Kip was dead asleep when the first phone call came in. The first round of play offs was finished. They were moving on. He hadn't been starting goalie as was suggested. In fact, Lundin was on such a hot streak he hadn't played a single game.
He grabbed his cell phone off his dresser. It was barely light outside, he squinted at the bright display, frantic that it was Mandy. That something was wrong. It was his agent. He opened the phone and hit the answer button. "Hello?" He rubbed his face, trying to figure out if he was home or in a hotel. Home. He was heading for Mandy's, it was a Wednesday and he had a day off or something.
"There's rumours that Lundin was injured. What happened at practice?"
Kip blinked. Aleksander Lundin was hurt? Not as far as he knew. But Kip hadn't seen him after practice. "I don't know," Kip said, trying not to snap. It was too early for him to deal with unsubstantiated rumours. "He was fine when I saw him yesterday." Fuck, he wasn't about to be thrown in front of the playoff bus was he? He threw the covers back and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Well, it's what I heard this morning."
"I'm not even up yet. Do you ever sleep?"
"Sure, sometimes. It's cut throat, Turner. I have to be up at 3 AM to see what went on the night before. Usually I go to bed around noon, no one has meetings in the afternoon."
Kip shook his head as went downstairs in his large empty house, missing Mandy and Colton's presence. There were ghosts of it, memories and he could swear he saw them once in a while when he turned too fast in the dim kitchen light in the morning. He started his coffee, while listening to Martin yammer in his ear.
"Look, I don't know," Kip finally said. "Why do you do whatever it is I give you money to do and find out?"
Martin was silent for a moment, stunned that always polite Kip would snap at him. "All right. I will talk to you know when I find out more."
Kip closed his phone and set it down on the counter, glaring at it. Fuck. He finally looked at the time on the clock on the wall, the one Mandy had insisted on buying. He rubbed his hand over his face. It was 6:35. He picked his cell phone back up and dialled.