I thought I heard a voice in the background, somewhere, and then the sound went dead except for the static. For a moment, I thought I'd lost the connection entirely. Blasted unreliable phones. Usually, they messed up on my end, not on the receiving end. You can't even trust them to foul up dependably.
"Hello? Hello?" I said, cross and grumpy.
Monica's voice returned. "Don't worry about that. Thank you so much for all of your help. Good day, bye-bye, thank you." Then she hung up on me.
I took the phone away from my ear and stared at it. "Bizarre," I said.
"Come on, Ryan," Ericson said. She took the phone from my hand and planted it firmly in its cradle.
