It was really too early to turn in for the night when Lou Corlin got back to the residential module. So he sat down in the lounge and got out his laptop. Some people might’ve played games or got on social media, but he decided to take a look at some of the upcoming materials for his current class. Study ahead a little and he wouldn’t be left scrambling if things got busy elsewhere.
And they could, especially at the radio station. DJ’s might not get as much extra work as the news team, but it wouldn’t be inconceivable for Autumn to pull them into the newsroom if something really major happened.
Lou had just opened his coursework when his phone chimed incoming text. He halfway expected it to be Autumn, or maybe someone else from the station. Instead, he saw the name “Hargreaves” and immediately thought it was Cather — until he looked closer and realized it was Toni.
What was she doing texting him directly? So far, she’d let her husband pass the word back and forth.
Unless he was busy with the situation over in Grissom City. He was the deputy chief of Safety and Security over there, focusing on the health and life safety side of things, while his boss dealt with the policing side of things.
In any case, Toni was asking him Can you talk? Realtime?
Sure. Go ahead and call.
Moments later the phone rang. He tapped accept and put his ear bug in. “Hello.”
“Lou, I just got an idea. If we can’t figure out any other way to find out where Brenda’s friend is, contact Medstaff. If you can convince them her home isn’t a safe place to be, they have some options that wouldn’t be open otherwise. And your Medlab’s still small enough that they can be a lot less formal about stuff–“
“But Dr. Thuc’s Vietnamese-American. I know she’s Catholic, but their culture’s still steeped in that whole Confucian tradition of filial piety.”
“And she’s a doctor, and therefore a mandatory reporter. When Cather was an EMT and a paramedic, he was always a mandatory reporter, so I know some stuff about that. In fact, everyone in Medlab who deals with patients should be a mandatory reporter, so you could talk with someone else.”
“That’s good to know. But before I get the big guns involved, I think I’d better touch base with Brenda, make sure she hasn’t heard anything new in the meantime. I’d hate to cause a huge ruckuss and it turns out she’s safe at a friend’s place, but Brenda just didn’t think to pass the word to me.”
“Good point. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
A quick exchange of parting pleasantries, and they ended the conversation. Lou looked at his phone’s clock display. Should he text Brenda now, or wait until tomorrow?
SMS was asynchronous, and if she had her phone set on Do Not Disturb for the night, it shouldn’t even chime. So he could go ahead and send the text, and she could deal with it whenever. If things had reached the point of being an emergency, Brenda would’ve contacted him already.