecting her of deceit.”

“
It wasn’t my intention to
prove she was guilty of deceit, only of being crazy. And I think
she more than proved that all by herself just now.”

He began to fold the chairs back up, ignoring
me. But I couldn’t ignore his frustration. “I’ll be waiting out
front,” I said as I strode out.

He met me in the foyer, it
was nearly empty then. Most of the guests had cleared out while we
were meeting with Crazy Karen. I thanked my lucky stars that I
didn’t meet her as she was leaving. Reed’s town car waited out
front, its strange driver standing at attention like a
soldier.

Reed stopped walking to
stare at something. I followed his gaze to the figure of a man.
“Who is that?” I asked, watching the man get into his
car.

“Richard Addler,” he said grimly.

I did a double take then,
interested to see. The lamps offered little light, but I could just
make out a dark head of hair and fair skin, maybe handsome. Crazy
Karen probably chose him for the features he had in common with
Reed. There was an obvious resemblance, though Rich paled in
comparison.

After watching him go we
continued to walk along the circular drive. Reed asked, “Why did
she sleep with him if only to cry after?”

I shrugged. “She’s
crazy.”

“And why did he do it?”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “He’s a
man, what other reason do you need?”

“Cynic,” he accused lightly.

To my surprise he took my
wrist, pulling me to stop. Around us the oak trees made a soft
rushing noise as the wind blew slowly, pushing the moss until it
swayed. The cicadas sang their shrill song, the sound carrying over
the open space. Behind us the club sat, lit like a hulking silent
beast, empty and white. It felt as if we were the last two people
alive.

His thumb stroked the inside of my wrist.
“Thank you for coming.”

I wanted to lean into him,
to encourage him. He was attentive, and I recognized the interest
he felt. But all I had to do was picture Crazy Karen to be myself
again, pushing away the lazy comfort of his charm. I tugged my
wrist free. “You blackmailed me into coming, but I was under the
impression that the coercion didn’t extend to sleeping with
you.”

I riled him into an angry
state, reveling in how easy it was. “Must you always be so
difficult?”

Wishing the conversation
would end, I refused to reply. I’d pricked his pride again,
effectively ending the evening stroll. He nearly rushed to the car
after that, with me following in his angry wake.

The driver had the back door open,
anticipating our arrival. Reed moved to slide in first.

I muttered, “I’m just glad
this night is over.”

I spoke too soon.

The driver lifted his arm,
swinging a small round cudgel. It met Reed’s flesh at the base of
his skull. It was unexpected and abrupt. I stood stock still, eyes
wide in shock. Just like a deer in headlights.

I watched in helpless
horror as the driver stooped down to shove Reed’s crumpled body
inside the car, sliding it along the backseat. And when he turned
to me, I barely had time to say “Oh shit!” before the flash of pain
and swallow of darkness.

My mouth felt dry and mossy
as I came to, but small discomforts were soon drowned out by the
pain above my ear. It was a throbbing ache, consistent as a beating
drum, but sharp like a lightning strike.

I wanted to touch it,
needing to reassure myself it wasn’t serious, but I couldn’t. My
hands were bound. I jerked a little, and then a little more
frantically. Wrenching my shoulders forward didn’t help either, my
hands wouldn’t budge.

My mind was catching up with my emotions as
reality set in. At first I was merely alarmed, but a look around
made me afraid.

I was restrained in a
concrete room. It was perfectly square in shape and somewhat small.
Each ankle was tied to a chair leg, my arms pulled back, and hands
secured behind me. Reed Wallace, tied likewise, sat in the middle
of the room facing me, watching me.

“
I guess there’s no point
in screaming for help,” I said miserably.

“
We’re most likely in an
isolated location or he would have gagged us.” Reed spoke calmly,
but I could feel everything that boiled beneath the
layers.

“I’m going to have a panic attack.”

“
Calm down, Adelaide.
Breathe,” he said sternly.