THE GREAT SHOCK – CHAPTER 2

The telephone kept ringing.

Elle looked across the desk at George, who had apparently gone deaf. He seemed mesmerized by that envelope.

The phone continued to ring.

There was a loud knock on the door. They both jumped again like spooked cats. George’s secretary’s head appeared in the crack of the doorway. George finally tore his eyes away from the envelope and looked up.

“It’s Judge Nickerson’s office. She says it’s urgent.”

“Ok, thanks, Linda.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose, shut his eyes for a moment in an effort to return to the current reality, and lifted the receiver.

Trying not to eavesdrop, Elle studied her toenail polish while she waited, and was reminded once again of the necessity to make an appointment for a pedicure. She’d smeared the polish on her big toe getting into the car after her last appointment and she’d had to live with that goof-up all this time. She yawned, stood up and stretched and wandered out to say hi to Linda.

Linda smiled. “How are you, Elle?”

“I’ve been better. I’m finally kicking Butch to the curb. I am so done with him!”

“Oh I am so glad! Now, can you finally wise up and marry my brother?”

Elle laughed. “He certainly doesn’t hide his feelings!”

Linda laughed too. “Our dads sure would be pleased, wouldn’t they?”

Elle nodded. “My dad would be relieved! Your dad would be happy!”

“It would make things so much more fun on our family winter ski trips and summers at the lake. Butch made everything so awkward.” Linda put her hand over her mouth. “Oh. Sorry. That wasn’t very nice.”

Elle sighed. “But it is true and we all know it. By the way, What are you girls doing this weekend while our dads are hunting?”

“Shopping and lunch! Wanna go? Thirsty Lion?”

“Ohhhh… how you tempt me! Yes!! I wanna!

Elle heard George saying good-bye. “I’ll let you know.”

She waved at Linda and went back into George’s office.

George hung up and sighed.

“They’ve moved a court date for one of my clients and I need to be ready to go tomorrow morning at ten. And guess what? They can’t find the idiot. They’ve put out an APB. Could I ever just have an intelligent client for once??”

“Hmph! Does that include me??”

“Oh, Elle, of course not. You don’t count. I mean, you are in a class all by yourself!”

“Well, if you would stop taking all these pro bonos… What do you expect when you defend the flotsam and jetsam of humanity?”

“Sure,” he said, “I’ll just take a moment and give each client the Wechsler. Will that be satisfactory?”

“Perfect!” Elle laughed. “But I’m wondering just how many of your clients could actually finish the test — let alone pass it.”

“How about I just advertise in the Mensa Newsletter?”

“Uh.. do they have one?” Elle looked at her phone. “I’ll just google it and see… well! Would you believe? They do! It’s a magazine called the Mensa Bulletin! I wonder if you can subscribe if you’re not a member… Hmmmm… “

“Elle, I was just kidding. I like what I do, in spite of the prevailing insanity and lunacy. In the mean time… could we talk about this envelope?”

“No. Let’s not. Gahh! Why don’t you stick that thing in your safe so I don’t have to look at it.”

He stood up and turned to go to the safe. He paused and looked at Elle. “Turn your back. You can’t see this.” He headed towards the door behind his desk and entered his private suite.

His dad and Elle’s had started the law firm years ago and had been partners. The firm took up the entire 12th floor of a prominent downtown sky scraper. Elle’s dad had designed the office to include a library, conference room, classroom for the occasional clerk from the law school, and two large offices with a private suite in each. The suites each had a spacious full bath, a small kitchen and a pleasant living area with several comfortable couches. Just inside the door to the suite was what looked like an ancient steam heater. It was actually the safe.

“Oh, George, I don’t care about the combination to your safe. Don’t be ridiculous. Ok. Fine. See? Turning my back. Why don’t you just shut the door so I can’t see? ” She stood up and turned to face the other way. She could hear the little buzzing noises of the dial going back and forth and then the clang of the door opening. And then, the door slamming shut and the dial spinning. George came back into the office closing the door behind him.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the outer office and a scream. George sprinted to the door and listened for a moment before flinging the door wide open. Elle stood in the middle of the room frozen.

Linda was on the floor behind her desk and there were two men standing center stage with guns pointed at George.

“Linda! Are you hurt?”

“N-n-no!” her little squeak came from under her desk.

George stretched all the way up to his six foot four inch height. “What is going on out here?” he boomed with a confidence he did not feel.

The men were both wearing black Fedoras, expensive charcoal gray Brioni suits and black Gucci loafers. Elle stifled a nervous laugh. She wondered if Elliot Ness was out in the corridor. Was there a 1929 Chrysler waiting at the curb? And funnier, one was short and one was tall… it reminded her of the Sting.. ‘Hi ya Mutt… Hi ya Jeff!’ She bit her lip to keep the nervous giggles from slipping out.

The short guy pointed at Elle. “You must be Elle. Butch said you were pretty, but he didn’t really do you justice! We thought we might find you here. Ol’ Butchie Boy has always suspected there was something going on between you two. Heh.. Heh.. Heh… All we need now is to find Butch. You’ll have to tell us where he is. So, be a nice pretty girl and tell us what we want to know.”

Elle stopped chuckling. The cold fingers of fear began to clutch her heart. She took a few steps back away from the door and tried to speak with calm assurance, but her words came out in little gasps. “Why do you need to find him?”

George stepped in front of her. “Just wait a minute, Elle.”

He turned to the two men. “Just what are your intentions?”

Mutt spoke again. “You’re really not in a position to be the one asking questions, are you? It seems that I am the one with the gun, just to clarify things.”

George took a tiny step backward. “Of course. Please go ahead.”

The front door burst open and a voice screeched “Goooooood Morrrrrrnning!!!!!!!”

There was a gun shot and George yelled, “Hit the deck!”

Coffee and donuts flew everywhere and bodies hit the floor.

Elle lay still, her eyes shut, her hands on her head, wondering if that guy must have been startled by Gus and accidentally pulled the trigger. She wondered if anyone was dead or injured and was relieved to hear Linda whimpering (she hoped it was Linda) and a loud “ouch” from Gus, which meant that at least those two were alive. Then came the sound of running feet and the door opening and and slamming shut. If those were the gangsters running away, she wondered if they had decided it would be just too messy to shoot them all. After all, they seemed to need information so killing them all wouldn’t be that helpful. Poor Gus. Poor unsuspecting Gus. Poor Gus that may have saved their lives!

Elle raised her head and breathed a deep sigh of relief. George was alive and sitting up, looking at Gus. She decided then and there she would stop getting after George for eating donuts every day, since he never seemed to gain an ounce anyway, no matter what he put in that bottomless pit.

“George! Thank God, you’re alive! And thank God we’re all alive!”

George pointed across the office. “The filing cabinet is dead.”

They all looked and sure enough, there was a gaping bullet hole in the vintage oak file cabinet.

“Gus, are you ok?” George crawled over to where Gus was still face down on the carpet, surrounded by George’s standing order of two Maple Bars, two Blueberry scones, one Caramel Macchiato, and for Linda, one sugar free lemon poppy seed muffin and a skinny latte.

Gus groaned and looked up at George. “This is going to cost you extra, George.” He rolled over to reveal two smashed venti coffee cups stuck to his shirt surrounded by a very large coffee colored stain, through which one could just barely make out “Gus, the Pastry Guru” embroidered in red on his shirt pocket. There was a very flat maple bar stuck to his forehead.

Elle hurried over to Linda to help her up and see if she was ok. George managed to arrange Gus awkwardly on the couch while he went to get some paper towels. When he came back, Gus was staring into space, a bit overwhelmed by the events of the past few minutes. George removed the maple bar and tossed it with a sad farewell into the waste basket. He was starving. He wiped the gooey maple frosting from Gus’ forehead with a wet paper towel and dried him off with a second dry one.

“Gus, can you navigate?”

Gus groaned again and got to his feet. “I’m going to need a stiff drink before I go.”

“You can’t drink! It’s still morning! Isn’t it?” Elle looked at her Fitbit. “Well… it’s almost lunch time. I need to go home. Wait. I don’t think I am going home. Maybe I’ll take a vacation. To Pluto. ” She looked at George. “What am I going to do? Who do you think those men were?”

“Well, I doubt they were Jehovah’s Witnesses.” He grinned.

“Very funny.” Elle frowned at him. “How can you make light of this situation? We came pretty close to death!”

“I’m leaving,” Gus announced. “I’ve got more orders to deliver and now I am way behind!” He flapped his hand at them and as he stepped outside, he bellowed, “That smorgasbord on your carpet is going on your bill, George! AND laundry services!”

George flapped his good bye to the closing door and said, “Yah, yah, I know… the last thing you expected was a couple of hoodlums with guns…”

Elle was helping Linda out from under her desk. “What am I going to do, George?”

“I think we should check you into a hotel with a fake name, at least until we can figure out who those men are and what they want.”

“You and I both know what they want.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, yet, Elle. Grab your purse. We’re going down the back way. Linda, lock up the office and take the rest of the day off. Don’t go straight home. Here is a hundred dollars. Stop at the mall and go shopping and then take a different way home.”

George and Elle went back into his office and out his private door and down the hall to the parking garage.