Chapter 25
The staff cafeteria was a hub of activity. Silverware clinking against trays, staff members complaining about their workloads, and the sound of chairs scraping against the tile floor surrounded Calista. Her stomach gave a timid roar as the scent of meat loaf and mashed potatoes wafted up around her. She scanned the tables until she saw who she was looking for. Janelle had told her the night before that it was time to get the train out of the station. If she planned on becoming Calista Hargrove again, she needed to find out the truth about Adam.
She pushed back her shoulders and marched towards his table. He was sitting with a balding man Calista recognized as another lawyer for the company. Her tray clanged against the white table and she smiled at his surprised expression.
The balding man's eyes widened and he coughed then began choking on a baby carrot. Adam reached over and slammed his palm against his back until the man raised his hands and swore he was fine. He grabbed some water, chugged it down, and stared at Calista.
"Hello." Calista nodded. "Are you okay?"
His head bobbed up and down. "You're Calista Dover, aren't you?"
Calista didn't answer that. Instead she smiled. "I don't think I know your name..."
"Randy!" he said a little too loudly. "My name is Randy. Randy Travis."
"Like the singer?" Calista asked, amusement dancing in her eyes.
"No, I don't sing at all. I mean...I can try to sing but it would sound just awful."
"Well I'm sure you're a great lawyer," Calista offered, causing Randy to blush.
"You're a lot nicer than I thought." Randy grinned. "I heard you were pretty mean."
Calista's smile faltered as she glanced at Adam. His eyes had moved away from her. Slowly, they eased down to her tray and he grinned.
"Ms. Dover, do you like chocolate pudding?" he pointed to the small cup of chocolate pudding on her tray. She knew what he was getting at. The Calista Adam knew loved chocolate pudding. She didn't want to let herself get caught again. She grimaced and shook her head.
"No, I'm not a big fan of chocolate pudding," Calista lied.
Adam gave a lopsided grin, "Then I guess you won't mind if I--" He quickly grabbed her cup of pudding and put it on his tray. Calista frowned, her eyes on the chocolate dessert. She looked up to see Adam's smug expression mocking her.
"You can have my pudding." Randy held up his dessert towards Calista.
Adam quickly reached over and took it. "Didn't you hear her? She doesn't like chocolate pudding."
Calista wanted to ask Adam questions about his relationship with Yvonne but it was obvious she couldn't do that with Randy there. Instead she stood up, picking up her tray to leave.
"Mmmm," Adam practically shouted, eating a spoonful of the pudding. "This is delicious."
"I hope you get diarrhea," Calista muttered, Adam's laughter following behind her.
Later that afternoon, Calista was on the phone with Janelle. "I tried but he was with his co-worker."
"You need to find out if he was cheating on you before you went missing," Janelle said.
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"Go through his phone," Janelle answered.
"Again, how am I supposed to do that? Just go up to him and ask, 'Can I look through your phone?' I seriously doubt he'd just hand it over. He already thinks I'm his wife."
"You are his wife," Janelle reminded her. "You know what his weaknesses are. Figure it out."
Twenty minutes later, Calista found herself walking into Adam's office. She passed Randy in the hall and gave him a quick wave. She knocked on Adam's door and waited for him to call her in. He didn't look up from the case file he was studying.
"Mr. Hargrove?"
He smiled at the sound of her voice. Calista noticed his cell phone beside the file.
"Can I help you, Ms. Dover?" his tone was mocking when he spoke her name.
She held up a file that she had put together. "I was told to bring this to the legal department."
Adam leaned back in his leather chair. "Somehow I doubt your brother wanted you to bring that to me."
"You're part of the legal team, aren't you?"
He gave a single nod, a Cheshire cat's smile stretched across his face. "That's true."
You know his weaknesses. She smiled as she remembered Janelle's words. She suddenly looked to the corner of his office and screeched, her right hand pointing at the floor. Adam stood up and tried to figure out why she was screaming.
"What's wrong?" he circled his desk and came to stand beside her.
"A-a rat! I saw a rat!"
"A rat?" Adam paled.
"Eeww....it was big and hair with a long nasty tail," Calista looked around, "It could be anywhere. We need to call someone."
"Y-yes." Adam nodded. "I should call someone." He started to reach for his phone but Calista grabbed his arm.
"No, just get maintenance. Hurry!" she started pushing him out the door. "I'll make sure it doesn't escape. Hurry!"
"Are you sure-"
"Do you want to share an office with a rat?" Calista growled.
Adam's face was starting to turn green as he shook his head.
"Then go! Now!" Calista pushed him out the door. "I'll wait here. Hurry!"
He quickly sprinted down the hall and Calista shut the door behind her as she grabbed his phone. He had a pass code. She tried his birthday but it was wrong. She tried 1111 but it was wrong. Finally, she entered her own birthday, 1221.
She was surprised it worked. Janelle had said to look at his photos and his e-mails. She pulled up his gallery and frowned. The recent pictures were of dishes that he recently ate. Prior to that was a photo from before she went missing. It was of her. She was sleeping. Another photo of her cooking dishes, completely unaware that he was in the room. On and on were pictures he had taken of her when she didn't even know it. Sadness suddenly filled her.
"Why?" she whispered.
"My question exactly," Yvonne's voice said from the doorway. Calista spun around, Adam's phone still in her hands. She quickly pressed the button on the side to lock it.
"I didn't know you were there," Calista said, embarrassed.
"Clearly," Yvonne tapped her manicu.ed nails against her oversized blue clutch. "Why do you have Adam's phone? Where is he?"
Calista tossed the phone back on his desk. "I was going to call maintenance. There's a rat in the office."
Yvonne pursed her red lips. "Is that so?"
"Yes."
"I'll be frank with you," Yvonne said. "I don't like you."
Calista remembered that asn't the powerless Calista Hargrove. She was Calista Dover and she wasn't afraid of a mean girl like Yvonne Barrette. She gave a half-smile."That's fair. I don't like you either."
Yvonne's stoic expression faltered before she turned her head. "I don't like you always hanging around Adam."
"It's a shame he doesn't feel the same," Calista said. "You've only been dating for what...a month?"
Yvonne's huffed in annoyance.
"Longer than a month?" Calista asked, fishing for more information. "Has he said he loved you?"
"Like that's any of your business."
Calista shrugged. "I guess he hasn't. Perhaps he's still hung up on his wife."
"She left him," Yvonne said. "The only woman in his life is me."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Calista walked past her. "She might just change her mind and want him back."
Calista didn't wait to hear a response. Instead she hurried to the elevators. She ran into Randy who was holding a broom.
"Ms. Dover! Is it true there's a rat on the loose?"
"Yes." Calista nodded. "It's in Mr. Hargrove's office. Give it a good swat if you see it."
"What if I can't find it?" Randy asked.
The elevator doors opened and Calista stepped inside. "Oh you won't miss this rat. It's holding a blue purse. But be careful because it's really bitchy."
An elevator ride later, she was just about to sit at her desk when her cell phone rang. She picked it up and was surprised to hear it was from Detective Mark Jessup.
"I'm sorry, but you heard my brother," Calista said. "You have to talk to our attorneys."
"This isn't about Saint Anthony's," Mark said. "I'm calling you for your help in regards to a missing person."
Calista swallowed the lump of fear that suddenly found itself lodged in her throat. "A missing person?"
"Yes. It's the damndest thing. She has the same name as you."
Her mouth went dry.
"Her name was Calista. Calista Hargrove. She just up and disappeared."
Her palms began to sweat and she forced herself to take a deep breath before answering, "Why are you calling me about her?"
"Chalk it up to being a small world but I found one of your diaries, Ms. Dover. I used to think only kids wrote about their crushes. Or love-sick teens but apparently grown women do it to."
"I don't understand what you're saying," Calista said.
"I'm saying you and Adam Hargrove seem to have something going on."
"I told you we don't--"
"And it looks like it was going on well before St. Anthony's."
Calista suddenly couldn't breathe. Was it possible that Adam and Calista Dover had something going on? She suddenly remembered the threatening voice at the hospital. Was that Adam?
"I have the diary if you want to take a look at it," Mark offered.
She had a feeling she was going to regret it but she heard herself say, "Fine. I'll meet you. Just tell me where."
She wrote down the address to the police station and knocked on Sebastian's door. Both Roger and Sebastian were discussing some upcoming meeting.
"Sebastian, I have to step out for a few minutes. Is that okay?" Calista asked. They both knew she didn't have any real duties but she figured she should ask anyway.
"Where are you going?" Roger asked.
Calista bit her bottom lip and shrugged.
"That's fine. Just take your cell phone with you," Sebastian said.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." Calista waved and rushed out the office.
"That was suspicious," Roger said, staring at the door.
"We can track her GPS through her phone. Go follow her," Sebastian said.
After arriving at the station, Calista was greeted by Detective Wade.
"He's waiting for you in here," the female detective said, pointing to the interrogation room. Calista's brows knitted together but she entered and sat across from Mark.
"Is this some sort of trap?" she joked, her eyes on the diary that was placed in the middle of the table.
He pulled out a handful of lollipops and slowly unwrapped one, popping it into his mouth. He gesture for her to sit down across from him. "Take a seat." He handed her the selection of lollipops to which she shook her head. He waved the candy bouquet in front of her, "C'mon, there's a Pina Colada flavor in there."
She rolled her eyes and took one, unwrapping it while she stared at the diary.
"Did you know Calista Hargrove?"
She popped the candy in her mouth, "Why?"
"Because she's missing and we want to find her. We think something bad may have happened to her."
She leaned forward. "Like someone killed her?"
Detective Jessup nodded.
"Do you think it was the Adam?" Calista asked. "Did you find any proof to--"
"I hate to break up the party," Sebastian said stepping into the interrogation room, Detective Wade still trying to stop him. "I'm pretty sure I told you not to bother my sister about the St. Anthony--"
"This is about something different," Mark grinned.
Sebastian looked at Detective Jessup and then Calista, both sucking on lollipops. He frowned and pointed at the candy in Calista's mouth. "Where did you get that?"
She pointed a finger at Detective Jessup and Sebastian pulled the candy out of her mouth. "Don't take candy from strangers." Sebastian dumped the candy in a small wastebasket and grabbed her hand, pulling her forward. He turned to Detective Jessup. "I'll be speaking to your captain about this."
After he left Detective Wade sat where Calista had been sitting. "Well that was a waste of time."
Mark grinned, "I don't think so."
"You didn't learn anything about Calista Hargrove or rich girl's relationship with Adam Hargrove," Bree reminded him.
"Haven't I ever told you that a good detective follows his gut?" Mark pulled out a plastic baggie from his pocket and used it to pull out the lollipop that Calista had been sucking on. "For some reason, my gut is telling me that we may need this."
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