Blackbourne Investigations 01 - Introductions

Chapter 21 - Luke cont.

My morning was flying by. I had a basic routine now and loved the satisfaction of ticking off my tasks. Checking the messages on the machine, Victor had had someone repeatedly leave messages for him overnight. I quickly jotted them down and tidied my desk. Walking down to his office I looked forward to seeing him again, memories of our twirl making me smile.

I tapped lightly on the door, opening it quietly when I heard his welcome. He was working on the long table against the wall, with what looked to be a laptop completely pulled apart all over it. He was working confidently, placing the various tiny parts together.

He greeted me with a wry grin, changing his handsome face to breath-taking. He moved to the side, indicating for me to step up beside him. I stepped closer, looking over all the parts strewn everywhere. How he kept track of them and remembered where everything went intrigued me. I wonder how hard it would be to learn that? I kept quiet, to not break his concentration.

He screwed in a small screw to fix a couple of pieces together before placing it down. 'What have you got for me today Sang?'

'Just have a few messages for you. Someone was calling for you a few times last night.'

I handed them to him and he looked them over briefly before putting them to the side dismissively.

Resting against the table he focused intently on me.

'I was in surveillance yesterday afternoon and the external camera caught your exit. Did you hurt yourself?'

His eyes were intense on me, watching me closely for an answer. I hesitated in my response. I hadn't been physically hurt at all, my mystery victim had cushioned and protected me in the fall, but I still felt mortified that I had knocked a friend of theirs over and was deeply embarrassed that they had witnessed me having a panic attack. 'I was okay, just a bit embarrassed by it.'

I had unconsciously pulled my arms close to my body rubbing my left wrist with my right thumb. My shoulders slightly curving in

'Sang, what happened? They didn't hurt you at all did they?' Victor's demeanour had changed from his gentle self to a harder version.

I pulled my arms apart and picked up a pen off Victor's table, focusing on the engraving on the side 'Blackbourne Investigations.' The weight of the pen was perfect. Another example of the flawless standard here. I set it back down with a thud. 'I'm fine, I was just a bit shaken up when they helped me up.'

The expression on his face was unwavering. His eyes were searching my face before flicking down to my wrists. I was thankful there was no bruising. I could see he wasn't going to let it go. He looked angry, his eyes igniting. His lips parted to question me again, I had to deflect.

'It's just never a good way to meet a friend of the boss, kneeing him in the groin.'

Victor's eyes widened for a moment then a snort of laughter erupted from him. He shook his head laughing.

Happiness bubbled up inside me, knowing I had caused his laughter. I hoped he had forgotten what we had been talking about before.

'I'll let you get back to this' I gestured towards the table, 'glad I was good for a laugh.' I finished with a grin. I slipped back out of his office, loving the sound of his soft laughter behind me.

I finished my tasks and drummed my fingers on the desk. What to do next? Maybe I could give them all a call and ask if they had anything I could do to help. I wasn't sure who was in the control room, maybe they needed something.

The reception phone rang, the ringer cut short on the second ring, indicating it was an internal call. I could hear the same ring from several phones down the hallway.