Detained

The obvious solution was the one that left her staring at the ceiling at night and bribing the makeup crew to take special care with the black stains under her eyes. She needed to talk to Will.

She’d needed to talk to him almost from the moment she’d hung up on him and gave Bo an overlong hug that signalled goodbye. But she’d been so hurt by his rejection, so shocked and confused by his declaration and its aftermath, she’d been emotionally spent.

As the days went on and the circus rolled into town, pitched tents and tossed out clever headlines and Will remained silent, it became harder to see what the point of a long distance chat would be, other than more aching awkwardness and doubletalk.

But it was that or quit and she wasn’t quitting till she was out of options. And maybe, just maybe, she could convince Will his first big Australian-based interview should be with the person who had once been selected for it, and had no motivation to make it hard for him.

She told Alan she was going after the interview, but she’d need to talk to Will face to face if she had any chance of convincing him to do it. Alan gave her five working days to get to Shanghai and back with a commitment from Will to be interviewed exclusively in a special profile edition of the program before the year was out.

She could’ve done it in less time and argued it, but Alan held out. She looked tired and the five days straight, nine days in total off camera, would give Liarne an excellent chance to get comfortable hosting the whole show. No one was saying it, but it was a threat anyway and not even Nadia was pretending otherwise.

She needed to call Will and warn him she was coming. She’d never had a mobile number for him, and she’d learned enough about him to know he wasn’t a desk jockey. He was more likely to be out and about. She hit on Bo first. Where Bo was, Will wasn’t likely to be far. But Bo’s voicemail had an instruction in Shanghainese she couldn’t understand.

Next stop Parker HQ. She dialled hands-free. “This is Darcy Campbell for Will Parker please.”

She got, “Hold please,” and wondered why she hadn’t done this first.

“Hello Darcy, this is Wendy. I’m afraid Will isn’t here.”

“Oh, hi Wendy, can you tell me when he’s due back?”

“I’m sorry I’m not able to do that.”

“Doesn’t have to be today, I’m just keen to talk to him.”

“Um, maybe I should put you through to Peter.” Did Wendy sound nervous?

“No, don’t worry Peter. Just let me know when you think it would be a good time to call for Will.”

“See that’s it. I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“No, no. Oh, you should really talk to Peter.”

Darcy sighed. She didn’t want to make life hard for Wendy. “Okay, is Peter available?”

“Yes, I’ll put you through.”

“Darcy.” Peter sounded tired. He sounded wary. She couldn’t blame him. Her name had more often than not been associated with bad news as far as Peter was concerned.

“Hi Peter. I didn’t want to bother you, I was calling for Will.”

“Right.” Peter shifted from weary to crisp. “Anything in particular?”

What was this? Bo, Wendy and now Peter giving her the stonewall treatment. Wariness yes, but she didn’t think she inspired hostility. “Okay, now I’m worried. Is something wrong?”

“No. Can Aileen help you?”

“No, Peter, what’s going on. Why can’t I talk to Will?”

Peter expelled an impatient breath. “Because he’s not here.”

“Not in the office?”

“Not in Shanghai.”

Not ‘home’? She should’ve figured Will would be smart enough to misdirect. “Ah, can you give me a number where I can reach him? Bo’s not picking up, and I never did have a direct number for Will.”