dinner. And there certainly wasn’t any dessert.
Because I had to provide another statement at the police station with my lawyer present on Thursday morning, I called in at eight to tell Kovid that I’d be working from home as time allowed. “I don’t know who else to notify that I’m not coming in,” I explained. “It could take a while before they decide who will replace Cary.”
Kovid disagreed. “Got an email first thing from John, the CEO. Monique got the job.”
“Marketing Monique? Doll Baby on the back of her pants, Monique?”
“We don’t have any other people working here with that name, so yeah, her.”
Monique was mid-thirties; maybe a tad younger if she had aged badly. She wasn’t old, but her outfits painted an unflattering image of a woman desperate to attract a man before it was too late. In the corporate world, dressing like she did was an invitation for innuendos and attention of the wrong kind from guys who assumed the attire was an attempt at a promotion. Despite all that and talking on the phone all the time, she did get her job done. That didn’t mean she deserved a management position over the engineering department. Then again, Cary hadn’t really deserved the job either.
“Huh. How did she get the job in charge of engineering and test? She’s in marketing!”
Kovid grunted. “We have a hiring freeze so they couldn’t go outside the company. They aren’t even going to replace Joe. No hiring.”
It was very polite of him to mention that as an excuse, but I knew what he was thinking, because unkind though it was, I was thinking the same thing. She was sleeping with the executive attorney. Lawrence had to have pulled some strings, because there was no logic that would put her in charge of engineering.
After Kovid hung up, I asked my Borgot voice assistant for her number. The test phone didn’t know so I had to call Kovid back. I pointed out that my test phone was flawed because it didn’t know Monique’s number. My job was to test these things, after all.
“She’s not in your contacts list, right?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t all the company numbers be in there?”
“No. Not unless you specifically add them. We aren’t Facebook here, grabbing every phone number we can get our greedy hands on.”
“Okay, okay.”
I called her number, but the line was busy and went to voice mail. Huge surprise, just huge. I left a message and tossed the phone in my backpack on my way out the door.
* * *
Sean was an experienced lawyer, and he’d assisted the police department often enough that many of the guys knew him. He had me in and out of there in an hour. Since he had been sitting beside me while I told the story twice, I didn’t bother to defend or explain myself as we left.
“I’m sewing a baby bib for Samantha,” I said instead, to break the chilly silence.
“Hard to believe you have the time.”
I didn’t, not really. “Sean, I was at Borgot all day Wednesday. I did not have anything to do with either of those bodies.”
“Are you working for Huntington again?”
I shrugged. “Not exactly. After the first guy showed up dead, Mark decided to investigate. He doesn’t like the idea of me working in a dangerous environment.”
Sean stared at me and sputtered. “Stay away from Brenda and the baby until they arrest the guy who did this!” He stalked off to his beat-up Accord.
While it would have been possible to make it into work, I drove home. Out of sheer guilt, I dug through my backpack for the Borgot phone to run some tests. To my dismay, I found Joe’s forgotten watch instead.
“Ugly thing.” Unlike Radar’s timepiece, this watch resembled a prototype with cheap plastic and a big outer rubber piece holding it together. I stared at it for a while before I dared try it.
“Borgot? Joe?” For the phones to activate Pig Latin, his entire name had to be typed in. But this thing had a relatively small
Because I had to provide another statement at the police station with my lawyer present on Thursday morning, I called in at eight to tell Kovid that I’d be working from home as time allowed. “I don’t know who else to notify that I’m not coming in,” I explained. “It could take a while before they decide who will replace Cary.”
Kovid disagreed. “Got an email first thing from John, the CEO. Monique got the job.”
“Marketing Monique? Doll Baby on the back of her pants, Monique?”
“We don’t have any other people working here with that name, so yeah, her.”
Monique was mid-thirties; maybe a tad younger if she had aged badly. She wasn’t old, but her outfits painted an unflattering image of a woman desperate to attract a man before it was too late. In the corporate world, dressing like she did was an invitation for innuendos and attention of the wrong kind from guys who assumed the attire was an attempt at a promotion. Despite all that and talking on the phone all the time, she did get her job done. That didn’t mean she deserved a management position over the engineering department. Then again, Cary hadn’t really deserved the job either.
“Huh. How did she get the job in charge of engineering and test? She’s in marketing!”
Kovid grunted. “We have a hiring freeze so they couldn’t go outside the company. They aren’t even going to replace Joe. No hiring.”
It was very polite of him to mention that as an excuse, but I knew what he was thinking, because unkind though it was, I was thinking the same thing. She was sleeping with the executive attorney. Lawrence had to have pulled some strings, because there was no logic that would put her in charge of engineering.
After Kovid hung up, I asked my Borgot voice assistant for her number. The test phone didn’t know so I had to call Kovid back. I pointed out that my test phone was flawed because it didn’t know Monique’s number. My job was to test these things, after all.
“She’s not in your contacts list, right?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t all the company numbers be in there?”
“No. Not unless you specifically add them. We aren’t Facebook here, grabbing every phone number we can get our greedy hands on.”
“Okay, okay.”
I called her number, but the line was busy and went to voice mail. Huge surprise, just huge. I left a message and tossed the phone in my backpack on my way out the door.
* * *
Sean was an experienced lawyer, and he’d assisted the police department often enough that many of the guys knew him. He had me in and out of there in an hour. Since he had been sitting beside me while I told the story twice, I didn’t bother to defend or explain myself as we left.
“I’m sewing a baby bib for Samantha,” I said instead, to break the chilly silence.
“Hard to believe you have the time.”
I didn’t, not really. “Sean, I was at Borgot all day Wednesday. I did not have anything to do with either of those bodies.”
“Are you working for Huntington again?”
I shrugged. “Not exactly. After the first guy showed up dead, Mark decided to investigate. He doesn’t like the idea of me working in a dangerous environment.”
Sean stared at me and sputtered. “Stay away from Brenda and the baby until they arrest the guy who did this!” He stalked off to his beat-up Accord.
While it would have been possible to make it into work, I drove home. Out of sheer guilt, I dug through my backpack for the Borgot phone to run some tests. To my dismay, I found Joe’s forgotten watch instead.
“Ugly thing.” Unlike Radar’s timepiece, this watch resembled a prototype with cheap plastic and a big outer rubber piece holding it together. I stared at it for a while before I dared try it.
“Borgot? Joe?” For the phones to activate Pig Latin, his entire name had to be typed in. But this thing had a relatively small
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