The bright office lights cast a clean, even glow across Selene's office, illuminating the Henderson advertising campaign materials scattered on the desk.
I don't know yet.
That's what Cassian's boss, Mr. Hertz, had said after apologizing, the conversation still blaring in my head. The wrongness of it all pressed against my chest like a weight. First those horrible text messages from someone pretending to be my husband, then Thomas admitting he'd called 911 and been threatened by whatever answered. It felt like reality had screeched to a halt.
I tapped 911 on my phone, my finger hovering over the call button, but Thomas's voice stopped me. What if the same thing happened to me? Fear gripped me, but then there was a knock on the door.
"Hey Selene, Henderson is still requesting an ETA on their new clothing line ads. They're hoping to get it within the next day or two," Sarah, our longtime creative designer, said through the frosted glass.
I forced my voice to sound normal. "Yeah, I'll wrap it up on my end and send it your way. Everything looks good, Sarah. I just need to finalize the fields in the ad revenue portion of the spreadsheet and we should be able to send it out end of day today."
"Thanks, Selene." Sarah's footsteps faded as she headed back to her desk.
The moment she was gone, the normalcy collapsed. How could I sit here talking about clothing ads and spreadsheets when Cassian might be... what? Missing? Hurt? Something worse? The hum of regular office life felt like a mockery, everyone going about their business while my world was falling apart.
I stared at my phone again. If 911 was compromised, who else could I call? The local police station directly? But what would I even say? That my husband's texts seemed off and his boss got a threatening call? How can 911 even be compromised?
No. I'll just continue working, and... And then it hit me. I'm panicking over nothing.
The thought struck like a slap of cold water. Here I was, spiraling into some conspiracy theory because of a few strange texts and Thomas sounding rattled. Maybe I'd misread the whole situation. Maybe Cassian really was just busy with some crisis at work, typing quickly, making mistakes and acting really erratic. Maybe Thomas was just being overly cautious, the way corporate executives got when anything unusual happened on their watch.
No. That's not it.
I set the phone down and pulled the Henderson materials closer. The familiar weight of deadlines and client expectations felt grounding, real in a way that my paranoid fantasies didn't. This was my life - campaigns and spreadsheets, not some thriller novel where husbands disappeared and emergency services were compromised. Sounds like a novella.
As I continued finalizing the spreadsheets, my eyes kept drifting back to my phone. The screen was dark now, but I was hoping to receive a text from Cassian. An, "I love you!" or something similar. As time passed my mind would flicker from work to the conversation, and back.
Tap. Tap. Tap. And done.
Her team completed the designs, she wrapped up the accounting, and now the package was ready to be sent off to her team to set up an FTP link and wrap this project up. My handle trembled slightly as I reached for my coffee mug.
Get it together girl. You have things you need to do.
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Henderson Advertising Campaign
Hey Adam,
See the link below, we've wrapped up the Henderson Advertising and I need you to set up those finds in our FTP and forward it to Jason Kitz.
\maces.com\work\projects\100123.010_Henderson_And_Sons\
Thank you,
Selene Hernandez
Operations Manager, CPA, CMA Meridian and Associates, Inc
----------------------------------------------------
Sent.
I lay back in my seat and peruse through social media on my phone, liking a few videos and getting my mind off stress. The incident with Cassian and Thomas finally fleeing from my the recesses of my mind.
After about 15 minutes of mindless scrolling, my computer chimed with a new notification. My heart jumped at the email notification from Adam.
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Henderson Advertising Campaign
Selene,
I can't access the FTP link you sent. When I try to navigate to \maces.com\work\projects\10123.010_Henderson_And_Sons\ I get an error message saying the path doesn't exist. Can you double-check the link?
Also, I don't have Jason Kitz in our contact database. Can you send me his email directly?
Thanks,
Adam
Creative Designer II
----------------------------------------------------
I stared at the email, confusion washing over me. That was impossible. I'd used that exact file path dozens of times - it was our standard project folder structure. And Jason Kitz had been our primary contact with the Chicago based firm for over two years.
My fingers moved automatically, typing the file path into my computer's explorer. Access denied. The folder didn't exist. That's when I realized I missed a 0. I scrolled down to my original email.
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Henderson Advertising Campaign
Hey Adam,
See the link below, we've wrapped up the Henderson Advertising and I need you to set up those finds in our FTP and forward it to Jason Kitz.
\maces.com\work\projects\10123.010_Henderson_And_Sons\
Thank you,
Selene Hernandez
Operations Manager, CPA, CMA Meridian and Associates, Inc
----------------------------------------------------
Huh, interesting. Could've sworn I copied it directly from the URL bar.
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Henderson Advertising Campaign
Hey Adam,
Sorry about that, it's
\maces.com\work\projects\100123.010_Henderson_And_Sons\
I cc'd Sarah, she knows the other contacts as well.
Thank you,
Selene Hernandez
Operations Manager, CPA, CMA Meridian and Associates, Inc
----------------------------------------------------
I leaned back in my chair, mindlessly organizing scattered materials on my desk. The glossy mockups of Henderson's fall clothing line, the bargain bin crisp blazers and cheap flowing dresses that were made to look expensive in the prints. I straightened edges and rearranged things by color. Busy and useless work, but it felt good to do something tangible.
My computer chimed with an instant message notification. Sarah's name appeared in the corner of my screen.
Sarah Chen -Hey Selene, just saw your email thread with Adam. Quick heads up - the contact name is Jason Kitsch, not Kitz. Easy mistake.
I stared at the message, my fingers frozen over the keyboard, eyeing the words carefully.
Selene Hernandez -Right, sorry. Long morning. Thanks for catching that.
Sarah Chen -No worries! We all have those days. Let me know if you need anything else! :)
Selene Hernandez Thumbs up this message.
I closed the chat window and returned to my busywork. The Henderson materials were perfectly organized now, and I found myself shuffling through other projects on my desk. Completing invoice forms that needed to be filed. Arranging an order for several stacks of business cards from the marketing conference last month that I'd been meaning to order. Approving the design of a 3D promotional stress ball from our design team that admittedly should've been approved weeks ago. With the Henderson Campaign finally completed, I was able to wrap up other loose strings.
I haven't felt this accomplished in some time. Maybe I'll make partner by the end of the year.
I picked up the prototype stress ball and squeezed it, watching the plastic components compress and slowly expand back to its original shape. Amazing how it can mimic foam, but feel like cracking a bag of chips. Compress. Crack. Expand. Compress. Crack. Expand. The rhythm was oddly soothing, like a tiny meditation.
My phone buzzed against the desk, jarring me back to reality. I looked at the phone to see 'Thomas Hertz' calling me, and my heart immediately dropped back into that familiar pit of worry.
I swiped to answer on the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey Selene, this is Tommy, uhh Cassian's supervisor. I'm sorry to bother you at work." His voice sounded strained, different from this morning, more cautious somehow.
"Hey Tommy, what is it? Is it about..." My voice caught in my throat, thinking back to those awful text messages. "Did something else happen?"
"Yes, that's what I'm calling you about, but it's actually good news." I could hear him take a deep breath. "I just saw your husband's car pull into the parking lot. I heard back from the other site members that he was potentially attacked by someone. The unofficial police report says there was a homeless person who got into the building somehow."
My hand tightened around the stress ball. "Wait, attacked? Is he hurt?"
"No, no, he's fine physically. I think he's a bit razzled, and I was told he left without his phone so the guy probably has it. The homeless guy, I mean."
A homeless person. That's who was texting me earlier. Relief started to seep through my chest, but I was still processing.
"So... those disgusting text messages I got this morning, that was from some random homeless person who stole Cassian's phone?"
"That's what it looks like. I mean, it makes sense, right? Someone desperate, maybe not all there mentally, gets hold of a phone and just starts... I don't know, messing with people. It's Philly right?"
"Oh thank God," I breathed out, feeling my shoulders finally relax for the first time all day. "Those messages were just... Well, I hope they catch whoever it was."
"Yeah, well, about that..." Tommy's voice grew more hesitant again. "Here's what's still bothering me. When I tried calling the police earlier this morning to report all this, I got some really strange responses. Like I told you this morning, someone answered the 911 line and basically threatened me when I mentioned what happened. That's just not normal."
I frowned, the relief starting to mix with confusion again. "Are you sure that's fully what happened? That doesn't really make sense."
"I know it doesn't. That's what's still bugging me about this whole thing."
There was a long pause. I could hear muffled voices in the background on his end, probably other workers finishing up their day.
"Okay, but like... so what does this have to do with Cassian right now?" I stumbled over my wording, not sure what to say.
"Just, I don't know, keep an eye out. Has Cassian done anything to get mixed up with some wrong folks? Any new friends, business deals, anything like that?"
"Cassian? He can make some questionable word choices sometimes, but he's still a morally good person. He would never get involved in anything shady, he's too moral for that. Plus, all he does is work and spend time with me. I would've known if something was off."
"Fair point. Fair point." He paused again. "You know what? I think I'm just being paranoid. Probably just some mix-up or something. Tell you what though, I'm gonna tell him to take the next few days off, paid and not taken from his PTO pool, and I'll take over any of his immediate work. Let him decompress from all this."
"That's... actually really thoughtful of you, Tommy. Thank you." I felt the last of the tension in my shoulders ease. "So he'll be coming home after you guys finish up there?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be too much longer. I think he's going to stop by my office first to talk to me and fill out some paperwork about the incident, but I wanted to call you first, let you know he's okay. He should probably be home by the time you get off work."
"Thanks, Tommy. Really. I appreciate you looking out for him."
"Of course. You take care, alright."
The line went dead, and I set the phone down. My hands were finally steady. Tommy was probably just being cautious, maybe even a little paranoid after that strange 911 call, but at least Cassian was safe. At least there was a rational explanation for those horrible texts - just some poor, desperate person who'd found a phone and didn't know what else to do with it.
I sat at my computer and pulled up the office messenger.
Selene Hernandez -Hey Sarah. Something happened with my husband this morning, but everything's okay now. I'm going to take the rest of the afternoon off though. Give me a buzz if you need anything urgent!
Sarah Chen -Oh no! I hope Cassian's alright! Was it anything serious?
Selene Hernandez -Just a weird situation at his work site, but he's fine. Something happened that caused a bit of chaos.
Sarah Chen -Yikes! Well I'm glad he's safe. I'll hold down the fort, don't you worry!
Selene Hernandez -Thanks Sarah, you're the best.
I squeezed the prototype stress ball one more time, listening to the satisfying plastic crackle, then set it aside and started gathering my things. Time to wrap up my day and get home to my husband.