Shane picked up the cell from where she’d lain it conveniently nearby and glanced at the screen as the device chirped contentedly and lighted every other second.  The thing had been buzzing on and off over the morning, mostly from a guy named Cameron, whom she’d answered once and promptly, decided never to speak to again.  She’d answered a few other callers, though none admitted to being the owner and she had begun to wonder whether the owner would actually call to claim the cell.  Of course with all the callers wondering who on earth she was, the woman was bound to be informed by one of them by some means that a stranger was answering her cell.  The number merely flashed up as ‘Evening Standard” and Shane was about to place it back down but figured one more answer wouldn’t go awry.  She flipped it open, if only to stop the incessant ring.

“Hello?”

There was along pause, before a voice replied cautiously.

“Who is this?” asked the voice, to which Shane allowed herself a small victory smile.

“This is Shane” she answered, “Who’s this?”

Fair question.

“This is the owner of the cell phone your holding.” answered the voice, sounding a little peeved at the forwardness “What are you doing with it?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lena sat back in surprise and slight elation that the cell wasn’t completely lost, but found it a little pertinent that the person who had it was answering it with such calm collectedness.

“You left it in the Planet” replied Shane matter of factly, Lena was about to ask why she hadn’t just handed it to one of the counter staff but Shane continued “I ran after you when we found it, but you had gone and I figured keeping hold of it would be a better option than handing it in.  This way I can hand it back to you in person”

Lena frowned ever so slightly and felt quietly unsettled for a moment at the small implication.  She felt a wave of flustered nerves washing over her, and watched as Charlie headed back along the hall towards his office.  ‘You not so good expressing yourself sometimes…’ Smiling at the words he’s spoken only moments before she tried to collect herself, and decided she was reading too much into the small conversation she was currently having.

“That’s very thoughtful of you” she said “Now it’s the case of arranging to meet you somewhere to get it back”

“I can drop it off for you” replied Shane “What’s your address?”

Lena was slightly flustered by the question but found herself giving her address anyway. A light on the phone started flashing at the same time and she was taken up in the realisation that a caller was trying to get through to the office.

“…I should be home by four so anytime after that would be convenient,” she said, sitting up and motioning to Rachel who was still sorting file work.

“No problem” replied Shane

Lena handed the receiver to Rachel who smiled, depressed the correct button on the phone and answered in her chirpy manner.  Standing, Lena picked up her bag, smiled and waved bid her goodbye, heading for the elevators once more.  There was still an unsettling feeling gathering and she couldn’t pinpoint why. There was nothing unusual about the conversation; it was a perfectly reasonable explanation.  Shane had found her phone, decided that to return it personally was a better idea than letting it lie on a back counter of a cafe with an off chance of going missing.  Lena assumed she’d probably do the same and was grateful in some way at the thought.  So why was she unsettled by the quick informal conversation she’d just had?  As the elevator descended, she realised she still needed to call Helen, and she headed for the pay phones when she reached the lobby.