Never Reply All

by Dan Friedman

“You what?”

  Craig had an amazing memory. He would hardly take notes when they interrogated someone, while Bob scribbled everything down.

  “I knew I couldn’t trust you.” Craig dialed a number, asked her if she remembered them, then handed Bob the phone.

  A year later, Craig danced at their wedding.

  Emily didn’t know what to do about the email. She considered ignoring it. When she got to work the following day, she greeted everybody in the company, including Jessica, as if nothing had happened.

  “Emily?” Jessica said. “Can you step into my office, please?”

  That’s it. She’ll fire me.

  Or worse, she’ll tell me someone wants to kill me.

  But who?

  Emily ambled into Jessica’s office, which was the biggest, filled with better furniture, and had an amazing view of Lower Manhattan. Emily had daydreamed about taking her place but knew she didn’t have a chance. Jessica would never give up her seat, and they probably didn’t value Emily enough to take her place.

  Besides, Emily enjoyed working with her.

  Jessica had launched the company three years earlier. She had used her own money and skills to develop a new technology, which helped businesses find their audience easily on social media. There were other start-ups which offered something similar, but Jessica had developed an algorithm which also helped companies know how their audience felt about their products.

  They met at a meet-up in Manhattan, where all the participants were looking for co-founders. They had a long conversation which led to a few other meetings. They discussed the option of working together, even though Emily had little experience.

  “I believe in you,” Jessica said. “I think we would work well together. You complete me. I don’t believe in having a partner who agrees with me all the time.”

  Emily thought working with a woman would feel good. Would feel right.

  Would feel safe.

  Jessica told her how hard it was to find investors. She met many, but all of them turned her down.

  “It’s because I’m a blonde woman,” she told Emily after a few meetings.

  “Blonde?”

  “Because I’m a woman.”

  Emily considered. “Maybe you need to partner with a man. Maybe it’ll make it easier for you to find an investor and—”

  “Are you crazy?” Jessica rose in the middle of Starbucks. “If that’s your attitude, I don’t want you as my partner.”

  Even though Jessica had deeply insulted Emily, she knew she was right.

  I’m sorry. I was wrong. We need to empower women at any cost. Emily texted Jessica a few days later. If you still want me, I’ll do everything I can to make the company successful.

  After a while Jessica replied, Let’s do this!

  A few months later they found an investor who believed in the technology. And them.

  Before the investment, Emily worked for free, but received a small percentage of the company. She figured she needed the experience. She also believed the company had a lot of potential, and could be sold one day for a lot of money. She loved the idea she could be rich.

  Even though Emily was the money expert, they made strategic decisions together.

  Jessica held the door open for Emily, showed her in, peered outside the office, and closed the door. “Have a seat, please.” Jessica gestured Emily to sit down, walked behind her big desk, and sat in her executive leather chair.

  Emily crossed her legs to hide her shaking knees and looked around. Like the rest of the offices in the company, Jessica’s also had glass walls. It meant anyone in the office could see them.

  “How long have you been the CFO of the company?” Jessica asked.

  Emily raised her eyebrows. “Two years. A few months before we raised any money. But you know that.”

  “I do.” Jessica rubbed her chin. “And how do you like working here?”

  “Very much. Why?”

  Jessica played with a pen from her desk. Emily couldn’t help imagining it being a knife.

  “Do you remember the documents you sent me?”

  Does she know I know about the threat in the email? If she checked again, she could see the email was forwarded to me as well.

  “Yes. Why?”

  Jessica looked outside the office through the glass. Emily followed her gaze but saw nothing unusual.

  “Am I being fired?” She almost rose in her seat.

  “Fired? No. You’re not fired at all.”

  Emily was a partner, but far from being an equal one. And the job title gave Jessica the option to fire her whenever she wanted.

  “What’s going on, Jessica?”

  Jessica looked at her computer’s screen, hidden from Emily. “I think it may have been a misunderstanding. I double-checked the numbers, and I think they’re fine.”

  Emily shook her head. “I checked those numbers a million times before I came to you. You know me, I don’t get my numbers wrong.”

  Jessica nodded. She turned the screen so Emily could view it. The company’s bank account was open.

  “You see? We have four hundred thousand dollars in the account. Nothing got stolen. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  Emily’s mouth opened.

  The previous day, the balance had been almost zero.

  “It doesn’t make sense, I—”

  “It must have been a misunderstanding. Maybe they transferred the money or something.” Jessica’s phone dinged. She glanced at it and rose from her chair. “Or maybe it was a computer glitch. Or maybe a problem with the bank’s computers. Anyway, it was solved. No worries.” Jessica grinned. “I’m sorry but I have a call I need to make. That’ll be all.”

  Emily noticed Jessica’s face had turned white.

  Should I tell her about the Reply All email I received?

  Does she know I received it as well?

  Something didn’t feel right, so she kept it to herself.

  For now.

  Emily rose, thanked Jessica, and left the office.

  A man almost ran into her as she closed the door. He didn’t apologize or even acknowledge Emily. She’d never seen him and figured he came to meet Jessica, which happened often.

  But the man walked toward the reception area and left the office.

  Maybe a maintenance guy?

  Emily entered her office, sat in her chair, and stared at the wall.

  Mike, the marketing manager who had the office next to hers, stood outside her door and waved at her through the see-through glass. She gestured him in.

  “What’s wrong with your computer?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Someone worked on your computer. He said he was an IT guy who came to fix it.”

  “What? There was nothing wrong—” She stared at her computer. “Why didn’t you get me? I should call the police!”

  “What do you mean?”

  She rose. “We had an unauthorized person going through my computer!”

  “Unauthorized? I don't think so. Jessica let him in herself.”

  Three

  “Divorce?” Bob’s hands were shaking. “Why? We can work on our problems. We can go to therapy and—”

  “We did that for a year,” Lisa said. “The only thing it helped was the therapist’s bank account.”

  He wanted to smile but couldn’t.

  They’d gone to therapy almost every week for almost a year. It cost them a fortune. The therapist seemed nice, but she didn’t help them. Lisa always felt she’d taken Bob’s side. Bob didn't want to agree with Lisa, but felt the therapist leaned toward his opinions.

  But it didn’t help their marriage.

  “Can we think about it? Why rush? We have Madison to think about.”

  “We do. And I think it’s best for her.”

  “To have divorced parents?” Bob’s mouth opened wide. “Your parents divorced when you were young, and you always told me you hated growing up like that. You were mad at both
of them.”

  She lowered her eyes.

  She’d spoken about her parents a lot. She said she’d felt alone growing up. She was jealous of Bob, since his parents were still together at seventy and seemed happy.

  “Let’s give it another shot.” Bob blinked rapidly. “Please? For me? For Madison?”

  “I’m sorry but I don’t love you anymore.”

  Emily rose to go to Jessica but froze. She sat back and stared at her computer. Nothing seemed out of place. She looked at her files, shortcuts, and even ran a virus scan—but couldn’t find anything wrong.

  “Are you okay?” Mike stared down at her. She’d almost forgotten he was there. “Do you want me to get Jessica?”

  “No. No.” She shook her head. “It’s fine. Probably maintenance I forgot about.”

  Mike nodded slowly. “Are you sure? You’re pale.”

  She stared at him. Almost through him.

  His new haircut she’d liked so much an hour ago was almost unnoticeable.

  “I’m…fine.” She tried to smile.

  He nodded. “I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

  I could use a hug, she wanted to say, but it was inappropriate.

  She’d hoped Mike would ask her out for a long time. Almost since he’d started working there. Even though she was a co-founder, they were both at the same level. Both vice-presidents, so there shouldn’t be a problem for them to go out. Even though Mike seemed to be interested, he’d never asked her out. She tried dropping hints, but it never worked. Mike was too shy to do anything.

  Emily had decided she wouldn’t wait for him. She’d planned to ask him out at the end of the day, but now her mind went elsewhere. She’d been planning to ask him out for the past month. She had many excuses for why she delayed it. None of them had to do with the fact she was a woman.

  She’d even asked Jessica if it was okay to ask him out.

  Jessica had burst out laughing.

  “I knew you had a crush on him!” Jessica said.

  Emily swallowed. I should have never asked her.

  “Don’t worry about it. You should go get him.” Jessica winked. “He’s hot. If I weren’t so busy, I’d do him myself.”

  Emily hated that kind of talk but knew Jessica was trying to compliment her. Jessica couldn’t care less about being politically correct. Maybe that’s what made her a CEO. She didn’t care much about anything. If Jessica had been a man—she could probably lose her job over talking like that.

  Emily both liked and hated that about her. Jessica could yell, laugh, make fun of someone, be funny and upset—all at the same time. Emily had hoped someone would sue Jessica, and Emily would have to step up and take her position.

  Even though she wasn’t sure she could.

  Maybe she and Mike could co-CEO the start-up?

  Even Jessica’s approval to ask Mike out didn’t push Emily hard enough. She had fair success with men, but nothing too grand. She didn’t know if Mike liked her or not. He was nice to her, and they were good friends.

  But he was also nice to others at the office, so maybe he was simply a nice person?

  She could use someone to hug today.

  She watched Mike leave her office and she returned to her computer. She searched her emails, but at first, found nothing wrong. When she searched for the email she’d received by mistake, she couldn’t find it.

  The last email was from Jessica. She couldn’t find the Reply All email.

  Someone had erased it.

  Emily wanted to talk to Jessica about the missing email, but she’d never told her about the email to begin with. Did the man who came to her office erase it? Mike had said the man worked on her computer. He’d said Jessica gave him access.

  Is Jessica in on it?

  The email was intended for Jessica, so she must have been.

  But Jessica didn’t fire her.

  Is it the other kind of ‘get rid of me’? The terrible kind?

  Emily kept searching for the email. It wasn’t in her Trash folder. She searched online to see if she could recover permanently deleted emails. She discovered the admin could recover it within twenty-five days of deletion.

  It would have been good news if Jessica hadn’t been the admin.

  Emily left the office earlier than usual. She didn’t say goodbye to anyone and walked straight to the subway, blasting her ears with music from her AirPods.

  Could I have been wrong? Maybe I only imagined this?

  Maybe there was never such an email?

  On the way home, she stumbled into a man looking upward.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She drew back and took out one of her AirPods.

  “It’s okay,” the older man said. “I’ve been trying to get this cat to stop howling. I live across from here, and it kept me awake all night long.”

  She looked up at the tree and saw a kitten watching her.

  “He’s so cute.” She smiled.

  “You like cats?” the older man asked.

  “I like animals.”

  “Good. Can you get it to stop?”

  “I can try,” she said, but the man had already left.

  When she got closer, she noticed a bad infection in the cat’s left eye.

  “You poor little thing,” she said.

  She wanted to call someone but didn’t know who. She searched online and found the best way to catch a cat was with a blanket. She went home to find a blanket. She returned and climbed the tree. When she tried to grab the cat, she almost fell.

  She walked with the cat wrapped in the blanket, trying to calm it down by stroking it, but then it scratched her from within the blanket. She almost let it go but figured it was just scared.

  She took the cat to a nearby veterinarian she found online, who gave her an ointment for the cat’s eye. She thought they’d take care of a stray cat for free, but they asked her to pay for it.

  “I don’t even know you, and you’re costing me money, little kitten,” she said.

  They loaned her a cat box to take it home after she bought food and two bowls.

  When she reached her apartment, she stared at the agent’s door. She wondered if she should knock on it and ask for help.

  Help with what? I have no proof.

  Maybe the FBI can recover the missing email?

  They’d probably need a search warrant, but she didn’t think they had enough of a reason for that. Someone had returned the missing money to the bank account and had deleted the email.

  The evidence was gone.

  She put the bowls in the kitchen, poured food into one and water into the other. The cat ate most of the food and drank some water.

  She couldn’t keep her eyes off the cat.

  She put the box next to the door, so she’d remember to return it. She’d promised she would take care of the cat and find a good home for it.

  But after she named it Romeo, she ended up keeping him.

  After five beers in front of the TV, she began thinking she was overreacting and reading too much into things.

  Maybe I want to replace Jessica a little too much?

  Four

  Bob walked home from the office. He needed to think. What would he do alone? Without Lisa? How often he would be able to see Madison?

  He wasn’t ready for this.

  It wasn’t late, but he noticed a young couple sleeping on cardboard next to a Walgreens window. The man had no shirt on, showing his exposed ribs, covered only by the woman’s arm.

  It wasn’t warm enough to be shirtless.

  When he noticed he’d stopped to stare at them, he reached in his pocket and put all the change he could find in an old used cup next to them. Bob shook his head and continued home.

  When he entered their apartment, Lisa greeted him with a soft ‘hello’ and went to their bedroom.

  He took his shoes off and laid on the couch.

  They hadn’t decided on their sleeping arrangements, but he figured she needed the distance.
>
  She also had said nothing about how she wanted the divorce process to advance.

  He grabbed the blanket Lisa liked and covered himself. He laid his head on a throw pillow she’d picked up a few months before from Target.

  He remembered the pillow fights they used to have when they were a young couple.

  After two hours of staring at the dark ceiling, he decided he needed to do something else. He texted Craig at two a.m. to see if he could go out for a drink.

  Craig never turned off his phone and hardly slept. At night, Bob used to keep his phone on vibrate mode, but when Lisa got upset it woke her up one night, he kept it on silent and would wake up every few hours to check it. And then went to the bathroom.

  Working tonight. Sorry, Craig replied to his text immediately.

  Bob wanted to ask what he was working on, but he didn’t care. He grabbed a coat and went out.

  He hated going out without his gun, but he knew he couldn’t get drunk if he had it with him. It was safer locked up. He took a taxi to Manhattan and had the driver drop him off in front of the first bar he found.

  He had a few beers and watched sports on TV.

  “Great game, huh?” a man next to him at the bar asked.

  Bob just nodded and said nothing. After a while, the man gave up and left.

  When he returned home the following morning, Lisa and Madison had already gone out. He noticed Lisa never called or texted him to learn his whereabouts or to see if he was okay.

  He called in sick for the first time in years, took a shower, and went to bed.

  “You wanted to see me?” Emily entered Jessica’s office at the end of a long day.

  Jessica grinned. “I have some great news for you, my friend!”

  Emily raised her eyebrows.

  “A raise?”

  Jessica shook her head. “Close the door. Have a seat.”

  “This can’t be good.”

  “There’s a conference I want you to go to. In Las Vegas. Next week. Three days.” Jessica grinned from her big leather chair. “You up for that?”

  “Yeah. Sure. In my field?”