Bethelman stood there looking foolish for a full five seconds. Then things began to connect up. Friday! It shouldn't be Friday.
He cradled the phone and walked over to the bar where the barman was assiduously polishing a beer glass.
"What day is this?" he asked.
"Friday," said the white-jacketed barman, looking up from the shell of gleaming glass.
"I mean the date," Bethelman corrected.
"Fifteenth, I think." He glanced at a copy of the Times that lay on the bar. "Yeah. Fifteenth."
Bethelman sat down heavily on the barstool. The fifteenth! Somewhere, he had lost two weeks! He searched his memory for some clue, but found nothing. His memory was a perfect blank for those two weeks.
Automatically, his hand went to his shirt pocket for cigarettes. He pulled out the pack and started to shake one out. It wouldn't shake, so he stuck his finger in the half empty pack to dislodge a cigarette. There was a roll of paper stuck in it.
He took it out and unrolled it. It was a note.
You're doing fine. You know something's wrong, but you don't know what. Go ahead and investigate; I guarantee you'll get the answers. But be careful not to get anyone too suspicious; you don't want to get locked up in the booby bin. I suggest you try Marco's first.