Magnets

Chapter 5

"Our plane landed at PHL this morning around 02:30. Bryce should have been home by 3:30."

"He was here," she said handing him the note. Andrew glanced at it and quickly and quietly put it in his pocket.

"We got home at 2:00," Ellen chimed in. "We made a pizza from the freezer and were passed out before 2:30." She lowered her voice to a whisper, "nobody heard him come in."

Looking at Kate, Andrew said, "I'm going to see if I can find out what this is about. I've also called a colleague. This is not my area of expertise." Andrew turned away from them as he asked a nearby officer for the agent in charge.

"This is insane," Ellen exclaimed.

"I'm too hungover for this," replied Stacy, pouring three cups of coffee, one black for Ellen, one with cream for Kate and one with cream and sugar for herself.

Kate held back tears as she checked her phone again. Still no messages. She texted Bryce, "Come home. Whatever this is we'll figure it out, together. I love you." She hit send and the floodgates opened. Tears streamed down her face and if she didn't get it together she would be full on ugly crying. Wrapping her in a hug, Ellen whispered softly, "shhh. I know this is hard. I can't imagine what you must be going through."

Stacy grabbed a paper towel and handed it to Kate so she could wipe her tears. Kate muttered a thank you and was blotting when Andrew came back into the kitchen, "this is Kyle, one of the partners at the firm. His expertise is in, well, the corporate field." He was being intentionally vague and Kate didn't want to press the issue.

She stuck her hand out, "Kate Davidson." Kyle took her hand and shook it quickly.

Rushing to Kate's side Stacy quickly introduced herself to Kyle, "I'm Stacy." She was not discreet in how she checked him out while she said it and on another day Kate wouldn't have blamed her. Kyle was tall-ish, built well and his eyes were the greenest of any Kate had ever seen.

Kyle blushed slightly as he realised that Stacy was checking him out. He recovered quickly, gave her an appreciative once over and turned his attention back to Kate, "Andrew has caught me up to speed about what's going on here,"

"What's going on?" Kate asked, interrupting him. "I don't even know."

Kyle and Andrew exchanged a glance before Kyle answered her, "it's important for you to remember that we have no reason to believe that Bryce is hurt." Kate eyed him dangerously. She wished he'd just say it. Kyle continued, "the FBI believes they have evidence suggesting that Bryce has embezzled nearly 500 million dollars."

"That's ridiculous," Ellen interjected. "Bryce is worth at least that."

"Which is why this has all got to be some huge misunderstanding, but because we can't find Bryce, we can't clear any of this up," Andrew said

"The last time anyone saw him was when he and Andrew parted ways at the airport around 2am. Unless one of you saw him here?" Kyle asked.

"No," Kate said, "but he was here. He left me a note. He says he's innocent."

"And I believe him, but we need to get him here so we can prove that."

"He's not answered his phone or replied to any of my messages."

"Okay. This is what's going to happen. They'll need to question Andrew because he was the last person with Bryce. You will be questioned because he's your husband and your friends will be questioned because they were here last night. Do you two have lawyers?" Kyle asked. "I can't represent all three of you."

"I do," Ellen said. "My step-father is Daniel MacKenzie." Kyle's eyes widened a little at the name, but he moved on without a word and looked at Stacy.