“If he did leave, he’d put it on his work calendar.”
“Yeah, I assume.”
“I’d like to have a look at it. The rest of his accounts, too.”
Scott arched his eyebrows. “For real?”
“Unless you can reach him.”
Holding his gaze on me, he reinserted the earbuds. “‘Call Luke Edison.’”
I counted the length of five rings, watched him listen to the silent words.
You’ve reached Luke Edison at Bay Area Therapeutics. Sorry I’m unavailable at the moment...
Have a blessed day.
“Yo yo, Dookie,” Scott said. “Checking in. Hit me up when you got a sec. Love you tons.”
He disconnected. “Look. It’s no big deal. How often do you pick up your phone?”
“When was the last time he called you?”
He worked his cell out of his pocket. The slacks were tailored and it took a while.
“... Thursday. Around two p.m.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“I don’t remember. Maybe.”
“Did he leave a voicemail?”
“Nobody who knows me does. They know I’m not going to listen to it.”
“When’s the most recent text?”
He thumbed. “Saturday. Ten in the morning.”
“What does he say?”
“It’s work stuff. It’s not going to mean anything to you.”
“Humor me.”
He read: “‘KPL passed on piece about sales dip in Oregon cause they think it’s old news. Will circle back.’” A mocking smile. “Did you get any of that?”
“Try texting him now. Ask him to call you.”
He sighed. He thumbed, tapped, and set the phone on the floor. “Listen, Clay—”
“When was his last email?”
“We really need to do this?”
“Not if you let me look at his account.”
“You understand I can’t just do that. He’s entitled to privacy.”
“I agree. Can we also agree not to put that ahead of his welfare?”
“His welf — what’s that even mean?”
I’d run and rerun so many disaster scenarios that I had a hard time picking just one. And I could see why Scott found my persistence confusing. I knew about the Camaro. He didn’t.
I said, “If you had reason to believe that he was in trouble, you’d agree that takes priority.”
“Sure. But I don’t have reason to believe that.” He laced his fingers behind his head. “Go ahead. Persuade me.”
“Nobody’s heard from him in more than a day.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t think that’s a problem?”
“Andrea’s not worried, I don’t know why we should be.”
“She doesn’t know the old Luke. She never met him.”
“Yeah. Cause it’s the old Luke.”
“Something weird is going on, Scott. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.”
“I get that you’re wound up. But can we be, like, parsimonious? Worst case he took off for a few days to clear his head.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know.” His shoulders bunched. “Dude. Why are you coming at me like this?”
“I’m worried about him.”
“Let’s just breathe, please, okay? Here,” he said, standing, “let me get you some water. Or you want a gummy?”
“Who at the company would know where he is? He must report to someone.”
“Technically, I guess, yeah.”
“Who?”
“The CMO.”
“Can you ask him?”
“Her,” he said pointedly. He sat and touched his headset. “‘Call Tanisha Dubuque.’ Hey, T. Yeah. Sorry to bug you. Real quick: Have you spoken to Luke lately? Yeah. No. Do you know if he’s on the road... ? Okay. No no no. No need. Thanks, T.”
“What did she say?”
“Look, he reports to her. But that’s not... I mean, we have — it’s more of a flat hierarchy.”
Said the CEO in the glass watchtower.
“What’s he doing, day-to-day?” I asked.
“That’s what I mean. We’re fluid. It changes, day to day. I don’t believe in fitting the person to the task. You fit the task to the person. Luke... He’s a Swiss Army knife, you know? A free safety.”
“Who does he interact with?”
“How do you mean.”
“Does he deal with people on the black market?”
His lips tightened but his voice remained soft. “Look. Clay. When you called, I dropped everything and carved out time. But this is not cool.”
“I’m asking a question.”
“It’s not a cool question, the way you’re asking it. So I suggest you check yourself and whatever preconceived notions you have about what we do here. This is a legal enterprise.”
“Not saying otherwise. But don’t you sometimes have to expand your sources?”
“That’s the way the supply chain operates. We couldn’t meet demand otherwise.”
“What if Luke got involved with one of those people?”
“‘Involved’?” He sputtered a laugh. “Bro. Please. ‘Those peop... ’ You know who ‘those people’ are? OG hippies who haven’t stepped foot out of Mendocino in fifty fucking years. They got kids older than us. Their kids have kids. It ain’t MS-13. You’re using an obsolete framework. It’s not twenty fifteen, we’re not schlepping around Hefty bags of cash. Luke doesn’t handle that shit anyway.”
“What does he handle?”
“Other shit. This” — Scott waved at the office floor — “is not one business. It’s businesses. We have extracts. We have edibles, infusions, flower. That’s the plant-touching side. We also have lifestyle consulting, corporate consulting, brand consulting, event planning. Everything’s siloed, legally. Luke’s strictly non-touching. And FYI, that was his choice. He didn’t want his record causing issues. I told him don’t trip but he insisted.”
“You’ve got weed growing everywhere.”
“For decoration. That’s not product. You know how often we have to replace those motherfuckers? They’re not happy in here. They need sunlight. They need warmth. They die like it’s a horror movie. Fuck, bro. Luke doesn’t even like weed, it makes him puke.”
“What about other drugs?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“You know his history as well as I do.”
“Yeah, well, if he relapsed, I guess he decided not to share that with his boss.”
“You’re his friend,” I said.
He said nothing.
“Have you noticed any changes in his behavior?”
“No.”
“Has he asked to borrow money?”
“No.”
“Has he sold his shares?”
“He can’t. We’re not at that stage.”
“How much does he make?”
“For fuck’s sake, Clay. You want a job, fill out an application.” He paused, sliding his jaw. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to you. Did you ever think about that?”
“That’s why I went to Andrea, and it’s why I’m talking to you.”
“Okay, then, maybe you want to take a moment to follow up and ask yourself why not. Here’s my theory: You’re kind of a dick to him. For real, what do you have against him?”
“Nothing. If I did I wouldn’t be looking for him.”
“All I hear is you making one assumption after another.”
“About what.”
“About me. About my business. Him, what he does, who he is. He doesn’t want to talk to you? I don’t blame him. Know what,” Scott said, “I don’t blame you, either. You’re a cop. You think like a cop. It’s good or it’s bad. News flash: Life ain’t like that. Human beings aren’t like that.”