“What? What did you turn over? The fact that you were a call girl, and you’ve put that on hold for a while? You’ve quit turning tricks because of me? Is that what you turned over?”
She screamed, picked up a ceramic coffee cup, and threw it at the wall behind him. The cup smashed to pieces.
Conroy was out from behind the desk in a second, holding her by the shoulders. “I’m sorry. Sarah, I’m truly sorry. I know, I know how tough this has been on you. Ralph’s suicide, Carol, and everything else. Please, baby, be patient. Understand I’m going through a lot right now.”
She sobbed softly, pressing her body against him.
Conroy brushed at her hair with his hand. He stroked her back, pulling her closer and I felt like a shit. How could I watch this?
“Tonight. You and me baby-”The screen went blank.
“What?” James’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Power go out? What?”
“The card ran out of time.”
“Damn!”
“James. She doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. I was hoping we could get some information from her, but-”
“Wasn’t quite what I was hoping for either, but one heck of a show, eh, Kemo Sabe? One heck of a show.”
I had to agree with him. The movie ended with a bang.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
T he package arrived at Synco Systems at seven a.m. the next morning. Addressed to Skip Moore and stamped CONFIDENTIAL. I could only hope that it was a box of smoke detectors or motion detectors, but that wasn’t meant to be.
“Skip.” Andy Wireman walked up and put his hand on my shoulder. “Your runner seems to be a little bit upset with how things went yesterday.”
I hated confrontation, but “Andy, where did you get the authority to put him in charge?”
“Skip, Michael called the shot. I had nothing to do with it.”
Michael. What an idiot. Putting someone like J.J. in charge. And I knew the only reason it got under my skin was that I almost wasn’t able to get my smoke detector installed. That, and the fact that I was supposed to be in charge. Not some handyman.
“So Jim tells me that you put a smoke detector in the president’s office?”
“He wanted temporary protection, Andy. Conroy even thanked me last night. He said if that office burned up, this company would be in a lot of trouble. This is my project. Title being-well, person in charge, and I’ve got the authority to-”
“Hey, man, I’m with you. We’re on the same exact page, okay? It was a very smart move. And if it makes you feel any better, this morning your neighbor, Mr. Jobs, is back at being a runner and there’s no problem. Just wanted you to know.”
“Thanks, Andy.”
I carried my confidential package to a quiet corner of the computer room, and I used a packing knife to cut through the tape and paper on the large box. Feng was busy instructing two of our installers, and the doors to Sarah’s and Sandy Conroy’s offices were closed. My guess was that they had not come in yet. Still making amends for the lover’s spat they had yesterday.
“Dude,” James walked up, “the office isn’t open. I can’t get the card in place if the office is locked. We need to get this thing back up there.”
I’d forgotten to tell him. And it was a great moment, the kind a supervisor likes to spring on his employee. “No problem, James. You go up to Feng, tell him that you want to work some more on the smoke detector, and he’ll let you in. He’ll watch you reinstall the card and won’t say a word. He also won’t have a clue as to what you’re doing.”
James studied me for a moment. “I’m serious, Skip. I’d like to get this put back in, but I can’t get into Sandy’s office.”
“I’m serious too, James. See Feng.”
“You’re messing with me, amigo. I don’t appreciate it.”
I rolled my eyes, picked up the package, and approached Feng. “Excuse me. James needs to get into Mr. Conroy’s office to do more work on the smoke detector. Can you please let him in?”
Feng frowned. He looked back and forth at the two of us, and I saw James giving me the ‘I told you so’ look.
“How long will this take?”
“Not more than five minutes. This time.” I knew we’d have to take it back out in three or four hours.
“Okay. Follow me.” He headed down to Conroy’s office as James closed his wide-open mouth.
“You’ve got to know how to handle these people, James.”
James grabbed a ladder from an installation team and double-timed it down to office number one.
My large package was half open and I couldn’t wait to see what was in it. There was no return address and no clues on the outside. I went back to my corner and glanced up at the entrance as Sarah came waltzing in. Conroy’s mistress was wearing a gray suit, a simple white blouse, and sensible black shoes. Her dress told me she was in no mood for frivolity. She gave me a grim smile and walked directly to her office, unlocking the door, opening it, and slamming it shut. Apparently the night had not gone well.
“Excuse me.” The soft voice surprised me and I spun around, almost cutting my index finger with the box cutter.
“Yes, Eden. What can I do for you?”
“Mr. Wireman would like to see you up front.”
I sighed. Just a couple more minutes and I’d solve the mystery of the big brown box.
“And, have you seen James today?”
“Um, yeah. He’s working on a smoke detector.” I nodded toward Conroy’s office.
“Great. If you happen to run into him, please tell him I’d like to speak with him.”
Her brown eyes sparkled. I tried to picture her in something other than the stiff officer’s uniform with the heavy, heavy belt, the gun, the tear gas, and all the other paraphernalia. There was a cute figure under there.
“I’ll tell him. Can I give him a message?”
She blushed. I could see the color rise in her cheeks. “We’re supposed to go out tomorrow night. Sort of a date.”
“Yeah. He told me.”
“Well, of course. I mean, you’re his roommate and all.”
“Is there a message? A problem with the time? The date?”
She shuffled her shiny shoes. “No, no. Nothing like that. I just wanted to tell him-”
“Yes?”
“That I’m looking forward to it. The date, I mean.”
“So is he.”
“Oh, good. Because he hadn’t mentioned it again, and I thought maybe he, well, you know.”
God deliver us from insecure women. And thank God for men who are always very secure in their relationships.
I clutched the brown box under my arm and walked up to the entrance. Wireman looked down from a ladder, giving me a broad smile.
“Skip. Over there.” He pointed to the reception desk. There were two large packages on the counter, not unlike the one I had under my arm. “The new smoke detectors.”
Not good. “How soon will they be installed?”
“I’m thinking tomorrow, Friday.”
We’d have one more day to use the one in Conroy’s office.
“The sooner the better.” I just wanted this project to be over.
“Well, I was thinking. We could start with the president’s office. You know, get him taken care of first-wire it in and-”
“No. No. We’ve got the temporary detector already installed. That can be the last one you install.”
“It’s up to you.”
“Yes. It is.” Person in charge of the project or whatever. I started out to the parking lot, the brown package under my arm. This was a far better idea. Open this in private.
“Mr. Moore?”
“Yes, Eden?”
“You’re not allowed to take anything from the building.”
“This is personal, Eden. See?” I held up the remaining paper that was clearly stamped CONFIDENTIAL. Skip Moore.
“Makes no difference. Once it is received here at S.S., it remains here. Sorry.”
I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know what was in the package, and she was telling me I couldn’t take it outside. I felt like telling her that James was going to stand her up, but he probably wouldn’t agree to that. I think he wanted to see what was under that gray guard uniform too.