My fingers slackened, and I nearly dropped my phone,only catching it at the last minute and hitting the side button and locking the screen in the process. Sweat broke out mercilessly on my heated skin as I moved my gaze back to the screen.
Forcing my spine straight, I unlocked my phone.
The email was still open, and this time, my gaze zeroed in on the two-word subject line.
Gilbert Thames.
No.
No.
That wasn’tsouncommon a name, and this was a big place with many?—
No. It said volunteer. Not resident. Not employee.
And I wasn’t prone to optimistic delusion.
The two horrible words disappeared, replaced by another two as my phone rang. The sound was so loud and absolutely silent at once. Like being underwater as a wave crashed overhead.
Liem Lott.
Liem was calling me.
But why?
I stood up abruptly, unsteadily, as I tapped the green button and held the phone to my ear, having no idea if I’d even made a noise as I did.
“Ireland?” a deep voice that did not belong to Liem asked.
“This is she,” I answered automatically. Stiffly.
A heavy sigh sounded on the other side of the phone, followed by some murmuring. I couldn’t pick out all the other voices, but I knew in my bones one of them was Liem.
“Who…,” I started, then stopped, unsure of what I meant to ask. Of what I actually wanted or needed to know. Was ready to know. “Who is this?”
A ragged inhale, and then that same voice responded. “This is Cody. I’m Liem’s….” He trailed off, and there was a brief hesitation before he continued with “I’m Liem’s.”
Cody.
The name rang a bell, but as my entire body—my soul—was vibrating out of tune with the world, there was no making sense of it. Of anything.
“I’m sorry to be the one telling you this,” Cody’s deep voice continued, “Liem….” His voice softened and lowered even more. “Liem isn’t up for it right now, but he wanted you to hear it from him. From us. Gil passed away last night.”
The vibrating turned from a rusty church bell to skull-shredding feedback.
“Wh—” I started but then pressed my lips together. My eyes cleared as my gaze moved from staring into the middle distance at nothing to looking out the large window that overlooked the parking lot.
Cody said nothing, or if he did, I didn’t hear it. Once the feedback finally gave way to thought, I cleared my throat.
“Thank you for, um….” I paused, keeping my gaze on a random bright blue car in the lot. “Thank you for telling me.”
It was toneless, but it was the correct thing to say. I thought.
Cody might’ve said something, a goodbye perhaps, but I wasn’t sure.
On autopilot, I returned my phone to my pocket.
The floor below me shifted, and I grabbed the luggage cart, bracing my weight against it.
