CHAPTER twenty-nine
“Tom James told you?" I repeated. I was incredulous. Tom was a senior officer of a public company and was bound by confidentiality. The severance arrangements for Rick Cox were confidential information. Tom shouldn’t be sharing that information with anyone, especially an ex-employee of the company. Granted, the information would eventually become public knowledge but eventually was a long time off.
Jay nodded.
"When did you talk to Tom?" I asked.
"I took your suggestion and called him today. I told him what had happened with Rick and asked him if he could do anything about it. He said he’d look into the situation."
"I guess that’s not all you talked about," I said.
"No. Tom told me what had happened with Rick. And he told me about the severance. Boy, the guy has loose lips. He told me that Oakes had been wanting to get rid of Rick for a long time. He said there was bad blood."
I shook my head. Unbelievable. I wondered how much Tom told his barber.
"What did he mean when he said he’d look into the situation?" I asked Jay.
"He didn’t get specific. Tom said he’d call me back in a couple of days."
"Don’t hold your breath. Besides, you don’t want to work at TechniGroup anyway."
"Wrong Kate. That’s easy for you to say. You have a job. I don’t. You may not want to work at TechniGroup. I do. At least it pays the rent. Right now I have no job and no money coming in. And no references. How do I explain to a future employer why I left TechniGroup?"
"Lie to them," I said laughing.
"Stop being so damn flip about everything. I personally don’t see any humour in the situation. It wasn’t so bad you know, working there. I was getting well-rounded experience. I was exposed to a lot of things. The salary wasn’t bad and I had some stock options. All in all, not a bad place. Just because you dislike it so much doesn’t mean everyone else does." Jay was getting visibly angry again.
"I’m sorry," I apologized. "What’re you going to do about a job?"
"I’m getting my resume together. I’ve called a couple of my friends from university. I’m putting the word out that I’m looking. But, the wheels turn slowly," he said.
"I know. Look, if there’s anything I can do, let me know," I offered. "I could at least type your resume. It’s one thing I do well."
"Thanks. I’ll probably take you up on that."
Jay looked down at his plate of food which had quickly turned cold. He turned around and waved at Alfredo.
"Let’s go. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite." He pulled his wallet out of the hip pocket of his jeans.
Alfredo arrived at the table and looked down at us.
"Ready for some coffee?" he asked. He gathered up the plates.
"No," said Jay. "Just the bill."
Alfredo raised his eyebrows and glanced at me.
"Nothing personal Alfredo. The food was great. We’ve got to go," I explained. "Do up the bill for us, please."
I gathered up my things and headed for the counter to pay. Jay was right behind me and he snatched the bill from Alfredo’s outstretched hand. I looked at Jay beside me and said, "Let me pay."
"No way, Monahan," he said under his breath. He laid two twenties on the counter and took my elbow to steer me out the door.
"Thanks very much Alfredo," he said over his shoulder.
Outside on the sidewalk he said to me, "Kate, when I ask you to dinner, I pay. Okay?"
"Yessir, Mr. Caveman," I snapped. "Want to beat your chest now and drag me off by the hair?"
"What the hell is that all about? I asked you to dinner. I pay. If you ask me to dinner, you can pay. I resent the Mr. Caveman remark, Kathleen," he said. "It was totally uncalled for." He looked hurt.
Open mouth, insert foot, I thought.
"Sorry," I apologized again. I had been doing that a lot tonight. Apologizing. It wasn’t often I was called upon to be sensitive and I probably needed a refresher course.
"You’re right," I continued. "Totally uncalled for. Won’t happen again." We were facing each other and I looked up at Jay with my best sexy smile.
"Can I make it up to you?" I offered. And I meant it. I admitted to myself that I liked where our relationship was going. And if I kept up the snide remarks there wouldn’t be a relationship.
"How?" Jay grinned at me.
"Coffee at my place," I offered.
"How can I refuse? Should I drag you by the hair to your car or can you make it on your own?"
I drank too much coffee that night and it kept me awake. Jay and I had talked for a long time. I looked over Jay’s sleeping face to the clock radio on the other side of the bed. The red fluorescent numbers read three-twenty. Lovely. If I didn’t get to sleep soon I knew I’d be a basket case in the morning. I was wide awake now thinking about our conversation and some of the disturbing questions it raised.
I’d been sitting on the sofa and Jay was standing in front of the French doors looking at the park.
"Do you think Danny was right in going to the police?" I asked Jay.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I don’t know. Put yourself in his place Kate." He turned around and came and sat down beside me.
"He’s grieving and angry. Anger is one of the offshoots of grief. He can’t believe his mother’s dead. But the logic isn’t there for me. Yes, Evelyn died at the office where everyone knew about her allergy. But it has to be an accident. Who in their right mind would want to kill her?" he asked.
"No one who kills is in their right mind. You know, I didn’t tell anyone at the office that the police had come about her death," I told him.
"I wouldn’t worry about it. If the police find anything, they’ll all find out soon enough."
We sat quietly for a long time. Jay turned on the television and pushed the mute button. He flicked through the channels and I stared at the images on the screen. Jay settled on the Weather Channel and he put the remote control on the table in front of him. We watched the satellite pictures and I tried to read the announcer’s lips. Across the bottom of the screen were several digital clocks showing the local time in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. The clock showed nine-fifteen in Toronto and eight-fifteen in Winnipeg. The minutes ticked by.
When the clocks showed nine-nineteen in Toronto and eight-nineteen in Winnipeg I sat up straighter. eight-nineteen.
"Jay, what time did Evelyn die last Thursday?"
"Um, around eleven-thirty I think. Why?"
I ignored his question. "What time did we leave the office to go to the hospital?"
"I can’t remember. Around eight or eight thirty. Why?"
Eight-nineteen set off some bells in my head. I tried to remember the sequence of events that night.
I remembered the paramedics rushing Ev on to the elevator. I remembered trying to call Danny from the phone in my office. I remembered waiting for Jay in the lobby of the building. I remembered my frustration because he was taking so long. And then I remembered looking at my watch. It had said eight-twenty. Or it could have been eight-nineteen. I’m never that accurate when reading the time from my watch because it’s not digital.
Okay, I thought. I was waiting for Jay in the lobby of the building at eight-nineteen. Or eight-twenty. What was the significance of that? It was really bugging me and I couldn’t pin it down. I got up off the sofa and poured myself another coffee in the kitchen.
I leaned back against the counter in the kitchen and sipped my coffee and methodically went through the events of the last few days. Eight-nineteen had been significant in another discussion I had participated in, or listened to, sometime in the last few days. The light bulb finally went on in my head when I remembered it was during the discussion between Ray and Grace. Ray had been helping Grace read the user information from the report Ray had printed out. The system had shown that Rick Cox had logged on the system at ei
ght-nineteen. I remembered now asking Grace to repeat the time to me. Something must have seemed wrong to me at that time as well.
But eight-nineteen was significant to me because I remember waiting for Jay in the lobby of the building at that time. And I remembered that it was five minutes or more before he showed up. And Jay had Rick’s password to the system. I felt sick when I realized it could have been Jay who signed on the system while I was waiting in the lobby. While Ev was dying. Maybe Rick’s protests of innocence weren’t so far off base. Had anyone seen Rick at the party, I wondered. If he wasn’t in the boardroom at the reception, he could have been logged on the system. The log report showed that whoever had logged on, had been at Evelyn’s terminal. In her office. While she was dying.
My mind protested this line of thinking. Rick Cox had been accused, tried and found guilty. I knew Jay. And I knew Jay would never have done what they accused Rick of. No way. He was too honest. Besides, I didn’t sleep with dishonest people. I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that Jay would have anything to do with this whole mess.
I sensed Jay’s presence in the doorway and looked up guiltily.
"A penny for your thoughts," he said quietly. He was leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his jeans pockets. "The Weather Channel was getting boring so I thought I’d join you. You look confused. What’re you thinking about?" he asked me.
"Nothing," I lied. "Just thinking. About Ev. And the funeral. I have to go to the visitation tomorrow afternoon. I’ve never done this before, you know. I wonder what it’ll be like."
"Not pleasant," Jay said. "Funeral’s never are. I’ll go with you. We can find out together."
Jay came over to where I was leaning against the counter and put his arms around me. I hugged him back very tightly. I felt guilty about putting Jay at the scene of the crime, so to speak. But the dirty deed had been done at eight-nineteen and Jay had had the opportunity.
"I have to ask you a question," I said into his chest.
"Shoot," he said back.
I took Jay’s hand and led him back to the living room.
"Sit down," I said.
He sat on the sofa and looked up at me. "It’s too early for a marriage proposal Kathleen," he said. "And besides, I wanted to be the first to ask."
"Don’t joke about that Jay," I said. "And this wasn’t going to be a marriage proposal." I sat down beside him.
"Let me take you back through a sequence of events as I remember them," I continued. I looked down at my hands and said, "Last Thursday night, after the paramedics disappeared on the elevator with Ev, I went back to my office to try and call Danny. When I couldn’t reach him I left. I went to the lobby of the building and waited for you. It seemed like forever before you came down in the elevator. I remember looking at my watch and deciding that if you didn’t show up soon, I was leaving without you." I looked at Jay. "You said you were just going to get your jacket. What took you so long?"
Jay looked back at me. "I can’t remember. I went back to my office and got my jacket. I met you in the lobby. That’s all, I think."
I stared at him and measured his words. There was no hedging. He sounded honest.
"Then what took so long?"
"I don’t remember Kate. What’s this all about anyway? Why am I getting the third degree?"
"Because. I know some things that’re bothering me. And I’m trying to figure something out."
"Well maybe I can help figure it out if you tell me what you know," he offered.
I lit a cigarette and dragged deeply. I felt the smoke seer my lungs. I have to quit this filthy habit, I thought. I took another drag.
"Okay. I know some things that I’m not supposed to know. I hear things. I’m privy to confidential information. Sometimes, I’m amazed at how much I know. But then I remember that people speak in front of me and forget that I’m there. It’s like I’m invisible. Because I’m a lowly support person, they don’t think I can understand what they’re talking about. So they talk around me and ignore me. You understand?" I asked him.
"Yeah. I understand. Can you be a little more specific?"
"I’m getting there. The other thing I wanted to say is that the confidential stuff I hear, has to stay confidential. Sure, I talk about it with Vanessa, but she’s bound by the same code I am. We keep our jobs because we’re discrete. And we’re expected to keep things that we hear, confidential."
"Kate, I understand confidentiality. And you should know that people talk in front of you not because they think you don’t understand. It’s because they trust you."
"Well, I’m about to break that trust. I know we have a relationship. Or at least I hope it becomes a relationship. I keep forgetting it’s only been a couple of days." I smiled at Jay.
"Anyway, I shouldn’t share any confidential information with you. Especially since you’re an ex-employee of the company," I said quietly. I wasn’t about to put my foot in my mouth again and rub it in because he didn’t have a job. I was consciously practicing sensitivity here. "Even if you were still working at the company," I continued quickly, "I wouldn’t be in a position to share this stuff with you."
"I understand all that Kate. So what’s the big deal? Did you discover the secret to the atomic bomb in Harold’s out-basket?"
We both laughed.
"No. Nothing quite so serious. Did I tell you what Grace and I were doing at the office on Saturday?" He shook his head.
"We were checking the stock option records. My records against Ev’s. And she had Ray print-off a report that shows when everyone uses the computer system. The report shows every time someone logs on, what terminal they’re using, what part of the system they log on to, stuff like that. Did you know they had those sorts of records?" I asked him.
"Sure. I knew. I learned a lot about the internal system when I was working in with some technical guys on one of my rotations."
"Well, anyway, Ray’s report shows that Rick Cox logged on to Ev’s terminal at eight-nineteen on Thursday night. He logged into the stock option system and was on the computer for three or four minutes. That’s the confidential information I shouldn’t be sharing with you."
"Rick told me that they had a report showing he logged on. So where do I come in to this?"
"I remember waiting for you in the lobby. You said you were going to get your jacket but it was taking so long. I looked at my watch and it said eight-twenty or something. I waited another five minutes."
Jay thought for a moment. "So, you’re thinking that because I was taking so long it could’ve been me?"
"Admit it Jay, if anyone knew to ask me the right questions, I could theoretically put you at the scene of the crime. You knew Rick’s password. So you could’ve logged on to Ev’s terminal and made those changes. Help me out here. What took you so long?"
"Admit it?" he demanded. "Who the hell are you? The Gestapo? What the fuck is this Kathleen?" Jay stood up from the sofa and looked around for his jacket. He was going to leave. I’d done it again. He stormed down the hallway towards the door.
"Jay. Please." I got off the sofa and hurried after him. I grabbed his arm.
"Jay. Come on. Just listen to me. I’m not accusing you of anything," I said to his back. "Please." I tugged on his arm and he turned around.
"I have all this information, in bits and pieces. So I put some of the pieces together. I wasn’t going to say anything but it was bugging me. I’m not accusing you," I repeated. "So work with me here. Let’s figure it out. What if someone did lace Ev’s food with something? What if the police start asking questions? Won’t they find out about Rick getting fired and start putting two and two together? There’s definitely a link here with the stock options. Please, Jay. Don’t make me apologize again tonight. I seem to be starting off every sentence with you saying, I’m sorry. I am. But look at it from my point of view. Think. What too
k you so long?"
Jay took a deep breath before he answered. "I was pulling myself together. I left you and went to my office. I closed the door and put on my coat. And I sat down for a while. I was in shock. It’s not every day I have to perform CPR on a friend."
I took a step towards him and put my arms around his waist. He hugged me.
"I was so scared," he said.
"And you’re too macho to admit it?" I asked him.
"No. I’m not too macho. I learned how to cry from my sisters. There’s no shame in it. I needed to be strong for you. I needed you to lean on me."
"I’m leaning on you now Jay. And not just figuratively," I said into his chest. "So why couldn’t you tell me that?"
"Thursday night was the first time I was going to be allowed to do something for you. You had actually asked me for help. You wanted me to take you to the hospital. Call it macho. Call it what you want. I was going to look after you. I had to pull myself together."
I stood back and looked at him.
"You did help me Jay. Thank you." I held out my hand to him. "Don’t leave. Especially don’t leave mad."
He took my hand and looked hard into my eyes.
"Kathleen Monahan, I helped you because I love you."
My throat tightened. "It’s too early to say that Jay."
"Not for me it isn’t. I’ve loved you forever Kate." And he kissed me. Just like in one of my favourite Harlequin romance novels.