Monahan 02 Artificial Intentions Read Online Free Page A

recognize answered the phone. “Mr. Connaught’s office.”
    “Carrie?”
    “No. She’s not available at the moment. May I take a message?”
    “It’s Kate Monahan at McCallum & Watts. Can I speak to Cleveland Johnston?”
    “I’m sorry ma’am.” The voice became officious. “I can’t disturb the board meeting in session.”
    “I understand. But this is an emergency.”
    “I’ve been given strict instructions. Let me have your number and I’ll give Mr. Johnston the message.”
    “He has it.” I forgot my manners and didn’t say good-bye as I quickly hung up the phone.
    The next hour dragged as I waited for a return call and when my phone didn’t ring, I tried calling Phoenix again. The main switchboard was on voice mail and the electronic voice told me to either dial the extension of the person I was calling, or spell their name into the phone, starting with the last name. I had no idea what Carrie’s last name was so I pressed the sequence of numbers that spelled out Connaught . The phone rang five times and Tommy’s voice mail picked up. I dialed zero hoping that it would bump me to his secretary’s phone but I ended up back at the switchboard. Voice mail hell. I hung up in disgust and went home.
    chapter four
    When Cleve wasn’t at the office the next morning by 9:15 I called his house. There was no answer.
    I spent the better part of the next hour opening boxes of files that had come over from Scapelli’s and putting the contents away in the four-drawer filing cabinets. Mindless work. My mouth had a metallic taste which I knew was from a nervous stomach. And I wanted a cigarette. Bad. What the hell was wrong with me?
    When the phone finally rang at 10:30 I knew it was Cleve and a sudden feeling of foreboding came over me. As anxious as I had been to talk to him, I couldn’t pick up the phone. I just stood there and watched it ring. Four rings and then it kicked over to voice mail. I turned my back on the phone and stood in front of the file cabinet, wondering why I had just done something so stupid. My phone rang again and I turned around to look at it. The intercom was flashing.
    It was the receptionist on our floor.
    “Oh Kate. You’re there. Hang up and I’ll put Mr. Johnston through.”
    My finger pushed the red release button and I disconnected her.
    “Kathleen Monahan,” I said into the phone, pretending I didn’t know who it was.
    “Hi.” That was it. A simple hi . But that one syllable word said so much. Just the way he kind of dragged it out. I pretended to ignore the tone of his voice.
    “Hello yourself. Need me to book you a flight back?”
    “No. I’ll be here a while. Kate, something’s happened. Can you transfer this call into my office and take it there?”
    Linda Beeston, the personnel manager, was standing outside Cleve’s office when I opened the door. The look on her face told me that she knew about the call and that someone had forewarned her.
    “We’ve got a driver outside, Kate, to take you home to pack a bag and take you to the Island Airport. Is there anything I can do for you here?”
    Like a deaf mute I shook my head.
    “Well, please call us if there’s anything you need here in Toronto. And let Mr. Johnston know that we’ll look after things here in his absence.” She was telling me this while I rummaged in the desk drawer for my purse. I was really looking for cigarettes and remembered that I’d quit.
    She escorted me down to the front of the building and over to the waiting car. It was a navy blue Lincoln Continental sedan and the driver was standing at the rear door, holding it open.
    Linda gave a weak smile and patted my arm before I got in the car.
    “I’m sorry Kate.”
    “Thanks,” I whispered back to her.
    The driver obviously knew my address and we didn’t speak until he pulled up to the curb in front of my house.
    “I’ll wait here, ma’am,” he said to me as he held open the back door.
    “I won’t be long.”
    My bedroom was in