Hello, Privet! #1: Hello/Привет

Chapter 51

JOHN

"Where the fuck is he?" I ask Warren, pushing my chair back from my desk. "He can't do this, man. He can't do this anymore."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this," says Warren, but he sounds uncertain. "But weren't you the one who last spoke to him?" he points out. "I thought you were taking him fishing."

"Well, he wasn't in the Hamptons. He was, but he left."

"We called Kirill, Kolya, Henry, his mother—no one has seen him." Warren checks his phone. "Maybe Sophie knows where he is."

"Why would she—" I stop pacing. "Is Sophie here?" I ask Willa.

Willa puts down the folders on my desk with a start and looks up in surprise.

"She says she can't come in today. She says she's sick."

"Hey, maybe they're together," Warren suggests, joking.

I turn to Warren and then to Willa. "You don't think—"

Warren loses his smile and shakes his head slowly with a dumbfounded look on his face. "No. No. It couldn't be..." Then he laughs nervously. "Come on, Sophie and Anton?"

Isabele comes rushing in with a phone in her hand. "I've got Sophie!"

I take the phone from her. "Hello, Sophie. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"When are you coming back to work?"

"I—I don't know. I'm still not feeling well."

"Sophie—can I ask you something?"

"Uh—okay..."

"We were wondering if you know anything about Anton's whereabouts."

Sophie doesn't answer for a long time and I wonder if we've lost the connection. Then she says, "No, I don't know anything."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know where he is," Sophie answers.

"Sophie, this is serious. If you know where Anton is, can you tell him he's needed here? He has important meetings. He has—he has responsibilities."

"I'm sorry. I really don't know where he is."

"Sophie, if you know anything—"

"I don't know anything," she insists.

"Sophie—"

"I'm sorry, I've got to go..." says Sophie, and then she hangs up.

I stare at the phone in my hand.

SOPHIE

When I wake up again, it is late afternoon. I can hear footsteps and the pipes of the shower next door whining. I open my eyes and sit up, pulling the blanket closer around me. I suddenly feel my phone vibrate and I search for it under the pillows. Tal is calling me again. I hit the cancel button and sit in silence for a long time, staring outside the window of Aphro's room, waiting for whoever is in the bathroom, maybe Minju, or Grisha, to leave. I know they have a class at seven.

A few minutes later, I hear more footsteps and then the front door closing.

I sit up in my cot and then walk slowly to the kitchen, get a glass of water and drink it. Then I open the fridge, the cupboards and decide to make pancakes when I realize I haven't really eaten for the past couple of days.