Chapter 20

Bruce has led us onto a wild goose chase. Caroline thought that Bruce did it on purpose, and that he was putting pressure on us indirectly. Thinking about the freshly banked in five million, the both of us fell into silence. Caroline then figured that we had to work through Cindy. "Even the ancient emperors listened to the pillow talk," Caroline remarked, "One word from Cindy carries more weight than our whole spiel." Hearing this, I looked down at the floor, feeling pretty bad inside. This whole mess unfolded on my watch, and I was the one who needed to step up. Thinking about the future of the project, I dialed a number. But it didn't go through. Caroline looked confused. "She probably missed it. Let's try again later." It turned out that she was right. In the evening, Cindy finally called back. "Sorry, Nance. Bruce and I were on the mountain, and I left my phone at the hotel. What's up?" Very well. While we were all panicking, they were enjoying the snow up the mountains.