“I have no idea.”
“Who’s his supervisor here?” I asked.
“Actually, that’s me.”
“You just let people take time off whenever?”
She rolled her eyes. “I know who you are. You’re Jonah Steel, one of the Steel brothers. And you’re Bryce Simpson. We all know who you both are. We know about both your fathers.”
Joe’s face morphed into a scowl. I expected him to growl at any moment.
“I don’t owe you any explanation. Not after your father—”
This time I made two fists. “I am not my father.”
“Look,” she said. “I’m not trying to hit a nerve. But don’t come charging in here making demands just because of who you are.”
“We’re not,” Joe said through clenched teeth. “My sister is missing. We need to talk to Dominic.”
“Dominic is an independent contractor. He eats what he kills here.”
I cocked my head. “He eats what he kills? That’s an interesting way to put it.”
“For God’s sake. If he doesn’t work, he doesn’t get paid. That’s all I meant. I didn’t ask why he needed the days off. It’s not my place. He’s not an employee.”
Joe finally seemed to calm down. “I understand your position, but please. We need to get in touch with him. We won’t say it came from you, okay?”
“I already told you he didn’t see a female client this morning.”
“Please,” Joe said again. “What would you do if your sister were missing?”
She sighed. “All right. But if I get in trouble for this—”
“If you get in trouble for this, you’ll be compensated,” Joe said.
She scribbled on the back of a business card and handed it to Joe. “This better not come back to haunt me.”
Neither of us responded.
We knew better than anyone that things you thought were dead and buried could always come back to haunt you.
“No answer,” Joe said. “And it says the voicemail account hasn’t been set up yet.”
I grabbed the card out of Joe’s hand. I had no reason to disbelieve him, but I had to hear it for myself. This was Marjorie. I had to be totally sure.
Sure enough. No voicemail account had been set up.
“What the fuck, Bryce?” Joe said.
“Just had to be sure.”
“And you thought I was lying?”
“No. Of course not. I just… Fuck. I don’t know.”
“I get it, man. I do. But we have to work together. We have to trust each other. The minute you and I begin to doubt each other, we’ll no longer be able to help Marj. Or my mom. Or Colin.”
I nodded. He was right, of course.