Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Belinda has not bothered trying to look her best, something that she could be accused of quite often, and, since she actually lives nearest to the Progression Software building, she reaches David relatively quickly after his phone call.

There is still one member of the group David cannot get through to and that is Robert Alloway. She is trying to call him at this moment.

After a few tries, she slams the phone down with great annoyance and makes an incomprehensible noise to back her feelings up.

David sees her frustration and decides to try and calm her down a little. He walks over to her, knowing the smile on his face is full of concern but unable to do anything about it.

“Still no luck?”

Belinda is renowned for her sarcasm and so many replies come into her head. But she manages to resist the urge to say any of them and merely shakes her head.

She forgets about her own frustration for a moment when she sees Gary walk into the office, a glazed look in his eyes. He appears to be completely numbed by the shock of the whole situation.

She wants to go over and tell him that she is sure that everything is okay, that Isabelle will probably turn up any moment and that they have worried about nothing.

She wants to tell him all this but she cannot. She would be lying to him if she does. Something about this situation doesn’t feel right at all and Belinda’s personality dictates that she has to take the anger and frustration that she is feeling out on someone else.

“Robert’s probably out at a nightclub or somewhere. He’s nothing but a kid. He’s not reliable David. You really have to have a word with him.

David frowns at her argument. “He has to have a life outside the office.”

Belinda gets angrier, if that is possible. “Why? I don’t have a life. I know you don’t have a life. What makes Robert so special.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter”, Gary finally says. “Thanks for coming to help. But we don’t need everyone here.”

Belinda wants to say something but doesn’t. They all wait for the others to arrive.

She does not like to think much about the situation that has led her to be David’s second employee. The only people who know the story are David and Alice, and, truth be told, she would rather that it was only David. Sometimes she still cries herself to sleep.

It is the not knowing that is the worst. She knows exactly how Gary feels right now but can’t voice this. Maybe one day she can tell them… but not now.

David seems to sense what she is thinking and puts a hand on her shoulder. He wants to grab her and hug her, pull Gary over too. Hug them both.

Tell them it is going to be okay.

But he can tell them that no more than Belinda could tell Gary that Isabelle was going to be okay.

Not counting the AWOL Robert Alloway, Edward Davis is the last member of staff of Progression Software to get there. They have no idea that the youngest employee is, as Belinda has stated, enjoying himself in a nightclub.

Edward apologises to everyone for being late but, like everyone else, he has managed to get here in the record time that they all manage now. Everyone in the room has had their fair share of being woken up in the dead of night by the telephone.

Like all the others, Edward has been briefed on the phone of the situation – Gary’s girlfriend was missing and nobody has any idea where she might be. David reiterates to them all again that they are here that it might be nothing. But now the phrase hangs in the air like nobody actually believes that this is a possibility any more.

David decides to give everyone tasks to aid the search for Isabelle.

“Belinda, Edward, I want you two to check out the local haunts to see if there’s any clues about a kidnapping for ritual purposes.”

Belinda, Edward and Alice are all very surprised that David has made that decision.

“Alice, you come with me. I have a couple of ideas I want to play around with.”

There is no surprise there. Alice and David were virtually inseparable when it came to things like this.

“Gary, I want you to go back home and wait to see if Isabelle appears. You can get us on our mobile phones if she does.”

The first group to leave is Edward and Belinda. He is secretly glad that the two of them are doing this together, despite the fact that he still feels uncomfortable visiting the haunts. He enjoys working with Belinda and feels that she is maybe the only person in the office that he really gets on with.

He has worked out the evening before that it has been on the tip of his tongue just under a dozen times to ask her out for a drink. The reason he never asks is because he is certain that she will say no and that it might spoil the friendship they have. He also reckons that is one of the reasons why he likes her. Insane as it sounds, there is safety in a woman who will refuse you.

He also knows that she has faced some kind of personal tragedy in her life and that is why she is working with David, but he has no idea what it is and he has never felt there was a right time to ask. Maybe one day he would find out but it now definitely isn’t that right time – not when you are looking for the missing girlfriend of one of your co-workers.

Their mission is to head for one of the local haunts. The haunts are places where, for want of a better way of describing it is where people less than human hang out. Both of them have been to these haunts through the course of their time together with David, and in fact Edward’s first night on the job in Progression had taken him to one of these unholy places. They didn’t hold the same fear for the two of them that they once had.

They get there relatively quickly by car, the nearest haunt not being too far away from Progression Software. Edward wonders why they don’t move somewhere else. This is always the first place that David comes to hassle people. But tonight it is just the two of them. This is the bar where he had first fought the Brethren.

When they walk in to the place there is complete silence. It is as if some of the people in this really seedy looking dive have been expecting them to walk through the door all night.

The place looks like your average bar, except there are bloodstains on the wall and none of the people look like normal patrons of the drinking scene. Edward scans around the place in distaste.

“I don’t like this!” He says to Belinda, who smiles sweetly and walks to the bar.

“I don’t like this one little bit!” He feels the need to finish, despite the fact that Belinda can’t even hear him any more.