Noah Fielding woke to the sound of his phone buzzing relentlessly on the bedside table. Reluctantly removing one arm from under the covers, he reached for his watch, squinting to read the time. Three o’clock in the morning. Who in the hell would call at this crappy time of the day? Or night as it were.
A rumble of thunder almost drowned out the buzzing, but it didn’t go away. With a big sigh, he grabbed the phone and answered. “Hello?”
“Is this Noah Fielding?”
“Who wants to know?”
“My name is Graham Hendrix, and I represent the estate of the late Mrs. Eliza Fielding from Alinta Bay. My apologies, I tried to get the time difference right, but it seems I didn’t.”
He swung his legs to the side of the bed and sat up. “Late?”
“My apologies, Mr. Fielding, your grandmother passed away two days ago. She had pneumonia from which she didn’t recover.”
He held onto the phone like his life depended on it and for several long seconds stared into the darkness. A pain settled in his chest and instinctively he rubbed it with the palm of his hand. “Shit.”
He almost missed Graham’s words, which were spoken in a hushed voice. “My condolences.”
Phone calls in the early morning hours are never good….enjoyed the snippet though, quite vivid. Nice tribute to Ed H as well.
Thanks Veronica 🙂