chapter 5: Part 5

The wired phone rang on his desk. Bill checked the clock. It was still early in the day. Most of his colleagues called him on his work cell.



He picked up the phone, "Agent Rowland speaking."



"Agent Rowland, this is Roger Wainright over at the state department."



"Mr. Wainright, I was going to call you later today."



"Well this isn't good news. "



"Did they find a body in the Bahamas?"



"No sir, worse."



Bill felt his gut clench. "Great, better spill it."



"Okay, the only reason I'm calling you is because you were so interested in those other women. I know that the time for missing persons is twenty-four hours, and I wouldn't normally call, but this woman called our office begging for our help."



Bill sat up straight, adjusting his keyboard to take notes as Wainright spoke. "Tell me more."



"So the woman's friend, Maggie Shay, was supposed to meet her back at the hotel at ten this morning."



"It's only eleven thirty there. Not even missing two hours."



"Yes, well the women were supposed to meet with Selena Ghattu."



"Excuse me, the Selena, the mega-million star machine?"



"Yeah, singer, dancer, pop-star Selena. I would think that if you have an appointment with Selena, you would keep it."



"I sure as hell would."



"Yeah, so I started talking to this woman and come to find out this lady, Ms. Shay, went out last night and hasn't come back since. Supposedly there was this really hot guy at a restaurant she wanted to get to know."



"Sounds like normal vacation stuff."



"Yeah, I thought the same thing. But this lady is very worried. I'm the fifth person she called. I don't think we can blow this off."



"Sounds desperate." Bill leaned back in his chair and blew out an exasperated breath.



"Her friend missed a business appointment with Selena. The one person who could make a huge difference in her life. This Ms. Shay person is a dancer and a choreographer. The Selena machine could make her."



Bill shook his head. "Damn, too many coincidences."



"You're telling me."



"Thanks, Mr. Wainright. I'm sure I'll have questions after talking to my boss."



"Tell him this is a desperate situation. I think you need to come down here."



"Hmm, don't know that the FBI will spring for that, but yeah, I think I do need to come down there."



Bill hung up the phone, frustration made his head pound. His personal cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID, his wife. The hesitation to answer came too quickly, too easily. He didn't want to listen to her bitching and griping. The phone stopped making noise, relieving him of any need to deal with her drama.



He hated drama. He'd grown up with enough drama to rival the cast of any daytime soap. The manipulation and control his parents employed was only matched by the evil doings of his sisters. They were his family, but he didn't have to like it.



Shana only added another layer of drama to his life. When they married he really though it would be drama free, and it had been for a while, but life had only turned sour since that Christmas.



He did have it better than some. No cancer, no heart disease, just a wife who was pissed off to learn they were filthy rich.



With too quick of a shove, Bill pushed away from his desk, running into the credenza. His chair bounced a bit before he came to a stop. "Damn." He jumped up and left his office in search of his boss. The day probably would go downhill, so might as well face the titan early.

Copyright Sara Thacker 2011