“Did she like the ring?” Josephine asked, her eyes crinkling, an expectant, giddy look on her face, as she delivered the coffee I’d been gasping for, but hadn’t actually requested.

“How did you know I got her—never mind,” I answered questioning her, but then shook my head. She seemed to know exactly what I was thinking or what I needed, always one step ahead, when I came to think of it.

I had to admit that perhaps Josephine wasn’t such a bad secretary after all, once I gave her a chance to prove herself and stopped looking for faults.

She smirked. “Well? Did she?”

I rolled my eyes. “She might have.”

“That’s totally a yes. I still can’t believe you’re doing this. You barely know the girl and… did you get down on one knee?”

“It was your idea!” The phone on my desk rang and I looked up at her, lacing my fingers together. “You going to get that?”

Josephine sighed and snatched up the receiver, delivering the office’s standard greeting. After a few nods, she handed me the phone. “It’s your driver, wouldn’t tell me what it was about.”

“My driver?” I repeated, my brows puckering. Jo shrugged. “Hello?”

“Hey, Mr. Sebastian, it’s Big Jim. Sorry to bother you at work but, well, I thought this might be important.”

“Oh, hi,” I replied utterly confused as to why Big Jim would feel the need to call me. I only used his service occasionally, for trips out of town, special dates, or to the airport, and always the bookings went through Josephine. “What can I help you with?”

“I don’t know exactly how to say this, so I’m just gonna spit it right out. Remember the young woman you had me pick up from the airport?”

“Sure, I do. I was there with you.”

“Right, well I just wanted to run it by you really, but I will be getting paid for the additional trips that have been made, right? I’ve not received anything from your office.”

“You probably should talk to my secretary about this. She’ll have all the records… wait,” I said, the cogs of my mind spinning, “what extra trips?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I’ve just dropped Anna off—I think that’s her name, I remember it ‘cause you had me write it down—”

“Dropped her off where? You mean now?”

“Yes, right now. About twenty minutes out of the city, in a ramshackle of a town if you ask me. Second time she’s had me drive out here.”

“Are you sure it’s the same woman?” I asked unable to process what he was telling me. Why on earth would Anna be taking trips out of the city and using Big Jim to do it?

“Positive. She has an accent, Russian I think, though if you ask me it sounds—”

“Tell me exactly where you are,” I said interrupting him, grabbing the fountain pen on my desk and pulling over a bit of notepaper.

Big Jim relayed the information and I read it back to him making sure I had it right. What on earth was she doing all the way out there?

“I went inside the bar she had me wait at, but she wasn’t there. I think she ducked out. Gave me the slip. What do you want me to do?” Big Jim asked, a worried quaver coming down the line.

“Just keep doing what you have been doing. And don’t worry about the money—I’ll make sure you get paid. But let me know immediately if she takes any more trips. And next time follow her. I want to know precisely where she goes.”

“Will do.” Big Jim ended the call and I stared up at a quizzical Josephine.

“What was all that about?”

“Hell if I know. But I’m starting to think there’s more to Anna than she’s letting on.”

Josephine’s eyes darted away, unable to hold my gaze. Did she know something? What wasn’t she telling me?

“Jo, do you know something?”

“Me? Why would I know something? I haven’t even met the girl. Better get back to work, or the boss will tan my hide,” she said, forcing out a chuckle. Quickly Josephine left my office, closing the door behind her.

I sat for a moment, dwelling on what Big Jim had told me. I tried to run the information through my mind, inputting all the data like they were part of some mathematical formula, hoping to glean some answers. All I could come up with were errors and dead ends.

There was something not quite right… and what had Big Jim said about her accent? I couldn’t remember.

I grabbed my cell and searched for the new entry I’d only hours before tapped in. Earlier I’d had Josephine acquire, set up, and courier over a brand new phone for Anna’s use and wondered if she’d received it yet. A quick glance at my watch told me she should have. That along with the flowers.

Holding the cell to my ear I listened to the trilling, wondering if she would pick up. Did she dare? I needed some kind of explanation. What was she hiding?

“Hallo?” came her voice, just as I remembered it.

“Anna, it’s Sebastian. Just checking in, wondered if you got the flowers?” I said changing tact at the last moment. I couldn’t very well come out and ask her what she was doing out of the city. At least not over the phone, I still needed her after all. In more than one way, too.

“Oh, yes. Very beautiful. Thank you,” she added curtly as if she would rather be doing anything else than speaking to me on the phone right then. In the background a loud horn screeched, and there was the distinct sound of traffic and everyday street commotion.

“Anna, where are you?” I asked gently, careful not to arouse her suspicion.

“Er…” I heard her breathing, the seconds passing as I imagined her trying to come up with an answer. Was she back in the car with Big Jim? “What?”

I narrowed my eyes, was she pretending not to have heard my question? But before I could ask it again, she responded quickly in Russian. I couldn’t make head nor tail of it, except… it hadn’t really sounded like her. Feminine, yet deeper. But perhaps that was how she sounded in full flow of her natural language.

“Sorry, I didn’t understand a word of that,” I said when the line when silent again.

“Must go,” she abruptly replied then the call died.

I held the phone away from my ear and simply stared at it, my mouth agape. What the fuck just happened?