Family Pieces (37 page)

“We’re here to see Addison Reynolds, please,” Brad said.

Perplexed by the odd recurrence of strangers looking for Addison, Marjorie wasn’t sure what to think. “I’m sorry, she’s not available at the moment.”

“When will she be?” Brad asked.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to give out her schedule. Perhaps you’d like to schedule an appointment?”

“Urghhhh.” Brad’s frustration rose.

“I’m sorry, it’s been a long day,” Hanna interjected. Which in reality, it had been. So long, that Hanna’s stomach growled, sustained by only a black cup of coffee and a small bag of pretzels she’d eaten on the plane.

Three lines rang simultaneously. “Excuse me,” Marjorie said quickly, picking up the receiver.

“She’s not here,” Hanna whispered to Brad, pulling at his arm to go. “We can try again later.”

“Do you realize how large this city is? I don’t even know where to start looking for her,” Brad practically hissed, his voice filled with urgency.

“Try her cell again,” Hanna said. He pulled out his phone and dialed. The line clicked straight to voice mail.

“Maybe her battery died?”

“Great. So we won’t have any way to find her.” He tapped his fist on Marjorie’s desk.

“Yes, sir. Certainly. I will have her call you. Goodbye.” Marjorie’s voice pleasantly ended the phone conversation. Fueled with frustration, her tone immediately reversed.

“Look, I’m sorry Ms. Reynolds is not available. You really are going to need to come back another time. I can let her know that you were here and she’ll contact you if she so chooses.” She grabbed her pen to note his pertinent information. “You are?”

“Apparently, I’m her brother. I’m looking for my sister. Actually, I’m looking for both of them. The sister I’ve never met and the sister who ran off to find her.”

Marjorie stared blankly at him, processing his claim. Her long-standing history as Bryce’s assistant had left her privy to information most were unaware of. She knew Addison had been adopted. She recalled the seemingly unending chain of futile fertility appointments interrupting his work schedule. Marjorie had promised her lips were sealed.

Hanna cringed at Brad’s bluntness. His behavior was uncharacteristic of his usual well-mannered nature. Before anyone had a chance to speak, a tiny voice billowed behind Hanna.

“Mar-zie! Mar-zie!” Adelaide’s smile was graced with a large gap between her two tiny front teeth. She rested her chin between her hands on the desk, peering over.

“Marjorie is busy, honey.” Emily said asshepulled her back and attempted to lift her onto her hip. Adie struggled for freedom. “No, Mommy!”

“Fine, Adie. Stay right here.” Emily set her squirming daughter back on the floor.

“Hi, Emily. Addison isn’t here. Was she supposed to meet you today?” Marjorie knew they had a rather consistent play date set up every Friday, but today was Thursday.

“Yes, we rescheduled because Adie has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. She hadn’t said otherwise, so I assumed we were still on.” She tried to recall any conversation where Addison rearranged when to meet again, but to her dismay she could hardly remember what she had for breakfast. Adelaide had been frequently waking up in the middle of the night, leaving her in a brain fog.

Marjorie redirected her attention back to Brad. “I can have her call you when she returns.”

“Fine. Brad. My name is Brad Woods.” He recited his number as Marjorie scribbled it down.

“Let’s go. We can try to call Karsen again.” Hanna squeezed Brad’s hand.

“Did you say Karsen?” Marjorie asked.

“Karsen?” Emily repeated. She knew immediately that Addison’s brother was standing before her. Addison had not known his name, but he was looking for Karsen and Emily knew that Karsen was her sister’s name. Not a common name to be showing up at Addison’s office.

“Yes. Why?” Hanna asked.

The day was finally starting to make sense to Marjorie. She remembered the name from Addison’s calls. “That must have been her here earlier. Addison wasn’t here though. Actually, I don’t know where Addison is. She left earlier this morning and never returned.”

“Addy? Wer ar u Addy?” Lost among the fracas, Adelaide wandered. She first peered into Addison’s office. Not seeing her, she shuffled her shoes adorned with big pink and black polka dot bows along as she headed into the maze of cubicles. The adults were oblivious.

“She, Karsen, ran off before I had gotten her name. She seemed extremely upset,” Marjorie added.

“Where did she go?” Brad asked exasperated.

“I have no idea,” Marjorie shrugged. “I didn’t know who she was.”

Just then a siren blared throughout the building. Hanna shielded her ears with her hands. “What the hell?” she asked. A flood of people rose from behind their desks and scattered toward the doors.

“Fire alarm,” Marjorie yelled. “Probably a drill.”

“You got to be fucking kidding me?” Brad yelled over the pandemonium.

Emily scanned the area. “Where’s Adie?” she screamed. Her throat clenched with fright as she didn’t see her anywhere. “Adie! Where are you?”

“Emily, I’m sure she’s close. No worries. I’m sure it’s just a drill,” Marjorie tried to calm her.

Emily didn’t stop. Her motherly instinct wouldn’t allow it. “Adelaide! She’s hiding. She’s probably scared. I know she’s hiding. Adelaide!”

The room went black except for the flashing lights of the alarm.

“ADELAIDE! ADELAIDE!” Emily screamed again.

26

A
ddison ignored her phone the first time it rang. By the third, she knew it must be something urgent. Marjorie knew not to bother her more than once.

“Excuse me, Karsen. It’s the office.”

“Of course, go ahead.” Karsen said. She was content to wait all day.

“Hello?”

“Addison! Thank God! Where are you?” The distress in Marjorie’s voice caught Addison off guard. Her breath labored to get the words out. “The office…it’s on fire! Where are you?”

“What?” Addison stood in shock. The call dropped. “Damn it!” Frantically, she dialed the number back.

All circuits are busy now.

“Shit!” Addison hit redial again.

While Addison tried to reach Marjorie, Karsen powered up her own cell phone and scrolled through the call log. There were five missed calls, all from Brad. She called voice mail and started to listen to his messages. She only partially heard the first message, too preoccupied by Addy’s sudden mood change. By the second, she disconnected the line.

“Addison, is everything okay?”

“Come on! We have to go NOW!” Addison grabbed Karsen’s arm and started running toward Fifth Avenue. “There’s a fire at my office!” Karsen stumbled as she ran to keep up.

“What?” Karsen’s face went white instantly a she gasped. “Brad is there!”

“What?”

Her words sped together in panic. “Brad left me a message. He’s at the office with Hanna. They came looking for me. Oh my God! Oh my God, Addison! How bad is it?”

“I don’t know yet. Marjorie sounded frantic. The call dropped before she could give any details.” She flagged down a cab and they hurried in. “I’m sure it will turn out to be nothing.” Addison lied unconvincingly. She had never heard Marjorie sound so distraught. She tried to hide her distress for Karsen’s sake. She could tell she was worried and maybe this all would turn out to be nothing. She could only hope.

Don’t panic. Everything will be okay,
Karsen told herself as the cab crawled through the midday traffic. It had to be. She couldn’t take any more.

“I won’t leave until I find her!” Emily screamed as Brad and Marjorie pleaded with her to go, the smell of smoke seeping into the air, getting thicker. “Adie!” Panic-stricken, Emily raced through cubical after cubical, searching under every desk. By now the work areas were deserted as people piled into the hallway and stairwells.

“Someone probably found her. She’s probably already out of the building,” Marjorie tried to assure her.

“That’s not good enough! You don’t know that. I can’t leave without her! Adie!”

Brad turned to Hanna.

“Go! Take Marjorie and go now!” Hanna shook her head. “There isn’t time to argue, Hanna! You have to get out of here. Go!”

“No, I won’t leave you!”

He kissed her. His voice softened, trying to calm her. “You have to. I’ll be fine. Go now, please.”

“He’s right,” Marjorie said, coughing from the smoke as she pulled a golf towel embroidered with
Urbane
on it from a recent tournament from her desk. “Put this over your mouth!” she instructed.

Hanna held the towel up, covering her nose and mouth. Her eyes peered over the top and she looked one last time at Brad. They could still hear Emily screaming for Adie as they entered the stairwell.

Police guarded the area as the crowd of bystanders gathered. Curious on-lookers prodded for information. Associates searched for friends and family. Answers were few. Only time would tell how the blaze began or how it spread so quickly.

Flames sputtered from windows and black smoke billowed into the sky as Karsen and Addison jumped from the cab and pushed through the crowd. “Let me through!” demanded Addison, as Karsen weaved closely behind. As soon as Addison saw the chaos, she knew her worst fears were realized. The fire was anything but insignificant.

“I’m sorry, Miss, you can’t go past here.” An officer held his arm out, stopping Addison from crossing his path.