The Christmas List: A Novel

Linda answered her phone on the second ring. “Hello, Linda Nash speaking.”

There was something comforting about hearing her voice. “Hi Linda.”

“Who’s this?”

“It’s Jim.”

“Jim who?”

“Your boss, Jim.”

She paused. “This isn’t funny,” she said, and hung up.

Kier pushed the redial button. When she answered he said, “Linda, please don’t hang up. It’s really me.”

“The real James Kier would never say ‘please.’ ” She hung up.

He pressed redial again. She answered on the tenth ring. “Stop calling me,” she said angrily. “I don’t know what kind of sick joke this is, but I’m going to call the phone company if you call again.”

“Look, Linda, it’s James Kier and I’m not dead. I can prove it. Ask me something only I would know. Anything.”

The voice was his, Linda thought, but the tone was anything but James Kier. “Who was your ten o’clock meeting with Friday morning?”

“My attorney, Lincoln, my wife, Sara, and Steve . . . no, that was before. It was with, uh, Allen. Vance Allen of Scott Homes.”

Linda’s voice relaxed. “Before that meeting, what was the last thing you said to me?”

He thought back to that morning. “I told you not to talk to Vance. I wanted him on edge.”

There was a long pause. “Everyone thinks you’re dead. It was all over the news.”

“I know. It was a case of mistaken identity; it was another James Kier who died. I just went to his memorial service.”

“This is so weird.” She was obviously embarrassed. “I don’t know what to say.”

“The good news is you don’t have to look for a new job.” Kier noticed that she didn’t say anything. “I guess the bad news is you still have to work for me. I need to meet with you as soon as possible. Can you meet me today?”

“I was on my way to church.”

“I can meet with you after church. Please, Linda, it’s very important.”

“I’ll have to bring Mason . . .”

“That’s okay. We’ll only be a few minutes. Please.”

“I get out of church around four. I need to get Max some dinner, but I could come to the office around five-thirty.”

“Five-thirty will be great. Just great. Thank you.”

In all the years she had worked for him she had never heard him speak this way. It suddenly occurred to her why he was calling.

“If you’re going to fire me, you can just do it now.”

“Why would I fire you?”

“I just wondered what could be so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow.”

“I’ll explain everything when I see you at five-thirty.”

“All right. See you then. Goodbye.”

Kier flipped up the phone closed. “Thank you,” he said to no one. He started his car and drove home.