Morning all. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Are you ready to jump back into the work week? Yeah, me neither, yet here we are. So first the writing prompt and then coffee, lots and lots of coffee. Timers set and off we go.
No idea where this is going but I suspect a mystery is afoot. And someone is soon to be dead. Maybe it is Dennis, maybe it is someone around the table. Not sure, but it could be fun to write.
Monday, August 4th: I would rather not say.
“I would rather not say,” Sam replied. He stared off into space rather than look at any of those seated at the table around him.
“You would rather not say,” Jake repeated. His tone was sarcastic and bitter.
“It isn’t my place to say,” Sam clarified. “If you are interested in what Dennis is doing then you will have to ask Dennis.”
“We are asking you,” Elliot said. It was an angry demand. While Sam couldn’t blame him for the anger he knew he couldn’t give in.
“I am not involved,” Sam replied.
“Deliberately so,” Jake said. “When everything was proposed you stepped back and refused to join in our little endeavor.”
“I did,” Sam said. “I had no interest in joining then and I have now interest in becoming involved now.”
“What did you know that we didn’t?” Elliot barked. “Obviously you knew something or you would have signed on with the rest of us.”
Sam sighed and let his anger show. “I knew what the rest of you knew. That Dennis wasn’t always the most trustworthy person I ever met and that it sounded like it was too good to be true. Unlike the rest of you I decided to trust that thought instead of letting the thought of all that potential money alter my opinion of Dennis.”
“You are saying we are greedy.”
“Greedy and stupid if you want the whole of it,” Sam said looking at Jake. Jake blinked and leaned away from Sam as though feeling the push of his anger. “And I am not involved. I chose not to be involved then and I remain uninvolved now. If you are looking for answers then I suggest you go and talk to Dennis.”
“We tried that,” Elliot said. He snorted. “No one can find him.”
“So you thought I could help you?” Sam said. He turned his anger towards Elliot. “I can’t. I am not involved and haven’t seen Dennis for several days.” He glanced at his watch. “And now I am going to be late. So I suggest you look elsewhere for answers.”
Sam stood up. There were slight protests around the table. Jake and Elliot may have been leading the interrogation, but William, Mark, Toby and Dan all wanted answers at well.
“Ask Dennis,” Same said. He left the room. Luckily everything he needed was in his laptop bag and he brought that down with him before he was pulled into the meeting. He had stopped to fill up his travel mug with coffee but there was no time for that now. ‘Besides,’ he thought sniffing the air. ‘It’s been on the hot plate too long.’ He could tell from the slightly acrid tinge to the scent that the coffee was scorched.
He slung the bag on his shoulder, picked up his keys and left the house. He could hear the others talking, arguing among themselves. He shut the door. As no one but Dennis had any answers the conversation would swiftly devolve into finger pointing and blame. He was fairly certain one of them would be assigned the duty of tracking Dennis down. They wanted their money.
‘Well they want the money they thought they would have as well as their initial investments back,’ Sam thought. He shook his head as he walked down the front path from the apartment building to the street. They were welcome to debate in the common room until they ran out of air. Same knew they weren’t going to get any money back.
Dennis, if he could be found and hadn’t skipped town already, would have some explanation as to where it went. It would be an unforeseen market turn or something else Dennis couldn’t be blamed for. He tried to put it out of his head as he walked away.
Ten til Midnight 