I’ve been working on a mystery since last Friday. I have a friend who is very bad about returning phone calls. Horrible in fact. Don’t know why I keep him as a friend at all actually but that’s beside the point.

About a month ago I called him but couldn’t leave a message because the machine was full. A few weeks later I tried to call him at work but there was an answering machine there too. That was unusual. Last Friday I tried to call him at work again. This time the receptionist picked up. I asked for my friend. She claimed that no one by that name worked there. I was a bit stunned by this. He has worked there for around 10 years. He’s the music director at a church so it isn’t like he’s working for a 600 person company where the receptionist might not have ever heard of him. She wasn’t very friendly either.

So, I called my little brother. He’s always up for some detective work and subterfuge. He agreed to call there and ask for my friend. My brother also works for a church so it could be semi-official. He asked what I wanted him to say if he got through. I suggested, “My sister wants me to kick your ass.” But he decided that if he was being semi-official that might not be the most prudent message. I’m a bit worried that working at a church might be turning my brother into a Christian but that’s a whole other post. But it was all for naught because when he called the other church had the answering machine on again.

Fast forward to yesterday. There is a message on my phone from my wayward friend. It says, “I’m on my way to work.” So I call him there. I get the same receptionist. She recognizes my voice. She gets nasty with me. I get sort of nasty back explaining that my friend has worked there for 10 years doing music. She claims no knowledge. I know it isn’t a wrong number because I programmed the phone the last time I talked to him at church and she answered the phone with the name of the church.

I talked to him briefly after that because he was actually still at home. He said that he did still work there so I know I’m not the crazy one. He has no idea why they are claiming he doesn’t exist.