Telling Lies Online

by Miranda MacLeod

  “Yeah, well, the storm put me behind schedule so I thought I’d get an early start today. But I thought you were caught up on your latest project.”

  “Er, well…” Allen fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.

  Jamie glanced at the computer and saw the familiar Tech Cupid log in screen, with the equally familiar message that it was currently unavailable. Jamie's eyebrows lifted in surprise. Tech Cupid was almost exclusively a gay dating site. She'd had no idea her research assistant was gay, though she felt like it was the kind of thing she should have known. She wasn't sure what that implied about her observation skills.

  “What’s that?” she asked, feigning innocence.

  Alan fidgeted some more. “It's a, er… it's a dating site, for… well…”

  Jamie took pity on her assistant as his face flushed crimson. “I know all about Tech Cupid, Alan.”

  His face filled with panic. “I swear, I never go on during work hours, but sometimes I come in early to take advantage of the faster Internet connection. I guess I won’t be doing that anymore, though.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Alan, I’m not going to tell anyone your secret. Any of your secrets,” she emphasized. “You can do whatever you want on your own time, as long as your work gets done.”

  “Oh, no, it’s not that… I mean, thank you…” he stuttered. “But, no, it’s just that now Tech Cupid's gone, I probably won’t bother with any others for a while.”

  “Gone?” Jamie repeated, her heart pounding.

  “That’s the rumor. One of my buddies works in the same building as them and he says they closed up early on Christmas Eve and everybody was leaving with boxes and stuff.” Alan shrugged. “Not a huge surprise, I guess. They had some serious data glitches this summer, screwed up thousands of profiles. I guess there were lawsuits, and the legal fees bled them dry. Too bad, though. I met some really hot guys on there.” His eyes widened when he realized what he had said.

  Jamie gave him a reassuring smile in response, but could think of nothing more to say. Her head spun wildly over this latest development. Without Tech Cupid, there could be no message from Jay. Hell, without Tech Cupid, there was no Jay. He didn’t exist anywhere else. He didn’t have his own email address or anything else because Jamie had never intended for him to be a real person. Maybe she could create an address now, but given Claire’s current state of mind, she’d probably contact the FBI to have it authenticated. Getting onto Alan’s computer was now her only shot. Maybe she’d send him out to buy coffee for rest of the research assistants, her treat. That would give her plenty of time to get on his computer while he was out.

  Her office phone buzzed. Dr. Swenson. Apparently the whole office was in early today. She picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Jamie,” her boss said, “I’m so glad you’re in. There’s a strange situation that’s come up and I need your help.”

  Jamie hung up the phone and trudged down the hallway toward her boss’ office. Just what I need. Another problem to fix today.

  Her boss looked up as Jamie entered. “Jamie, there you are. Here’s the situation. While the Institute was closed yesterday, we got about a dozen messages from some woman…let’s see, Claire Flores, I think?”

  Jamie nodded, hoping the panic she felt inside didn't show on her face.

  “Frankly, they were pretty bizarre,” Dr. Swenson continued. “She was rambling about one of our employees getting into an accident in Antarctica, and demanding to know what we were doing to rescue him.”

  “That is bizarre,” Jamie managed to reply.

  “The name she gave, Jay, isn’t anywhere in our system. Plus, why would we even have someone in Antarctica? We've never had any research down there. The whole thing was pretty ludicrous.”

  “Yeah, that’s really strange,” Jamie said, trying to keep herself from fidgeting, or grabbing her hair and yanking it out by the handful in a nervous fit. “Why exactly are you telling me this?”

  Please don’t say you’ve connected me to Claire.

  “I know, I know. It's not your job. But you did such an amazing job handling the Dr. Matthews’ incident, I felt you were the only person I could trust with this. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, but do you think you could make a few inquiries today? Nothing official. We do not want the Board to hear about this.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll take care of it.”

  Thank God. That means they don’t know yet.

  “And Jamie? There was one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve been considering your recommendation to go back over all of the data sets before submitting Dr. Matthews’ meta-data analysis for publication. I was against the idea at first, but now I think you’re right. I was worried about missing the global climate summit, but publishing a flawed study would be far more damaging to our reputation in the long run.”

  Jamie smiled, feeling pleased. “Thank you, Dr. Swenson. In fact, it may not take as long as I thought. I may have found something. I have a theory that some of the temperatures were taken with older equipment and never converted from Fahrenheit. If that’s the issue, it won’t take nearly as long to fix as I estimated.”

  “Spectacular work, Jamie! I just want to let you know that when they ask for recommendations to fill Dr. Matthews’ position in January, I’ll be submitting your name. I can’t think of anyone better for the job.”

  Jamie floated back to her office on a cloud of praise and relief. Head of Research. She couldn't believe it was really happening. Being named the head of research at the Cape Ann Marine Institute at age thirty-four was a huge accomplishment. With the raise she'd be getting, she and Claire could get a house of their own. Jamie could afford to take her on a trip to England. She smiled at the image of the two of them, walking arm in arm along the winding streets of Norfolk where Jamie had gone to school. Claire is going to be so thrilled!

  Only first, Jamie had a mess to clean up. As she rounded the corner, she saw that Alan’s desk was empty. Now was her chance. If anyone asked, she was doing a surprise inspection for IT. She flipped the keyboard over first. No password. Good boy, Alan. It would’ve made it easier for her, but part of her was pleased that he had taken her warning seriously. An assistant director needed to be taken seriously, after all.

  She checked the middle drawer. Nothing. Then the side drawers. Struck out again. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so stern when she lectured him a few weeks ago. This was an inconvenience. She heard Alan’s voice around the corner and scurried back to her office. She’d have to think of some other way to do this. On an impulse, she picked up the phone and dialed the security desk.

  “Burt? It’s Jamie Richards, up in research. Do you know if there’s any way to get a computer password?”

  “Dr. Richards, hi.” Burt answered. “Uh, I can get access to passwords, yes. Usually we can’t give them out to anyone but the owner, though. But say, is this about the special project for Dr. Swenson?”

  “Um, yes, Burt. As a matter of fact, it is. So, you think you could get me the password I need?”

  “Absolutely. Dr. Swenson told me all about it and said you were in charge.”

  “Excellent. Good job, Burt.”

  Sometimes it’s really good to be in charge.

  Jamie couldn’t believe her luck. As soon as she had the password, she could send the email. With a click of a mouse, Claire would stop being upset and she’d have earned herself a promotion and a big, fat raise. It was almost too easy.

  Her phone buzzed again. Claire. Her heart felt lighter just reading the name on the caller ID screen.

  “Claire? How are you feeling, darling?”

  “Jamie, oh my goodness, you won’t believe it!”

  The first thing Jamie found hard to believe was how animated Claire’s voice was. Is this the same person I left bundled on the couch in a huddled mass this morning?

  “Believe what?” Jamie asked. “What is it?”

  “Last night, Jamie. I couldn’t sleep.”

&nbs
p; “Well, I'm not surprised,” Jamie answered sympathetically.

  “I kept thinking about what one of the people at the police department told me yesterday. Do you know it costs tens of thousands of dollars to do a cold weather rescue?”

  “That much? Huh.” Jamie wasn't sure where this was going.

  “And that’s just here in the US. Imagine how expensive it’s going to be in a place as remote as an Antarctic base camp.”

  “Uh, I suppose. But that’s not something we have to worry about.”

  “Of course it is! We have to do whatever we can to help Jay. So I went to one of those donation sites—”

  “Wait, you did what?” Jamie asked, alarmed.

  Please don’t make this any more complicated than it already is.

  “Yeah, you know those places where you can get strangers to donate money?”

  “Claire, I'm not sure—”

  “Jamie, that’s not why I called,” Claire interrupted impatiently. “Just listen. A few hours after I set it up, some blogger put a link to it on his website, and it’s gone viral!”

  “What?” Jamie squeaked.

  “Jamie, I’ve raised almost one hundred thousand dollars in twelve hours! Oh, hold on. That’s the front doorbell. It’s probably the reporter who wanted to do an interview. I’ve gotta go. I just wanted you to know!”

  The line went silent. Jamie stared at the receiver, dumbfounded. Fund raising? Reporters?! This was getting out of control.

  Her phone buzzed again. Dr. Swenson.

  “Jamie, can you come here right away? Burt’s found something.”

  Nerves had nearly gnawed a hole in the lining of Jamie’s stomach by the time she reached her boss’ door. Dr Swenson and Burt from security leaned over some sort of paper on Dr. Swenson’s desk.

  “Jamie, take a look at this. Burt printed out a screen shot from one of the security camera feeds from a few weeks ago. It’s from one of the hallways, after hours. There’s a woman I don’t recognize in the picture, but Burt says he thinks he saw her here over the summer, asking for someone named Jay, and he thinks he sent her your way. Do you recall?”

  “Um, vaguely.” Jamie’s heart skipped a beat. “Do you think there’s a connection?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. It's a long shot but at least it's a lead. “

  “I doubt there's a connection. But good job, Burt,” Jamie added. “That's really something, remembering that incident and digging up this picture.” The fact that he’d done either was annoying as hell, but Jamie still needed Burt to give her Alan's password.

  “Sure thing, Jamie,” Burt replied, beaming with pride. “I’ve got one of my guys pulling images from some of the other tapes from that night. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  Back at her desk, Jamie struggled not to hyperventilate. This is a disaster. She held the password to Alan’s computer in her hand and was about to send him out to run an errand, but it hardly mattered now. They were looking through the tapes. It was just a matter of time before Dr. Swenson received a pile of photos of her and Claire canoodling after hours in the ocean tank. I’m going to get fired, she thought. But if she could finally send the email, she might at least get to keep Claire. She could find a new job, but she would never find another woman like Claire.

  Her phone buzzed again. Dr. Swenson. Jamie groaned. Time to find out what it’s like to be unemployed, she fretted on the way to her boss' office.

  Dr. Swenson motioned her towards the monitor on her desk. “Jamie, just in time. Look at this.” Instead of the dreaded security photographs, a local news broadcast streamed on the screen. Claire spoke to a reporter in Jamie’s living room. A banner at the bottom of the screen flashed the headline Local Woman Raises Thousands to Rescue Missing Scientist. Jamie felt lightheaded. She had assumed when Claire said a reporter had arrived that it was some journalism intern from the local Cape Ann paper, not a camera crew from Channel Seven. She was living in a nightmare.

  “It’s the same woman from that picture. No doubt about it. This is more serious than I imagined,” Dr. Swenson said. “Coming here in the summer, sneaking in after hours, harassing us with phone calls, and now this. I think she must be mentally disturbed.” Dr. Swenson shook her head slowly in disbelief. “I wanted to let you know that you’re off the hook, Jamie. I need to turn this over to the proper authorities.”

  “Dr. Swenson, are you sure?” Jamie asked, masking her rising panic. Claire is going to end up in jail! “Think of the bad press. The Board is going to be very concerned.” Jamie hoped playing the Board card would buy her enough time. “Give me one more day to see what I can do. Discreetly.”

  Her boss nodded. “So far they’ve kept the Institute’s name out it, so maybe you’re right. There's still a chance it could still be handled without the Board finding out. But only one more day. If this woman is dangerous, it’s not worth the risk.”

  Jamie nodded. The clock was ticking, She had twenty-four hours until everything went completely to hell.

  Alan was back at his desk. Damn it. Aren’t young people supposed to be slackers? Go home! Jamie glared at the back of Alan's occupied chair. No matter. He had to leave sometime. She’d come back after dinner and send the email then. Right now, Jamie had to talk to Claire and convince her to tone it down before the story hit the national news.

  22

  Claire looked up from the computer as Jamie entered the dining room. She smiled, and Jamie’s heart melted just to see her looking happy again.

  “Claire? You look like you’re a lot better today.” Jamie felt relief at Claire’s improved mood. Maybe it wouldn’t be as difficult as she had feared to distract Claire long enough to sneak out back to the office and send that blasted email. How she wished she could have accomplished it already! Jamie swooped down to kiss Claire’s lips, but Claire swiveled so that she caught her cheek instead. A shadow of doubt crossed Claire’s face, hitting Jamie like a splash of cold water.

  “Jamie, it’s really not a good time for that,” she chastised.

  “For what? For giving my girlfriend a kiss after being away all day?” Jamie's voice sounded hurt.

  “Your girlfriend?” Claire gulped. “That’s kind of rushing things, isn’t it?”

  “Is it?” Jamie could feel her anger building, and beneath that was a prick of fear. Where is Claire going with this? “Forgive me for assuming, but I know I don’t make a habit of doing the things we did together the other night without taking it seriously. Do you?”

  “Well, I—no, of course not. It’s just, in retrospect, maybe it was a little too much.”

  “In retrospect?” The very word incensed her. “What do you mean, retrospect? I thought we were looking forward now, Claire. Not back.”

  “It’s just that, with what has happened with Jay and all…” Her voice trailed off as if not sure that more needed to be said.

  Jamie disagreed with that assessment vehemently. “Jay?” she said, nearly choking on the word. “What does Jay have to do with us?”

  Claire sighed. “Isn’t it obvious? I was supposed to be with Jay, only I decided to be with you, and damn the consequences, and then this happened. It’s a sign.”

  “A sign?” Jamie’s eyes bugged. “A sign? You and those bloody signs, Claire. You find them when it’s convenient and interpret them to mean whatever you want, or ignore them if you feel like it.” Jamie raked both hands through her hair, making it stand up on end like a wild woman. “Do you honestly think that God, or the universe, or whatever, would cause a blizzard in Antarctica to wipe someone off the planet just because we spent the night together? I have news for you, Claire. Orgasms do not cause blizzards.”

  “Well,” Claire sniffed, disapproving. “You don’t have to be crude about it, you know.”

  Realizing that fighting wasn’t getting them anywhere, Jamie changed tactics. “I’m sorry, Claire. I didn’t mean to upset you. You need space, and I’ll respect that.” She smiled pleasantly. “So how was your day? Did you do anything inter
esting?”

  Claire smiled graciously in return. “As a matter of fact, I did. I’ve spent the whole day corresponding with donors.” Claire pointed to her computer screen. “I can’t believe how generous people are. There are literally thousands of donors on this site who’ve given money.” Claire's smile grew wider. “You should see all these wonderful comments, too. This is going to help so much in getting together a rescue team. With the amount of money that’s coming in, we should be able to get extra vehicles, search dogs, a whole mobile hospital if they need it!”

  Dogs? Vehicles? A hospital!

  “Claire,” Jamie’s voice was stern. “You’re getting so far ahead of yourself it isn't funny. This is out of control. You don’t even know if anything happened. A rescue? There may not be any need for a rescue, and then what are you going to tell all these generous, wonderful people, huh?”

  Claire’s goodwill was short lived. “I’m just trying to do something, Jamie,” she said with an edge to her tone. “Someone needs to. What about at work today? Did you find out anything?”

  “No, and that’s why you really need to take a step back from this,” Jamie said in her most placating tone. “No one has heard anything, okay? Until we do, can you just cool it with the news interviews and the donations? This type of thing is going to make the Board nervous.”

  “The Board?” Claire asked in disgust. “A friend could be injured and dying all alone on the other side of the world and all you care about is the Board?”

  “Yes, because I have to, Claire. It’s my job to care about what the Board thinks. If they’re unhappy, I could lose my job. They need more than speculation.”

  If they find out about the crazy mess I’ve created here, I’ll be fired for sure!

  “Speculation?” Claire squeaked. “I got an email directly from the Marine Institute telling me that Jay was missing. That’s not speculation, Jamie. That’s fact. And I seem to be the only one doing anything about it!”