Time Stands Still

Chapter 06

My eyes nearly popped out of my head at the first statement Mason made. I had forgotten how blunt he was. "That's good and it's not someone that knows of me, right?"

"No, he has only been working for us about a year. He has worked with Clifford once or twice but Clifford doesn't talk about you to anyone so you have no reason to be concerned that he knows of you existence."

My heart dropped into my stomach, metaphorically of course. I swallowed loudly. I always avoided thinking about the effects my death must have had. Being confronted so bluntly and obviously just made a heart drop, metaphorically.

"That's good. That's good," I repeated feeling a great deal like Jacob Two Two.

Another hum was heard. "Have you found Emma Smith yet?"

"No."

"Tell me if you do. We could offer her protection."

I smiled. "I think that she has that covered pretty well."

The statement turned out to be true because it took me seemingly forever to find Emma Smith. At one point, I started to believe that Emma Smith didn't even exist and I had gotten my facts mixed up.

The fruitless search also might have been caused by my jumbled brain. The thought, that someone of the Razor Company was somewhere in Seattle, certainly did not work like a meditation session. It did quite the opposite, despite me knowing that he could not find me.

In my apartment, I expected to hear a knock to reveal my brother on the other side. At my office, I expected to see Nathan walk in any second. I couldn't walk the streets without checking out every single person. Grocery store shopping certainly wasn't boring anymore. I was constantly on full alert. It seemed like my heart had remained in my stomach.

Rhys noticed my jumpy mood and he decided that we should have a day off. That day, we spent inside watching various movies. It had brightened my mood, but the feeling of dread remained.

After another week of me not getting any further with the case, Rhys decided to step in to help me. "Have you tried contacting the curling places?"

"What?" I frowned.

Rhys put a picture in front of me with the generic Emma Smith. It was a picture of her holding some type of mop. "That is a curling broom."

"A what?" I repeated again.

Rhys huffed. "You know the sport that we always make fun of on tv where they keep brushing ice to get the puck to the center. That sport?"

I blinked. "How do you that it is a curling broom?"

"Because I have seen way too much curling." I snickered slightly. "But that's beside the point. The point is that not a lot of people play the sport, so she should be easy to find if she still plays the sport of course."

"Of course," I exclaimed. I gave him a hug. "Thanks."

Rhys straightened up and started to say something, most likely about his amazing detective abilities, but I had already zoned in on my task. It turned out that there was only one major curling club in Seattle. There were other smaller places where it was possible to play, but it seemed like if you were passionate about curling that you would join that club.

The next thing, I knew I was calling the Granite Club to ask about its members. Unfortunately nobody picked up. So the next best thing was going to Granite Club myself.

The curling club was located in a small little alpine style house which was attached to a large white building where most likely the skating rink was in. The inside was styled like a mountain lodge. It was surprisingly cozy.