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was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, I hit the grocery store
for a few necessities. With the food put away, I cleaned my four rooms, those
being my kitchenette, living room, bedroom, and my closet-sized bathroom. It
only takes me about 45-minutes to get it all done, including a change of bed
linens.
    I started the dishwasher, threw my dirty laundry into a
mesh bag, and turned the key in the lock on the way out. I walked six doors up
(in the opposite direction from the hair salon) to the Laundromat, filled two
machines with clothes and detergent, popped in a bunch of quarters, then hopped
into Nelly and headed for the office to see if I could get in.
    The crime scene tape was gone, and I took that as
permission-granted to enter. I started a pot of coffee and began picking up the
mess on the floor. Within an hour I had sorted and re-filed most of the papers,
and nothing had jumped out at me as being missing.
    I sat at my desk and opened a file for Miller Crawford,
knowing from experience that he would be bringing a shitload of promotional
material and all kinds of paperwork he would want me to see, whether I needed
to or not. I completed a contract for him to sign and slipped it into the file.
    I looked at the birthday bag Harley had put on my desk
just before I’d run out to meet Cat at Ferdy’s house. Better late than never , I thought, and I reached for it. Inside was
a beautiful crystal nameplate – large and heavy, rectangular in shape, with
three words etched on it: Audrey Dory,
Separator . I laughed at the old joke – advertising’s goal is to separate
people from their money.
    I looked around to find the perfect place for it. While
nameplates were intended to be displayed on a desk, mine was too cluttered. I
went to the stairs, where a little window looked out onto the parking lot. Not
a great view, but the sun came through almost all day long. I placed the heavy
crystal bar on the sill and watched, as prisms of light danced across the floor
beyond the stairs. Perfect.
    I called SUNY Oswego and spoke to a lady about sending an
intern to Carrie. Next, I cancelled the first security company and then put in
a call to the airport for a list of private pilots in the area. On hold, I
watched dark clouds gather; a harbinger of the storm that was predicted to hit
later in the afternoon. After approving copy for an outdoor billboard and
listening to talent demos for a radio spot that needed to be voiced before the
week was out, I put away my paperwork and looked at Harley’s empty chair,
realizing more than ever how much I depended on her.
    In light of the coming bad weather, I called Harley’s
home number, feeling obligated to see if her grandmother needed anything. Even
though a neighbor was supposed to be looking in on her, who knew how old that
neighbor was and if she was capable of providing food or medication in a storm?
There was no answer. Harley had said she’d called her grandmother from the
hospital, so I knew she was able to get to the phone. I waited for ten minutes
and then tried again, but she did not pick up.
    As the sky darkened, I decided to take a ride over there,
just to be on the safe side. Once a storm hits around here, there’s no telling
how long it will last or if the power will stay on. I’d never been to Harley’s
place, but I took the address from her job application, and my GPS brought me
to the front of a house in a section of the city that was more run down than my
office location; it surprised me. She’d never really said much about where she
lived; but I always assumed it was at her grandmother’s house. I knocked on the
door. No answer. And there were no lights on inside, which there should have
been. I tried the door knob and found it unlocked. I opened it just a crack and
called, “Hello?”

Chapter 6
    Pushing the door open a little wider, I called again,
“Hello? Harley’s grandmother?” I didn’t even know the woman’s name. Where was
she? What if something had