“Have you talked to Astrid?” The edge of annoyance in her voice was a jarring contrast to his mood. “I tried to call her, but she’s not answering her phone.”
Clay cleared his throat. He hadn’t merely talked to Astrid that morning. They’d made love, and it had been spectacular. It partly explained his giddiness. “She’s not in the office yet, but I’m sure she’ll be here very soon.” As far as he knew, she was at her apartment getting ready for work.
“We have a problem. That revised deadline she gave us for the Seaport presentation? It doesn’t exist. They didn’t move the date back. They moved it up. It’s Wednesday.”
Clay’s merriment evaporated. Just like that. “Wait. What? That’s in two days. We thought we had ten.” Clay’s thoughts flew to the calendar and his to-do list. There was no way they would catch up and finish everything by Friday. It would require all-nighters, and even then, it might not be enough. How had it happened again that they had a last-minute panic situation on the Seaport project? “That has to be a mistake. Astrid wouldn’t get that wrong.”
“I got a reminder email from the city, so I called and asked to speak to Sandy. There is no Sandy working in the city planner’s office.”
None of this was adding up. At all. From the depths of his pocket, Clay’s cell rang. “Maybe this is her. Hold on.” He fished it out of his pocket. “It’s Miranda. That’s weird. I just talked to her.” He sent the call to voice mail.
“Take it if you want. I need to update Grant. It’s all hands on deck. Let’s meet in an hour. And help me find Astrid.”
Clay sent Miranda a text. Was that a butt dial? We have a crisis in the office. Talk to you later? His phone rang. It was Miranda. Again. “What’s up?”
“I have my own crisis.” Her voice was teeming with panic.
“What happened? We were just on the phone ten minutes ago.”
“I need to talk to Astrid right now and I can’t reach her on her cell phone or her office line.”
What in the hell was going on? “Wait. Why do you need to call Astrid? You aren’t going to tell her what we talked about, are you?”
“No. That’s not why I need to talk to her. I can’t tell you. You’ll freak out.”
Now he was flat-out worried. “Please tell me what’s going on.”
“No. I need to hear it from her. I need to know if it’s true. I just got an email.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t know how to say this. It says it’s from Johnathon.”
Clay hadn’t been stunned many times in his life, but that was the only word that fit this moment. “That’s not possible.” Clay didn’t want to state the obvious, but it had to be said. His sister must be confused. “He’s dead.”
“I realize that, Clay. The man was my husband. I was with him when he died. Hence, my panic at receiving an email from him, especially one that says the things this one does.”
“You have to forward it to me right now. If it’s making you upset and it has to do with Astrid, you have to share it with me.”
“No. Clay. This will hurt you, too, if you read it.”
He failed to see how that was possible. “You think I care about that? You are my sister. I am always here for you. Always. Please send me the email. I promise that whatever’s in it, I will take it all in stride.” Things today can’t get any worse. Or any more strange.
A heavy sigh came from the other end of the line. “Okay. Sent. It has to be a hoax. Some cruel prank.”
The number on Clay’s inbox ticked one higher. There was the mysterious message, with the original sender listed as Johnathon Sterling. Even more astounding, it was from his Sterling Enterprises email account. Clay clicked on it and began to read, but when he hit the second sentence, it was like running right into a brick wall.
Dear Miranda,
I need to tell you something that will upset you, but the truth needs to come out. Astrid and I continued our relationship after we were divorced. The last time I made love to her was after you and I were engaged. She has a way of drawing a man in and convincing him she is perfect. Obviously I fell for it more than once. I hope you can forgive me.
Johnathon
Clay had a lot of conflicting thoughts vying for his attention, but the one that came through loudest was that there was no way this could be true. The source, a dead man, certainly called the validity into question. Clay expanded the message header, and the servers all checked out. This had come from a Sterling Enterprises email account. On a very long list of things he needed to do today, he would have to reach out to the company’s IT department and see if they could help him solve the mystery.
“Clay? Are you there?” Miranda asked.
“Yeah. Sorry. Let me see what I can figure out about this, okay? This has to be fake. I don’t know who would send this, but I’ll find out. I’ll find Astrid. It will all be fine. I don’t want you to worry.”
“I feel so helpless and confused right now.” Miranda’s anguished tone made him want to reach through the phone and hug her. The thought of anyone hurting her put him in an extremely protective frame of mind, but he was sure this bizarre story wouldn’t turn out to be true.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this. I swear.”
“Call me as soon
