Irreparable Harm (A Legal Thriller)
Page 35
Chapter 25
The offices of Prescott & Talbott
At last! Flora smiled in triumph at the mermaid on Lettie’s monitor. It was perfect. Long, dark curly hair like her own. And a gorgeous shimmery pink tail.
It had taken her forever to find the right picture. It hadn’t helped that Sasha’s phone had rung off the hook all morning. Clients who had heard about Mr. Peterson’s death and wanted to know what it meant for their cases, attorneys calling to gossip about it, and a totally rude federal agent dude who called like a zillion times and acted like he didn’t believe her when she told him Sasha was in court.
Well, she finally had it. This was definitely what she wanted for her tattoo. Now, to print it out in color. Only problem was, they weren’t supposed to tie up the good color printers with personal jobs. Those printers were for trial exhibits and stuff.
But her printer at home was kind of crappy. And a crappy picture would mean a crappy tattoo. She looked again at the image on the screen. It was so sharp. And detailed.
Screw it, it was only one page. Who would even know? She opened the print menu and selected the high-speed color printer on the third floor as the destination.
She snuck a look at Janet, the secretary at the next work station over. “Hey, Janet, I’m gonna run down to the supply room and get some, uh, pens. Do you need anything?”
“There’s pens in those cabinets behind you. Lettie keeps her supplies stocked pretty good.”
“Yeah, but I like those micro point ones. Anyway, I won’t be long. Can you cover Sasha’s phone for me?”
Janet put down the time entries she was trying to decipher. “Look, Flora, I couldn’t care less if you want to use the color printer. Just come straight back. Lettie and I have a deal. I eat lunch first and it’s almost time. You need to cover my desk. So make it fast.”
Flora didn’t want to admit she’d been caught in a lie. She said nothing. Just closed her browser, hung her purse over her wrist, and walked out to the elevator lobby.
She pressed the down call button. As she waited for the elevator, she remembered Sasha was expecting an important package. She considered going back to ask Janet to look out for it then thought the better of it. She wouldn’t be away from Lettie’s desk that long. And Janet was kind of bitchy.
The elevator doors opened and she stepped in for the short ride down to the third floor to get her printout.
She grabbed the mermaid from the printer and hurried back so she wouldn’t keep Janet waiting. But Janet was ready to go when she got there. She had touched up her lipstick, and her chenille scarf was already knotted around her throat. As soon as she saw Flora, she put her coat on and sailed past her.
“See you in an hour.”
Flora was busy in Janet’s absence. Sasha’s phone continued to ring like crazy, and one of Janet’s attorneys needed help with edits to some kind of pleading. All that typing made her break a nail, so she needed to do a quick repair job right there at the desk. She was glad Janet wasn’t around to complain about the acrylic glue smell.
Whenever she got a free second, she snuck a peek at her mermaid, just for the little thrill she got each time. It was going to be such a cool tattoo.
She didn’t notice the thin UPS envelope the mailroom staff had delivered while she was gone. It was under a thick stack of periodicals the library staff had also delivered in the short time she was away from the desk.
Flora finished the edits for Janet and starting thinking about her own lunch.