by Lynn, JB
“Are going where we?” she asked from the front passenger seat.
“Piss identified the locksmith that was at the cemetery,” I told her. “Since he works out of his house, we’re going to go take a walk around his block and see if we can find out anything interesting.”
“Why don’t you just tell Griswald that you saw him?” God asked.
“And how am I supposed to explain that I identified him by a cat looking at my phone?”
“Good point,” he admitted. “What do you expect to see walking around the neighborhood?”
I shrugged. I really had no idea, but I wanted to do something pro-active in terms of my work with Griswald, and this seemed to be the best bet. We were soon in the neighborhood of the locksmith, Alan Chilton. It was a non-descript area, where the cars and homes looked like they were maintained by their owners instead of paid staff. I parked the car a block away from Chilton’s address, snapped the leash on DeeDee, and went for a walk.
We took our time as we strolled down the street. She was busy sniffing every unfamiliar piece of grass, and I was pretending to just be in a daze, looking around distractedly. In reality, I was doing everything I could to memorize the details of Chilton’s residence. Unlike other homes on the street, his house was as neat as a pin. No weeds, no children’s toys left in the yard, no trash can propped up against the house. I wasn’t sure if that reflected his pride in ownership, or a need to have things in their place. His van, with the logo that Piss had identified, was parked in the driveway. I was tempted to get DeeDee to pull me in that direction to see if the vehicle was unlocked, but I wasn’t even sure what I’d look for inside if I was able to get in there.
A woman, walking a little white ball of fluff that I believed to be a shih-tzu, crossed the street when she saw DeeDee.
“Mean not,” my Doberman whined, her feelings hurt that there were those that assumed she was a monster just because of her appearance.
“You’re a good girl,” I assured her, patting her rump for emphasis. The woman, as she drew parallel to us, scooped up her dog, clutching the wad of fur to her chest, and hurried past as though she thought DeeDee was about to rip her dog limb-from-limb.
“Humans and their bias,” God clucked disapprovingly. Considering the creatures that he often called “the furries”, I wasn’t sure he was in any position to judge the unfair suppositions anybody else made.
“Let’s go get you a treat,” I said to DeeDee, wanting to make her feel better. The Doberman’s ears were flattened back and her head hung low because of the woman and her dog’s reaction.
She perked up a little bit at that. “Treat?”
“You earned it,” I told her. “There’s nothing here for us to see.”
“I could have told you that,” God said.
Ignoring him, I ushered the dog into the car and drove back to the compound. I had just turned into the driveway when I saw him leaning against his car, waiting for me. “I have not had enough coffee for this,” I muttered under my breath. “Wait here,” I told the dog, climbing out of the car.
“Good morning, Maggie,” Zeke said with a smile.
“You do remember I’m not a morning person, right?”
He shrugged helplessly. “Don’t kill the messenger. Or in this case, the delivery person.” He held out a large brown paper bag toward me.
I eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Your uniform,” he told me. He held open the bag so that I could see the pastel fabric inside. “Scrubs.”
I took it from him with a heavy sigh. “Really?”
He shrugged. “It’s been decided that that’s what you should wear.” He held up a hand defensively before I could protest. “Again, don’t kill the messenger.”
I nodded.
“Plus, there’s this.” He waved a small piece of plastic at me that I assumed was some sort of flash drive. “Just plug it into your computer, type in a couple commands that I’ll text you, and we’ll do the rest.”
I tried to take it from him, but he snatched it away. “It’s important that nobody there sees this.”
I nodded my understanding.
“And you need to use this,” he said, holding out his other hand palm up so that I could see a small earpiece balanced in it.
“What’s that?”
He rolled his eyes.
“I just stick it in my ear?” I asked with a resigned sigh. Of course, the people that kept my car bugged would want to listen in while I was in Rod Dello’s office.
He nodded. “Just put it in when you’re ready to go into the office.”
“Do I have to do anything to turn it on?”
He shook his head. “We’ve got that.”
“I feel reassured,” I told him drily, snatching both the computer drive and the earpiece away from him.
“Have a great first day at work,” he said with fake cheeriness. I wanted to hit him. I also wanted to throw up.
17
Clutching the paper bag containing the scrubs to my chest, I hurried back inside so that I could change into them.
“Treat?” DeeDee reminded me when I didn’t head first to the kitchen.
“In a second,” I told her impatiently. Hearing noise coming from the kitchen, she trotted off to see who else she could hit up for some food.
When I got to my room, I pulled out the scrubs, which were pink and green and covered with smiley faces.
God, perched on my shoulder, laughed the moment he saw them. “Perfect.”
“This is ridiculous,” I groaned.
“When in Rome, dress like the Romans,” the lizard said.
“The Romans dressed in togas and sandals,” I muttered.
“You’d be more comfortable in a toga?” he asked.
“Shut up,” I muttered. I quickly changed into the scrubs. “At least they’re comfortable.”
“Cute! Cute! Cute!” Benny opined from his box.
I flashed the little white mouse a grateful smile. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Benny.”
I had just stepped out of my room again when Susan caught me. “Margaret!” she crowed, a mixture of surprise and delight. “What’s this?”
“I have a temporary job,” I told her.
“How did you get a job?” she asked, not bothering to hide her amazement.
“A friend of a friend,” I told her, thinking that wasn’t much of a lie.
“Where?”
“A dentist’s office,” I told her. “Hence my new wardrobe.”
Aunt Susan beamed. “Oh, Margaret,” she said proudly. “That’s wonderful. The medical field is a noble profession.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I wondered what she would think of the assassination field. Would she consider that to be noble, too?
“I’ll make you lunch,” she declared.
Before I could respond, she hustled off in the direction of the kitchen. A moment later, I encountered Griswald in the hallway. He looked as surprised as his wife had. “New job?” he asked.
I nodded. “It’s a temporary thing. A friend of a friend got it for me.” I squinted at him as I said that last part, knowing that he had a relationship with Ms. Whitehat that I didn’t quite understand. Not that I could ask him about it.
“That’s good,” he said slowly. “I guess.”
I laughed at the question in his voice. “I don’t know yet,” I admitted.
“Well, it’s good that you’re trying new things, Maggie.” He gave me the once over, smirking at the sight of the smiley faces. “Has Susan seen your getup?”
“She told me that the medical profession is a noble field,” I told him with mock seriousness.
Chuckling, he said, “You look like you need another cup of coffee. Come on.” He led the way into the kitchen where Susan was making a sandwich.
“What do you think of purple?” she asked.
Griswald and I looked at each other, unsure which one of us she was addressing.
“For t
he decorations,” Susan elaborated. “What do you think of purple? It’s the color of kings, you know.”
Griswald rolled his eyes. “Whatever you think is best, dear.”
“What do you think, Margaret?”
I shrugged, not wanting to have anything to do with the planning of Griswald’s retirement party. “Purple makes me think of Mardi Gras.”
Aunt Susan froze and turned slowly to face me. “Mardi Gras?”
“Isn’t purple big for that?” I asked weakly.
“We do not want this connected with Mardi Gras,” she said, returning to her sandwich making. “No flashing of breasts for beads. You make a good point, Margaret.”
Griswald, apparently having not been a fan of the idea of purple decorations, gave me a thumbs up. He poured me another cup of coffee in a travel mug while Aunt Susan bagged up a lunch for me.
“Have a great first day, sweetheart,” she said as she handed me the bag, leaning forward to give me a kiss on the cheek. I immediately remembered all of the times she had sent me off to a first day of school, having packed me a lunch. Even though she sometimes drives me crazy, she had been the one that had taken care of those things when both my mother and father had been unable. Before Katie, it had never occurred to me how much Susan had done and sacrificed for me and my sisters, but now…I recognized it in a way I’d never been able to before.
Impulsively, I pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you.”
“It’s just lunch,” she said with a laugh.
“But you made it with love,” I told her, squeezing her tighter.
She embraced me back. “What’s gotten into you, Margaret?” She leaned back so that she could look into my eyes as she asked the question.
“I don’t think I appreciated you enough when I was a kid. I want you to know that I appreciate you now.”
Unshed tears glittered in her eyes. “Children never appreciate adults,” she told me. “And I do know that you appreciate me now.”
Pulling apart, we both turned away from each other, slightly embarrassed by the amount of emotion we were displaying.
“I don’t want to be late,” I told her. “Thanks again for the lunch.” I hurried out of the house and to my car.
“That was sweet,” God murmured.
“She’s going to be so disappointed when this job ends. And it will end the moment I get that safe opened for Ms. Whitehat.”
“You were smart to tell her it was a temporary job,” he said. “Hopefully, you can get the job done today.”
I nodded. After all, how hard could it be to get the combination of a safe?
18
At least when I got to the office of dentist Rod Dello, I wasn’t the only one outfitted in ridiculous scrubs. Marge, the grouchy office manager who’d shown me in the day before, was wearing teddy bears clutching hearts that were a direct contrast to her personality. Lynette, the dental tech, was wearing ones that were covered with rainbows, a pin on her lanyard that said, “Behind every good dentist is a great dental tech,” and a slinky headscarf in a pink and yellow houndstooth pattern that hurt my eyes.
On the other hand, Missy, the cute young receptionist, was wearing scrubs with winking skulls with pigtails. I could have rocked those.
Marge set me up in a tiny windowless room, which she labeled my “office”. It looked more like a torture chamber, if you were going to put someone through sensory deprivation.
“If you need anything, ask Missy,” she practically growled as she pulled the door closed behind her, leaving me in my enclosed space with no natural light. I gulped nervously.
“I hope this thing is on,” I muttered, tapping at my earpiece. I waited, wondering if I was going to hear instructions, but none came. Sighing, deciding I had to figure this out on my own, I pulled out my chair and gingerly sat down at the white Formica desk in front of the computer that was centered there. I had just turned it on and was trying to figure out where to insert the drive Zeke had provided when there was a soft knock at the door.
“Betty?” a soft, kind voice called.
I almost didn’t answer, forgetting that Whitehat had assigned me the alias of Betty for this job. I rolled my chair over three inches so that I could reach the handle for the door, and opened it.
Missy, in her winking skulls, grinned at me. “I bet she didn’t give you the password.”
I shook my head.
“She doesn’t give it to anybody,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Marge likes people to have to go to her with what she then claims are annoying questions. But don’t worry, I’ve got your back.” She handed me a bright pink Post-It in the shape of a tooth. I glanced down at the letters and numbers handwritten on it.
“If you have any questions,” she said with a wink, “you can always try running them past me, first.”
I smiled up at her thankfully. “I really appreciate this.”
She nodded. “And just so you know, the office closes from 11:30 to 1:00 for lunch.”
I gave her a thumbs up. That would be my time to search the premises for the mysterious safe.
She glanced at the bagged lunch that Aunt Susan had packed me. “I bet nobody told you.”
“Told me what?” I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“When the office closes, we’re not allowed to stay here,” she said. “That’s why we get ninety minutes for lunch, so that we can leave and go somewhere else.”
“Every day?” I asked, remembering how short the time had been for us to inhale our meals when Armani and I had worked at Insuring the Future.
“Doctor Dello insists,” she said. “He says it’s good for our mental health to get out of here.”
I nodded slowly. That might be true, but it wasn’t going to help me find the safe.
“I’ve got plans for today,” she said. “But maybe do you want to get lunch together tomorrow?”
She sounded hopeful, like a puppy, begging for a scrap of food.
“Sure,” I agreed easily. Maybe she knew where the safe was.
“Great!” She did a little shimmying happy dance.
I hoped that, like a puppy, she wasn’t about to pee where she stood.
“I’ve got to get to my desk,” she said. “See you later.” She hurried off and I could swear that she actually skipped down the hall.
“You’ve made a new friend,” God remarked drily.
Remembering that I was wearing the earpiece, I didn’t comment. I slowly closed my door, cutting me off from the rest of the living world, and input the password into the computer. As soon as I did, an email popped up on the screen with instructions from Marge as to what I was supposed to do that day. The first one was, “Come to my office and get the files you’ll need.”
I rolled my eyes. I’ve had other bosses who were control freaks. She was going to have to do better than that if she thought she was going to break me. Standing up, I squared my shoulders and plastered on my best professional smile.
Lynette, the dental technician, almost plowed into me when I opened my door.
“Whoops,” she apologized, balancing a tray of instruments in front of her. “Didn’t see you there.”
“No harm,” I replied easily. “Can you tell me which direction Marge’s office is in?”
“Third door on the right,” she said. “Just follow Frank Sinatra.”
She hustled off and I moved in the direction she’d indicated. Sure enough, when I was two doors down, I could hear Old Blue Eyes crooning “My Way”. I took a deep breath before I knocked on the door of Marge’s office.
“Enter,” she yelled from the other side.
I opened it up and smiled politely at her. “You had some files for me?”
Her eyes narrowed and she considered me suspiciously. “Over there.” She indicated a pile of files on a nearby table.
“Thank you.” I picked them up and was ready to walk out of her office, when Rod Dello burst in.
“Good morning!” he said with what I considered to be way
too much cheer.
“Morning,” I murmured back.
“I’m glad to see you’re getting started,” he said, reaching out and tapping the top of the pile of files that I held. “You’re doing important work, Betty.”
Considering that Ms. Whitehat had said almost the same thing to me, I nodded in agreement. I was doing important work for somebody. I just didn’t know what that work was…for either of them.
He glanced over at Marge. “Full day?”
She shrugged noncommittally. I stood there uncomfortably, not sure if I should leave or if that would be considered rude. I shifted my weight from side to side, the corners of the files digging into my stomach.
“Well, let’s get started,” Dello announced, rubbing his hands together with glee. “I’ve got an extraction first thing.”
I tried not to wince at the excitement in his voice and wondered if the reason that Ms. Whitehat was so interested in him was because he was some sort of sadistic torturer. Then again, aren’t most dentists, by definition?
He ushered me out of Marge’s office, ahead of him. “I’m counting on you, Betty,” he said, patting my shoulder.
“I’ll do my best,” I told him. I hurried back to my windowless space, plopped the files on the desk, closed the door, and leaned back on it, taking a deep breath.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” I announced to no one in particular. I waited, hoping someone would fill the silence and give me guidance. Nothing came.
19
At exactly 11:25 AM, there was a knock on my door and I heard Missy warn, “You’d better get ready to leave. Doors lock at 11:30.”
Considering I was already feeling like I was in prison, the idea of being locked in panicked me. I turned off my computer, pulling out the drive that Zeke had provided, grabbed my bagged lunch, and skedaddled out of the windowless space. I blinked against the natural light as I approached the exit door.
“See you at 1:00,” Missy said with a big grin, waggling her fingers. She was out the door before me. I could hear Lynette chatting with someone on her cell phone as she followed me out the door. Right behind us, Marge and Dr. Dello pulled the door shut and locked it. There was no way I was going to be finding the safe during this break.