“And that only happens in books," I said. "You’re dreaming in Technicolor, Jay. Rick Cox got fired because he fucked up. And because they got him for fraud and sexual harassment too. Remember you asked me how I knew about the fraud? Well, I saw the charges in different memos from a couple of the regional vp’s. Oh, and by the way, the pinkie swear covers those memos too."
"Okay, I’ll give you that. On it’s own. Rick got fired because of apparently legitimate reasons. But why was Ev murdered? And I’ll go on the record right now. I agree that it was murder. You say they found peanut oil in everything?"
I nodded.
"Well, then," he said. "Why would there be peanut oil in brownies? Or in a ham and cheese casserole? I’ll tell you why. Because someone wanted to make damn sure that whatever Evelyn ate, would kill her."
Jay continued. "Those two unrelated incidents will no doubt drive the stock price down. And then you hear that we’re a target of a takeover bid. And," he pointed his finger at me, "tell me why the shares were down over a buck and a half last week, before any of this news got out? Can you explain that?"
I laughed. "No, Your Honour. I can’t. And I’d forgotten about that." Less than ten days ago the shares had been over $11.00 and now they were trading around $7.00. And with the news on the street about Ev, the slide wasn’t about to stop.
"You have to agree," Jay said. "That the two events together are cause for concern. Once the police find out about Cox, and they will find out, they’ll want to know what the two had in common. I’ll tell you what they had in common."
"Stock options," I interrupted him. "And, let’s not forget about the other variable in this formula."
"And that is?"
"You. You got fired too. Because of stock options. The common element. I wonder if the police’ll be knocking on your door?"
"Damn. I hadn’t thought of that." Jay looked concerned.
"But you’ve got nothing to worry about," I reassured him.
"You’re right. But no one likes being questioned by the police," he said. "My mother definitely won’t be impressed."
"She won’t be impressed when she finds out you’ve been fired. Have you told her yet?"
Jay shook his head. "I’ll tell her when I land another job. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her."
The funeral the next day wasn’t a merry affair by any means but I did a lot better than the day before. Jay and I sat shoulder to shoulder in the chapel at Hillson’s and I held his hand tightly in mine. There were dozens of people from the office at the service and if they’d didn’t know about Jay and I by now, they’d soon figure it out when they saw how closely we were sitting together. I felt safe with his shoulder touching mine. I didn’t acknowledge anyone and stared straight ahead like a zombie. I blocked out everything and tried not to listen to anything that was said during the eulogy. It was a trick I learned as a child. Don’t listen and what they say can’t hurt you.
"Midget," they used to taunt me. "Shorty pants." It was something to laugh about now, but as a kid, it used to hurt me through and through. I was very conscious of my size and when the other kids started to tease me, I just wouldn’t listen. I would sit on the curb with my hands over my ears, blocking out their taunts.
Evelyn was buried at the Thorncliffe Cemetery. We stayed back from the crowd around the graveside and I hung on to Jay’s arm. When they started lowering her coffin into the ground I turned around quickly and started back to the car. The rest of the crowd soon followed us and when the front cars in the funeral procession pulled out, Jay quickly followed.
"Do you want me to drop you at the office?" he asked me.
"Sure, but my car’s still at Hillson’s. I'll have to get it eventually," I replied. I had no feeling in my arms and my neck felt like rubber. I wanted to lie down and go to sleep and never wake up again. My best friend had just been put in the ground and the sadness overwhelmed me. I wanted to go to the office about as much as I wanted to have a root canal without Novocain.
"I’ve got some things I want to do downtown. I can hang around and take you back after work," he offered.
My mind wandered and I wondered if Evelyn was watching me, just like Sarah told me. My eyes looked up at the clouds. I’ve got a prince, I told her silently. You’d be happy for me, Ev. My eyes filled with tears for the first time that day and I quickly wiped them away with the back of my hand and turned to look at Jay.
"Thank you. I’ll take you up on that offer."
We didn’t talk on the way back downtown and I gave Jay a quick peck on his cheek when he pulled up in front of the building.
"I’ll be here at what time?" he asked me.
"Is five-thirty too late?" I had no idea what awaited me upstairs.
"Five-thirty it is. See you then." I waved as he drove off and I made my way slowly in to the building.
This is the last place I want to be, I thought as I punched the button for the elevator. When your best friend dies, you should be at the home of her relatives, participating in the grieving process. I had given my regrets to Danny before the service and he looked almost relieved that I wasn’t going back to his place after the burial. He probably didn’t want anything to do with any of us now that there was a full-fledged investigation going on.
I caught a whiff of Vanessa’s perfume and turned around. She was standing behind me waiting for the elevator.
"Why didn’t you say something?" I asked her.
"Didn’t want to invade your personal space," she replied. "You definitely had the walls up today. I noticed it at the funeral home and the graveside. You alright?"
"Yeah. I guess so. I’m getting there." We got on the elevator when it arrived and I punched our floor. I backed into the corner and watched the numbers of the floors flash by on the indicator.
"You need to talk Kate, you know I’m here," she said softly.
"I know Vee. And I know I’m not the only one grieving for Ev. I know she was a good friend of yours too. If I drank, I’d say let’s go out and get drunk." I grinned at her.
"You could always start. I’d be glad to introduce you to my bedmate, Chardonnay. Hey, you wanna do that tonight after work? Ashley’s over at her dad’s place. I don’t have to go home. We could get something to eat, too."
"I’d like that Vee. But Jay’s picking me up after work," I told her.
"Oh," she said.
We arrived at our floor and got off the elevator.
"I can’t get in touch with him because I don’t know where he is," I told her. "But we could go as a threesome."
"No. That’s all right. Some other time," she said.
"Vee. Get serious. Jay doesn’t bite. And it’s not as if the three of us haven’t eaten together before," I reminded her. We were standing in the elevator lobby and I steered her along the hall towards the back door.
"We’ve eaten together before when you two weren’t so obviously a couple," she said. "I don’t want to butt in."
"Shit Vanessa. This is stupid." I flashed my security pass at the black box beside the door. It clicked and she pulled the door open.
"So maybe we are an obvious couple. But you’re still my friend. We’ll hoist a few to Ev. Let’s meet at six at Bigliardi's."
"Bigliardi’s?" she said. "That’s an old fogey’s place."
"Yup. And it was Ev’s favourite restaurant. And I’m sure they serve Chardonnay." I went through the door ahead of her and waved over my shoulder. "Six. And don’t be late."