"Well, no, but--"
"Did you ask if you could do an interview with me during off hours?"
"That's not the point, here--"
"It's exactly the point." Dar started closing the door again. "And damned unprofessional if you ask me. I think I need to make a call to your production office on Monday."
The reporter put her hand out again. "Whoa whoa...wait a minute, are you the same person I interviewed a few days ago? What happened?"
"You screwed up." Dar pulled her head in and pushed the door closed, getting her weight behind it just in case the reporter got any stupid ideas to stop her. "Jerk." She started to walk away, only to stop when a knock came at the door again.
She put her hands on her hips and looked at Kerry. Kerry shrugged sheepishly. Dar narrowed her eyes and turned, going back to the door and yanking it open. She drew back her other hand near her ear and curled her fingers into a fist, cocking it meaningfully. "I am not playing games with you."
The reporter stopped in mid speech and blinked at Dar in surprise. "Are you going to hit me?" She asked in an incredulous tone.
"Yes." Dar said.
"You're crazy."
"No, I've just had my privacy invaded and it's ticking me off." Dar narrowed her eyes. "And we have a law down here that lets me protect my property with pretty much any show of force I want."
"I don't get it. You were just the friendliest thing in your office. What's up with that?" The woman said.
"I'm not in my office."
Kerry got up and walked over, standing behind the door out of sight and pressing her back against it as she listened.
"Okay, so, how does it hurt to talk to me for a minute?" The reporter said. "What's the big deal? We had lunch, remember? C'mon."
"If you want to discuss something, call me during working hours." Dar kept her patience with great effort.
"Or is it that you're with your girlfriend now?"
Dar merely stepped away from the door, and allowed Kerry to slam it shut for her. She loudly threw the deadbolt, then turned her back, waiting for Kerry to join her before they made their way toward the couch again.
"If she knocks again, I'm going to go Republican on her." Kerry commented. "You actually had lunch with this person?"
"That's what happens when you leave me to my own devices for a meal." Dar paused, glancing over her shoulder. "Hell, now I better send legal a note. I can just picture how we'll come off in their little script."
Erg. Kerry trudged back into the kitchen. "Should we have been less rude?" She asked.
Dar picked up her laptop and brought it over to the counter, setting it down and seating herself on one of the wooden stools. She rested her head on one fist and studied the screen. "Screw it."
Kerry turned on a front burner and set a pan over it, putting a little peanut oil and butter in the bottom. As it heated, she removed a colander of green beans from the sink and set it down next to her, grabbing her wooden stirring spoon as she listened to Dar type.
"She was a lot nicer at lunch."
"Uh huh." The green beans were sacrificed into the pan, releasing the scent of spices and garlic as Kerry stirred them. "Like she was on your side?"
Pale blue eyes peeked over the laptop screen at her. "Yeah."
Kerry's lips quirked slightly.
"Did I get scammed?"
Kerry flipped the beans in the pan expertly, remembering the lectures of her childhood. The press, she'd been taught, were not ever, ever your friends and they never were on your side. "Well..." She hesitated, not wanting to insult her lover. "Dar, I'm sure she's very slick. Probably. She might have fooled me too."
Dar sighed. "I thought she was nice." She admitted. "She did say a lot of things...well, anyway, I guess I took her at face value." She saw an email arrive, and clicked on it.
Hey Boss --
Got the list, here it is, but everyone and their mamma ison it. You want me to pull their security scans? I sorted 'emby hire date, but there's no one in there less than threemonths. I don't know what the hell's going on.
Mark
"I don't know what's going on either." Dar admitted, with a sigh. "You know what, Ker? I really don't know what the hell's going on. I'm losing it."
Prudently, Kerry merely murmured in sympathy, as she finished the beans and turned off the fire. She got two plates ready, opening up the broiler and retrieving her snapper filets. "I'm not sure I know what's up either," she said, sliding a filet off onto one of the plates and adding some beans along with a baked potato and half a corn.
Dar sat there swinging her legs for a minute, and then she got up and came around into the kitchen, reaching around Kerry to take possession of the plates. "Mmm."
They walked into the living room and sat down next to each other on the couch as Dar set the plates on the burled mahogany coffee table.. "Oh, hang on." Kerry put hers down and got up again, walking back into the kitchen to get them both a drink.
Dar used her fork to separate a bit of fish and tasted it. "Mm." She waited for Kerry to return and sit down again. "Good stuff."
Kerry bumped shoulders with her. They ate quietly, both apparently lost in deep thought.
ANDREW SLUNG HIS tool belt over one broad shoulder and headed off the ship. The sun was blotted out by dark clouds, and there was a heavy smell of rain in the air. Even the usually calm waters of the cut picked up a little chop that washed against the hulls of the ships lined up against the pier.
He was halfway across the open space when the door to the guard hut opened and a man emerged heading in his direction with a distinct sense of purpose. Given the man's bad taste in suits, and the badge holder hanging from his belt Andrew reckoned he might be his guard friend's boss, but he waited until the man was obviously intersecting him before he turned his head and made eye contact.
"Hold up there." The man lifted a hand. "You Roberts?"
Andy slowed and halted as he came even with the man. "Yeap."
The man had thick, slicked back dark hair and a trimmed moustache, a bad complexion, and watery gray eyes. They now fastened on Andrew's face with a cold, stern glitter. "I understand from my man you caused some trouble today, mister."
Behind him, Andrew could see the punk guard, peeking out from behind the shutters in the little guard shack. He shifted his gaze to the man in front of him. "Do ah look like a feller who'd cause trouble?"
The security manager looked him up and down. "That's no answer."
"Young feller there was fixing to get hisself run over by a truck," Andrew said. "Ah just stopped him."
The other man looked down the pier to where Dar's ship was then he looked back at Andrew. "I had orders not to let any trucks through there. How do you want me to explain why one went through? I'm not taking the heat for it, buddy. I'll get your ass fired."
Andrew shrugged. "Ain't made no sense to me. What in hell's the difference if a truck goes on down there?" He figured if he was going to get fired, might as well get any information he could first.
"Doesn't have to make sense to you. I got my orders." The man turned as a yell sounded over the docks. "Shit. Now there's the one giving the orders. You stay here; let me see what they want done with you."
Andrew looked over the man's shoulder to see Shari approaching, an angry look on her face. "Wall." He exhaled. "Don't that figure. That there woman's more trouble than a hemorrhoid in a bucket."
The man swung around and gave Andrew a startled look, an almost smile twitching at his lips. Then he went to intercept his unwelcome visitor.
Andrew hesitated, then he ambled after him catching up as they met Shari halfway across the dock.
"I just got a call, saying you let a delivery go through. I told you no trucks! What's wrong with you, are you stupid?" Shari yelled at him.