The man who came into her office was in fact the same man she had just seen on the street. Vanessa gaped at him in astonishment then made herself close her mouth and smoothed her features.

                “Hello Vanessa.” His voice was deep and rich in accent- though she could not place it.

                “And you are?” She replied, for some unfathomable reason she felt that she needed to have the upper hand.

                “An old friend.”

                “I don’t remember you and I never forget a face.”

                “I had heard that you never forget anything.”

Had the man been listening to the whole exchange? She almost blushed.

                “I don’t.” She said leaning back to cross her arms across her chest, a defensive maneuver.

                “May I sit?”

                She considered this then relented with a nod. He closed the door before taking the client chair across from her. He smiled across at her before glancing around the office at her award plaques and ad posters. His gaze returned to meet hers. His eyes were, in fact, hazel gray.

                “You forgot who you were when you knew me.” He said as a faint smile crossed his lips.

                She blinked a couple of times.

                “I beg your pardon?”

                “No need. There was nothing you could have done.”

                “Oh?” He was crazy, a crazy man. Too bad, he was quite good looking up close.

                “You were very young.”

                “I was young?” Vanessa sighed then began to shake her head as the man started to speak again. “No wait. You have the nerve to come in here and tell me this line that you knew me when I was young. This sounds like a pan handler’s scam.”

                “Yes.” He had the gall to look amused. “Panhandler’s scam.”

                “Yes. You obviously want something.”

                “No, something would be too indefinite a term, I want you to remember.”

                Vanessa took a long measure of the man, he did not look crazy or desperate or even hungry. Okay she would play the game and see where it went.

                “How young?” She asked with some trepidation.

                “You were four.”

                “Four? No wait- You’ve got to be kidding me. I remember everything about my life and you’re not in it. I am sorry but I have no memory of you in it.”

                An eyebrow rose on his face and with an almost imperceptible nod towards her chest. She felt herself flush, heat under her skin making her face uncomfortable. Somehow she forgot her belated attempt to scope out the anatomy until she glanced down to see that she had crossed her arms under her breasts. Shame warred with her rising anger and she made herself relax her arms. She would not grip the armrests… she wouldn’t.

                “I was in ‘it’- your life, you do not remember because I made you forget.” A smile almost turned the corners of his mouth.

                “You- you made me forget?” yep this guy was crazy, her fingers begin to itch.

                “Yes.”

                Vanessa reached for her phone; the man’s eyebrow went back up. Her hand trembled on the handset until she steeled herself. She would not let this idiot intimidate her.  She gritted her teeth and in as much as a business manner as she could muster, she swept the handset from the cradle and put it to her ear. She dialed the number for security before looking back at the man opposite her. He gave her a reassuring nod the smile tugging at his grin.

                “Security.” A voiced drolled in her ear.

                “Allen. This is Vanessa Schumpert in PR.”

                “Yes, Ms. Schumpert?” the octave of the voicing rising as the man came to attention.

                “There is a strange man in my office.”

                “There is…” she heard clicking noise followed by a shuffling of papers. “As far as my records show no one has come in for you so far today. In fact-“ more clicking “- no one has come in the building without a nametag and clearance this morning.”

                Her eyes darted to the man, no nametag. He smiled at her- smug or friendly? She could not say.

                “He has no nametag.”

                “Well, this is strange; I have been on the door this morning, Ms. Schumpert. No one I didn’t know has come in this morning.”

                A thought occurred to her.

                “Hang on a moment, Allen.”

                She took a deep breath and looked across at the man who sat there grinning at her enjoying this private joke of his. With a rush of frustration and surrender she let it out.

                “How DID you get in here?”

                “I came in the normal route, by security. I stopped at the desk and talked with Allen Morgan briefly about his health and asked about how his daughter Alice was holding up since the surgery.”

                Surgery? She didn’t know that Alice had to have surgery. Wait. Wait a moment; she didn’t even know if Allen had a daughter. Her mind raced and then her conversation with Allen from a couple of days ago came into focus and she remembered him stressing over his daughter Alice who had to have her gall bladder removed for some kind of obstruction. What to say in response to this info?

                “Allen, he says he came in through the check point and stopped to have a word with you.”

                “Hmmm… there is no log, I could have forgotten to give him a nametag, and I will recheck the logs. What’s his name?”

                “Let me ask.” She covered the handset and asked the grinning man.

                “Quest.”

                “Quest?” Well it was just getting weirder. She uncovered the handset and relayed the name to Allen.

                “Let me take a look, Ms. Schumpert.”

A moment passed

                “Ms. Schumpert?”

                “Yes?”

                “There is no one by that name in the logs. Should I send someone up?”

                “Please do, thanks Allen.” She hung up the phone and looked back at the intruder- for that was what she considered him now.

                “Well Mr. Quest- what do you have to say to the fact that you did not enter the way you claimed?”

                “Humans are effortlessly fallible.”

                “I beg your pardon?”

                “Allen forgot to enter me into your log.”

                “You are a liar.” She said smugly.

                “We will have to wait and see then.”

                “We will.” She said with as much finality as she could muster and leaned back in her chair.

Some time passed, then some more finally Vanessa gave up and checked her watch. Quest smiled at her pleasantly.

                “They will not come.” He said as she checked her watch a second time.

                “Who won’t?” Involuntarily looking at the door sure it was about to open.

                “Ernest and Young.”

                “Who?” Her eyes returned to the man and she quivered at the look of calm confidence.

                “The security detail that you requested.”

                “How do you know their names?” She licked her bottom lip.

                “I do. The two of them will enter the elevator but Young will press the wrong floor number. Earnest will correct him and Young will push the correct one. On the way up they will listen to the normal and thus annoying soft elevator music.”

                “You sound pretty sure of this.”

                “I am. Earnest will receive a phone call around the third floor. It will approximately 5 seconds. Earnest will hang up and complain about a drunken homeless man who has wandered into the lobby. When they finally reach the correct floor, neither man will remember why they came in the first place.  They will speculate as they try to remember until Earnest will give up and radio Allen for help. It will take Allen 7 seconds to respond but when he does he will instruct the two men to return to the lobby to deal with the drunken man who has just passed out in the fountain.”

                “You are lying.”

                “I could be.”

                Vanessa glared at him then looked at her watch again, it had been ten minutes.  She grimaced then picked up the phone and dialed security.

                “Yes Ms. Schumpert?”

                “Well, where are they?”

                “I am sorry Ms. Schumpert, who are you referring to?”

                “Earnest and Young?”

                “I believe that they are trying to carry a drunken man out of the lobby fountain at the moment.”

                Vanessa gaped at the man across from her.

                “Why do you ask, Ms. Schumpert?”

                “Never mind.” She said and hung up.