M Sellars: Love Is The Bond

Sharp sound split the silence. The phone was ringing, rattling through the house with a haunting echo. After three repetitions, there was a click, and the outgoing message from the answering machine spilled into the room.

“You have reached the Gant and O’Brien household, please leave a message…”

There was a short pause, and it was then followed by a high-pitched electronic tone. On its heels came an angry male voice affected with a harsh Irish accent. “You damn bastard!… I know you’re there!… Pick up the phone!… This is all your fault, Rowan Gant! You and your Godlessness!… Damn your eyes, you bastard! Look what you’ve done to her! Look what you’ve done to my daughter!”

A heavy click came immediately behind the angry words as the phone at the calling end was slammed down. This wasn’t the first message of that sort that had been left, and it was sure not to be the last.

Even so, the man ignored it just like all the rest.

He continued moving through the seemingly empty house, trudging about with no particular mission in mind. The place was an absolute wreck. Emptied drawers, upturned cushions. Visible carnage where the police had executed their search warrant, seizing everything from articles of her clothing to some of the books that he had checked out of the local library.

Through it all, a man he called his best friend stood watching, an unspoken apology obvious in his eyes.

Once again, the telephone began to peal, interrupting the man’s anguish with its unwanted bid for attention. The last bell in the trio of rings ended, and the machine burped its greeting once again. This time, in the wake of the tone, a wholly different voice issued from the speaker. One that was authoritative, feminine, and possessed of a heavy Southern accent.

“I am calling for a Mister Rowan Gant,” the woman announced. “I picked up a message from my office that he was trying to reach me. My name is Doctor Velvet Rieth, and I can…”

The man had the phone off the hook before she could complete the sentence.