19 ~ DARCY

The woman who marched through the reception area, hand outstretched, welcoming smile, was of similar height to me. I kind of admired her in seconds because she was one of those women who eschewed the common trend of gorgeous long hair and instead wore hers spiky short, in a color I could only describe as pearl. I envied the ease of her hair routine, but knew I’d never be brave enough to give that style a go.

The business card she gave me just said Ellie and I wondered whether if, like Pearl, Ellie was distinctive enough to have no use for her family name.

Extreme confidence wafted in the air around her as she led me through to a boardroom decorated with memorabilia of stars represented by the agency, and others, way more famous, who’d merely stopped by and offered up a photo opportunity. I tried not to look too hard, but the line-up impressed me.

Pearl was on some remote beach on the West Coast of the South Island shooting a video, but Ellie assured me she was eager to help us out. I ran through the brief I’d prepared, giving her the details of the previous year’s successful event and an idea of the sort of people it would attract.

Ellie seemed satisfied with what I told her, but having never worked with her agency before I couldn’t be sure how much groundwork she’d already done. She asked a number of questions about Oliver which I thought odd at first before I remembered it was his interview that had been the connecting point between her client and the event.

“I played Mr. Sackville’s interview from Sunday night’s Highpoint. I thought it would interest Pearl because of the Waitapu connection, and she was very excited, particularly in light of the way she feels about drugs. Given her status, and ability to communicate with the generation most vulnerable, she wants to help where she can. Your fundraiser is the type of thing she wants to get on board with.”

“We’re very grateful.”

“You’re lucky the timing is right. Her schedule is booked for the next two years, your event is at a time when she’s in the Waitapu area. If you could get me the names of the other main players, sponsors, that sort of thing, so that I can check to make sure there aren’t any clashes of interest. Then all we have to do is sort out the contract, and we’ll be done.” Ellie stood.

I followed her lead, gathering my notes. “I’ll have the details to you this week.”

“Excellent. Once the contract is signed, we can get together and work on the timing for the announcement.”

Ellie escorted me all the way to the street, saying she was on her way to a meeting downtown. When the glass door slipped open, I reached for my phone intending to message Luther that I was finished and arrange somewhere to be picked up. There were plenty of places to grab a coffee close by, but as I looked up I saw the Mercedes pull up in front of the building. Luther’s meeting must have gone well because he was out of the car almost before it had stopped, opening the door for me.

Well, that’s what I thought he was doing but as I approached I noticed his entire focus was on Ellie as she passed.

Luther’s body was rigid, blocking the opened car door, and he never took his eyes off her until she rounded the corner, oblivious, and out of sight. I went to the other side of the vehicle where the harried driver had also jumped from the car to open the door for me.

Luther was back in the car in a flash, slamming the door. He faced me as we pulled into the traffic, eyes darting around as if he was questioning every part of my face, checking for something. A clue, a lie, I couldn’t tell.

“Who the fuck are you, Darcy?” he hissed.

“Excuse me?” I was taken aback. What the hell had made him so angry?

He continued to stare at me, waiting for an answer. I watched him take a deep breath, but his demeanor didn’t shift when he blew it out.

I had no intention of answering his obnoxious question so we held each other’s stare, connected like dueling mountain goats locking horns. Finally he spoke.

“That woman you were talking to on the street, short blonde hair, tell me her name?” His voice was low and dangerous.

“Her name is Ellie.”

“Ellie who?”

“Just Ellie. Why? Do you want to ask her out? I have her card.” I sounded ridiculous, even to me.

“How long have you known her?”

“Since 10:30 this morning. What is this, Luther?”

“Show me her card.”

“Manners,” I snapped. I felt snarky. He questioned me as though I was hiding something.

“Please…Darcy, show me her card,” he said through gritted teeth.

I pulled it from the side pocket of my bag and passed it to him, watching as he narrowed his eyes and scanned the name and contact details. He flipped it over, checking the blank back and returned it to me without a word.

We rode the rest of the way to the heliport in silence so loud my ears were ringing. Once inside the helicopter I retrieved my earbuds and plugged them into my phone to listen to a podcast, happy to leave Luther stewing in whatever concoction he’d dreamed up.

Back in Waitapu, I still had to share a ride with him, though I offered to phone for a taxi.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m going to Tradewind, anyway,” Luther said, marching to his car without even checking if I was following.

He waited with the engine running, and when I reached the vehicle, he stretched across my seat and pushed the door open for me from inside.

“You clearly don’t like me, Luther. That’s fine. I’m not here to win any popularity contests. But would you mind telling me what the hell just went on in Auckland, because your attitude is, quite frankly, fucking rude.”

“As long as you’ve never met Ellie before, I’m sure everything will be fine.”

I tried a different tack. “Who is Ellie?”

“You tell me,” he said, then cut off any chance of my responding by putting in a call to Oliver.

Gail’s voice came through the car speakers.

“Is Oliver free?” Luther snapped.

“Good afternoon, Luther,” Gail responded smoothly.

“Yes. Where’s Oliver?”

“He’s at the Lodge having lunch with clients. You have a meeting with him at 4:30. Do you wish to change it?”

“No, that’ll have to do.”

“Is there anything else I can help you with? Perhaps I should call Pest Control to see if they can do something about the bug in your ass?”

I snorted, and Luther shot me a death stare.

“My apologies, Gail,” he said, surprising me with his contrite tone.

“Accepted. Goodbye, Luther.” With that, she disconnected. I expect it had something to do with working in a predominantly male environment, but Gail certainly had no problem handling Luther. I’d have to ask her for some pointers.

At Tradewind, I thanked him for the ride and escaped into the building as quickly as possible. I decided I’d wait to see if Oliver mentioned Luther’s reaction about Ellie. If Luther discussed it at the meeting, and it had anything to do with me, Oliver would say something. Perhaps Ellie was someone from Luther’s past.