the mix-up. Somebody at your end clearly got their wires crossed.”
“Didn’t they just,” Cyn said bitterly. Then she thanked Lisa for calling.
Eventually she got up and went over to the coffee machine. A couple of people noticed her red eyes and asked if she was OK. She said she was fine and made up a pathetic excuse about having an eyelash in her eye.
She took the coffee back to her desk. As she sat down, her phone rang again. She thought about ignoring it. Then on about the eighth or ninth ring, she decided it might be something important and picked up. It was Hugh to say he had left his tie at her place the other night. “Oh, right, yeah,” she said. “I found it on the coffee table.”
“Gorgeous, you sound wretched. What on earth’s the matter?”
Slowly, between sobs, she told him what had happened, ending with the call from Lisa Patterson. Hugh was rarely lost for words, but apart from the occasional “My God,” he listened in stunned silence. “Screwing you over with the car is one thing,” he said, when she’d finished telling the tale, “but to steal your idea . . . That’s something else. It’s in a different league. It simply beggars belief. It’s so cruel. So evil.”
“I keep trying to work out why she did it. I mean, was it insecurity, jealousy, an obsessive need for power and control?” She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.
“For chrissake, who cares why?” Hugh said. “You’ve been in therapy too long. You’re the victim here, not Chelsea. It’s not your job to start analyzing her and feeling sorry for her.”
“I don’t feel sorry for her. I hate her.”
“Good. So, have you spoken to your boss?”
“Can’t, he’s away.”
“You could e-mail him.”
“I know, but I’m not sure he would believe me,” she explained.
“Even when you’ve got the evidence on Chelsea’s computer?”
“It proves nothing. Who’s to say the idea wasn’t hers?”
“But it’s on your computer, too. Surely that looks suspicious?”
“Absolutely,” Cyn said, “but in fact it gives Chelsea even more ammunition. She would twist things around and say that the moment she went into hospital I copied her Droolin’ Dream document and transferred it to my computer.”
“Why would you do that?”
“She would argue that it was because I was jealous of her and wanted to discredit her. I’ve no doubt that people in the office would believe my version of events, but Graham has a lot of time and respect for Chelsea.”
Hugh went silent for a moment. “OK,” he said, his voice rising in excitement, “call me a genius, but I think I’ve got an idea. Every document on a computer is time coded. If you go into the proposal she nicked from you, you’ll find the time she started writing it, the time she finished it, the lot. If it’s after the time that you wrote the proposal on your computer, then you can prove without doubt that you had the idea first. Do you know how to get up the properties of the document?”
She said she did.
“Right, why don’t you go and take a look? I’ll hang on.”
Her heart thumping with anticipation, she raced back to Chelsea’s computer and made a few clicks with the mouse. In a moment utter dismay had overtaken her again.
She went back to the phone. “Chelsea turned back the time code and changed the date to make it look like she wrote it days before.”
“God, she’s nobody’s fool. I don’t know what to suggest . . . It’s so ironic—me and Harmony watching
Working Girl
the other night.”
She gave a small laugh. “Isn’t it?”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Not sure. I need some time to work things out.”
“Look, if there’s anything you need, I’m always here.”
“I know. Thanks.”
“Love you, gorgeous.”
“Love you, too.”
Sipping the hot coffee made her feel better. After a few minutes she started to think more clearly. She needed to convince Graham of the truth. How she was going to make
“Didn’t they just,” Cyn said bitterly. Then she thanked Lisa for calling.
Eventually she got up and went over to the coffee machine. A couple of people noticed her red eyes and asked if she was OK. She said she was fine and made up a pathetic excuse about having an eyelash in her eye.
She took the coffee back to her desk. As she sat down, her phone rang again. She thought about ignoring it. Then on about the eighth or ninth ring, she decided it might be something important and picked up. It was Hugh to say he had left his tie at her place the other night. “Oh, right, yeah,” she said. “I found it on the coffee table.”
“Gorgeous, you sound wretched. What on earth’s the matter?”
Slowly, between sobs, she told him what had happened, ending with the call from Lisa Patterson. Hugh was rarely lost for words, but apart from the occasional “My God,” he listened in stunned silence. “Screwing you over with the car is one thing,” he said, when she’d finished telling the tale, “but to steal your idea . . . That’s something else. It’s in a different league. It simply beggars belief. It’s so cruel. So evil.”
“I keep trying to work out why she did it. I mean, was it insecurity, jealousy, an obsessive need for power and control?” She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.
“For chrissake, who cares why?” Hugh said. “You’ve been in therapy too long. You’re the victim here, not Chelsea. It’s not your job to start analyzing her and feeling sorry for her.”
“I don’t feel sorry for her. I hate her.”
“Good. So, have you spoken to your boss?”
“Can’t, he’s away.”
“You could e-mail him.”
“I know, but I’m not sure he would believe me,” she explained.
“Even when you’ve got the evidence on Chelsea’s computer?”
“It proves nothing. Who’s to say the idea wasn’t hers?”
“But it’s on your computer, too. Surely that looks suspicious?”
“Absolutely,” Cyn said, “but in fact it gives Chelsea even more ammunition. She would twist things around and say that the moment she went into hospital I copied her Droolin’ Dream document and transferred it to my computer.”
“Why would you do that?”
“She would argue that it was because I was jealous of her and wanted to discredit her. I’ve no doubt that people in the office would believe my version of events, but Graham has a lot of time and respect for Chelsea.”
Hugh went silent for a moment. “OK,” he said, his voice rising in excitement, “call me a genius, but I think I’ve got an idea. Every document on a computer is time coded. If you go into the proposal she nicked from you, you’ll find the time she started writing it, the time she finished it, the lot. If it’s after the time that you wrote the proposal on your computer, then you can prove without doubt that you had the idea first. Do you know how to get up the properties of the document?”
She said she did.
“Right, why don’t you go and take a look? I’ll hang on.”
Her heart thumping with anticipation, she raced back to Chelsea’s computer and made a few clicks with the mouse. In a moment utter dismay had overtaken her again.
She went back to the phone. “Chelsea turned back the time code and changed the date to make it look like she wrote it days before.”
“God, she’s nobody’s fool. I don’t know what to suggest . . . It’s so ironic—me and Harmony watching
Working Girl
the other night.”
She gave a small laugh. “Isn’t it?”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Not sure. I need some time to work things out.”
“Look, if there’s anything you need, I’m always here.”
“I know. Thanks.”
“Love you, gorgeous.”
“Love you, too.”
Sipping the hot coffee made her feel better. After a few minutes she started to think more clearly. She needed to convince Graham of the truth. How she was going to make
Similar Books
