Chapter 24

  SIZZLE

  Deke found himself back in the car with Gillian. She was pulling into the parking lot outside the Milton Cohen building. “Hi, Darlin,’ thanks for trying to find me. Please turn off the radio; you might be able to hear me better.” Deke said to Gillian. “ I really wish you would not attend this hearing. It’s going to be ugly. Just go inside, find out I’m not there, and then go back to the cabin. I need you at the cabin.”

  Gillian turned off the radio.

  “That’s it, Rani! I’m here! I want to keep you as far away from Dr. Tilly and Jacob as possible. This is not going to be pleasant. Tilly has been building a case against me for some time. I’ve always known he didn’t like me. He smells blood in the water now. Don’t go into the building. Please turn around.”

  “Ahem,” Zenek alerted Deke that he was in the car with them. Startled, Deke turned his attention to the back seat.

  “You followed me here?”

  Zenek continued. “Funny, the things that persist. I cleared my throat to let you know I was here, but I don’t have a throat to clear. I don’t want to eavesdrop on a personal conversation, but I feel I have a stake in what is happening this afternoon.”

  “I’m not sure what a private conversation is anymore. I think I’m glad you are here,” Deke said. “I am flailing around in the dark. I need a guide. I’m not sure you are the right guy for the job, but your questions have been helpful. I gotta say, though, straight answers would be even more useful.”

  “Would they? I guess it depends on our objectives,” Zenek said.

  Gillian pulled the car into a parking space. She unfastened her seatbelt.

  Deke tried again, “Rani, it’s me. Don’t go in. I have a bad feeling about it. I’m not in there.”

  Gillian checked her makeup in the rearview mirror. She sat quietly in the car seat.

  “That’s it, Rani! Don’t go in. Go back to the cabin.”

  Gillian took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and pulled the keys from the ignition switch.

  Zenek said, “I thought you were getting through to her for a minute there.”

  Zenek and Deke followed Gillian into the building. They passed a few groups of students talking or studying. They walked to the elevator. Gillian pushed the button. The door opened. Beta and Alex were in the elevator.

  “Hi, Mrs. Kelton! I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Are you here for the hearing?” asked Alex.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I was hoping to find Deke here. I expected him to be here for the hearing.” Gillian said.

  “We haven’t seen him here for days,” said Alex as the elevator door closed.

  At the last moment, Jacob squeezed into the elevator. “Hiya, Doc!” Jacob said. “I thought you would be back for this shindig. Things are shaping up. Hey, the capacity of this elevator is only four people. We got six people here. This is right out of a Marx brothers’ movie! Here, trade me places.” He walked through Beta to the corner of the elevator.

  Beta shuddered as though she had just taken a chill. “The last time we saw him was when he was terminated at the lab. The day we were outside talking to him when you, umm,” Beta’s eyes grew wide as she realized her conversation was getting too personal, but she couldn’t stop herself, “when you got into your car to visit your mother.”

  Jacob snickered, “She went home to mother? How cliché!”

  Gillian politely smiled and put her hand on Beta’s shoulder. Beta pulled back involuntarily. Deke knew that Beta didn’t like to be touched.

  Gillian told them, “I am so worried about him. He left a few messages on Friday and Saturday, but I haven’t talked to him. When I tried to call back, the calls went straight into voice mail.”

  Alex and Beta looked at each other and back at Gillian. Deke was touched by the concern on their faces. Gillian told Alex and Beta that she had contacted the police and called the hospitals in the area. “No one has heard from him in days. There have been no charges on our credit card or our debit cards. He has just disappeared.”

  Jacob positioned his face a few inches from Gillian’s. ”He’s right here, you idiot!” he shouted. “He’s gonna get a complex if you're talking about him like he ain’t in the room!”

  Deke bristled at the attack on his wife. He tried to push Jacob through the wall of the elevator. At the attempted touch, Deke was revolted. He felt like he had pushed his hands into a septic tank.

  “Take it easy, Doc! It don’t work that way; she can’t hear me. I’m just trying to teach you something here.”

  The elevator stopped on the fourth floor. They all stepped out and walked toward the administrative offices.

  “Don’t worry. He’ll turn up. We’ll find him.” Alex told Gillian and Beta. Deke could tell Alex was trying to reassure himself as well.

  Beta confided to Alex, “ I don’t like talking to groups. I am afraid I’ll have an anxiety attack.”

  Kelton found himself in the vestibule outside the conference room where the hearing was to be held. Jacob shouted out, “O-ye, O-ye, O-ye. The man of the hour has arrived. Make way and give ear! Oh, and by the way, yeah, Dr. Kelton is here too!”

  In the waiting area were groups of faculty and graduate students in intense conversations. Tilly dominated the discussion in one of the groups. “…hasn’t been seen in days. Dr Kelton is too ashamed to show his face here.”

  A woman in a stained, white lab coat objected. “I’m sorry, Dr. Tilly. That doesn’t sound like the Dr. Kelton I know. There must be some reasonable explanation. More to the point, we have all borrowed items from other labs on occasion. It’s what we all do to deal with limited budgets. You will have to make a stronger case to convince me.”

  “Thanks for that, Lucy!” Kelton said. He felt the first ray of hope in days. “There are still some people who will stand up for me.”

  Zenek smiled. “Why wouldn’t these people support you? Haven’t you treated them fairly and with respect?”

  “Support?” interrupted Jacob. “Respect? You're using the wrong currency here, bub, if it’s respect that you want. You're kidding yourself! Tilly’s got them eating out of the palm of his hand. They are all scared of him. Their imaginations are running wild because they have no idea of his boundaries. If he’ll do this to Dekie Boy, what would he do to them if they cross him? That’s respect! I love this guy, Tilly!”

  Milton Cohen appeared. “You may have a point, Jacob. Oy, it’s not always the talented or the brightest who do well in these halls. Dr. Tilly has some skills to be reckoned with, to the detriment of his department.”

  Kelton knew that both Jacob and Cohen were right. His optimism for today's hearing was deflating like a balloon with a pinhole.