Office Heretics (A Coffee & Crime Mystery Book 2)

by Nan Sampson

"Of course, of course." He walked her to the glass doors that led to the elevator lobby, pushed them open for her. "Are you staying in the city? I understand you no longer live here in Chicago. Lacey said something about you having moved up to Minnesota or something?"

  "Wisconsin, actually. I’m staying with friends, out in the burbs." Again, it was disturbing to think that Lacey had talked about her to these people. She glanced up, met his gaze, which was cold and blue. "An old college friend actually. Another friend of Lacey's." Damn. She’d have to call Kate. Not something she was looking forward too. Then again, maybe Kate would come with her to this thing tonight.

  Lawson’s attention was waning - she thought he wanted the conversation to end almost as much as Ellie did. "Ah. Well." He smiled again. "It was good to meet you."

  She nodded and gave him the perfunctory return smile. "You too." As quickly as she could, she made her way to the elevator, feeling his gaze on her right up until the elevator doors closed.

  Chapter 9

  It was close to four thirty when Ellie scooted up to double-park across from the train station to pick up Kate. Her friend hurried across to the car and quickly climbed in, reaching over to engulf Ellie in a hug. "Oh, honey, are you okay?"

  Ellie clutched the wheel with her left hand and gave Kate an awkward pat with her right. "I'm okay."

  There was a sound from the back of the car and Ellie was surprised to see McCallum fold his long frame into the back seat.

  She felt every muscle in her body tense up. She turned to face him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

  Kate laid a hand on her arm. "Charlie came with me. He saw how upset I was and didn't want me to be alone on the train."

  As much as it aggravated her that he was here, she couldn't fault his motives. "Right. Will he be joining us for the... um... whatever?"

  Charlie gave her a subdued version of his patented grin. "Not if you feel I'd be intruding. I can grab a table away from you guys and just hang there until you're ready to leave. I'll be the designated driver, so you guys can toast your friend and not worry about getting back home safely."

  Kate smiled at her brother-in-law. "You're so sweet, Charlie. Isn't he sweet, Ellie?"

  Ellie successfully resisted rolling her eyes. "Yeah. Sweet like pie."

  Charlie barked a laugh as Ellie pulled out into traffic. "Nah. More like a tart. A treacle tart. You ever had treacle, Glenda Goodwitch?"

  Ellie shot him a glare - she hated when he called her that - but it was wasted on him, he just kept grinning like an idiot. She dodged a cab, zipped round a bus and turned left onto a side street, just beating the light. Another cab driver honked at her and she sped up to make it through the next light, only to come to a stop a block later. Traffic was starting to snarl. It might almost be better to find a parking spot and hoof it back to the building where the bar and Lacey's offices were located. Gods and Goddesses, she hated the congestion of the city.

  "I should make you one. Might sweeten you up a bit."

  Kate cast a frown towards the back seat. "Charlie, behave."

  "Hey, she started it."

  Ellie shut him out and focused on the traffic. "There's a parking garage up here. It's a little on the pricey side, but as long as we're out of the bar by ten, we should be good. I don't want to risk Bella's car on the street."

  Charlie leaned forward so that he was right behind her seat. "Actually, if you go up a couple of blocks, there's a lot that's pretty cheap. I know the guy who works the night shift there."

  She glared at him. Know-it-all. "That's okay. We'll be good here." Even as he opened his mouth to object, she pulled a hard right into the garage and snatched a ticket from the ticket machine.

  He sat back, frowning only slightly, and gave a shrug. "S'your money."

  The phrase triggered a memory and for a moment she was back in the summer after their junior year of college, on the cruise Lacey had booked them on. They'd been at dinner the first night and Lacey had ordered a ridiculously expensive bottle of champagne that Ellie flat out refused to drink.

  "Lacey," she'd said, "that bottle costs more than my car is worth."

  Lacey had given her a wry look. "Considering your car, that's not hard."

  Kate, ever the peace-maker, had nudged Ellie. "Come on, Ell, when will we ever get to do this again?"

  Ellie had picked up the glass, looked at the bubbles and shook her head. "Fine. Whatever. It's your money." And she downed the glass in a single gulp.

  Kate's voice came to her, as though from far away. "Ellie?"

  There was a loud honk and Ellie realized she had slowed to a crawl up the ramp of the parking garage and some guy in a Lexus was riding her bumper. She flipped him off then sped up the ramp, taking the next turn faster than was advisable. From the back seat, Charlie swore.

  It took another three levels before she found a vacant spot. Putting the car in park, she yanked on the parking brake then slammed her way out of the vehicle. She was aware of Kate patting Charlie quietly on the arm and mouthing something to him. Probably something like 'don't mind her, she's just upset'. That much was true, she was upset. But not for the reasons Kate assumed. Yes, she was troubled by Lacey's death, but not because she was grief stricken. No, it was more that all of this just seemed another grand manipulation on Lacey's part. Another scheme to get people to dance to Lacey's tune. She was controlling Ellie and Kate even from beyond the grave and it pissed Ellie off.

  Charlie stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and gave a shrug before slipping in behind them as they walked towards the elevators.

  Kate touched Ellie's shoulder. "You sure you're okay?"

  Ellie sucked in a deep breath, let it out. "Yeah. It's just a lot to take in. I still don't know what to think about it all. I keep thinking this must be some elaborate hoax. Just another way for Lacey to screw with us."

  They exited at street level and made their way along the crowded sidewalk. Kate frowned. "She wasn't that bad, Ellie."

  Ellie thought back to all the times Lacey had used and manipulated them, and just smiled at her best friend. "I love you, Kate. You always were the best of us."

  Kate put her arm around Ellie's shoulders as they entered the street door to the bar and squeezed. "I love you too, Ellie."

  Ellie had never been very enamored of the 'let's go for drinks after work' scene. She'd done it a time or two, but watching her co-workers get hammered and make fools of themselves had never been her idea of a good time. Nor did she think it was wise from a job perspective either. In a way, she was glad Kate was with her. Even though Kate had never met any of these folks, she would be best friends with most of them before the night was out. That's just the way Kate was.

  As they walked in, Lynyrd Skynyrd was playing over the loudspeakers, singing about Linda Lou and her pissed off boyfriend. Before Ellie's eyes could adjust to the dim interior of the fern and brass bar, the fellow she'd met at the office must have been looking out for her, because they had only just stepped in off the street when he came jogging up to them. "Hey, Ellie! I can call you Ellie, right?"

  She nodded and turned to introduce Kate, but Cary was already reaching for her hand. "Hi, I'm Cary O'Malley."

  Thank Goddess he'd said his name because she had already forgotten it. "Cary, this is Kate McCallum. She was also a--"

  "Oh my God! Kate! Lacey talked about you too! You guys all went to college together, right? And didn't you guys have dinner last Christmas?"

  Ellie shot Kate and incredulous look. "You had dinner with Lacey last year?"

  Kate gave Ellie a 'not now, dear' look and took Cary's hand. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Cary. Lacey talked about you often. She thought very highly of you."

  Cary's smile was like a sun beam. "Really? Aw, that's so nice of you to say that. Lacey wasn't ever really big on, um, praise."

  Ellie made a derisive noise. "I bet."

  Kate glared at her. "You'll have to introduce us to everyone, Cary."

  Cary gave Ellie
an odd glance then let Kate take his arm and lead him deeper into the boite, leaving Ellie little choice but to follow them.

  The rest of the crowd was gathered around three tables pushed together to form one long one. Chairs were quickly brought over and in a matter of a few minutes, Ellie found a Guinness in her hand.

  Conversation ebbed a bit after they arrived, but Ellie was a master at becoming invisible - and she didn't even have to use what Marg called her 'witchy super-powers' to do it. Kate, on the other hand, was busy learning everyone's names and connecting them with stories she had apparently heard about them from Lacey. Just how much time had Kate and Lacey been spending together in the last ten years? A spurt of irrational jealousy reared its head, replaced quickly by fear and anger. She knew now was not the time or the place to confront Kate about it, but later, they were going to talk about this. The whole impetus for Ellie cutting ties with lacey had been Kate’s safety, although the incident with the puzzle box had been the final straw. If Lacey was so possessive of Ellie that she would actually consider hurting Kate, Ellie figured the only way to protect Kate was to just let the friendship die.

  Clearly, however, Lacey had come back like a bad penny, when Ellie's back was turned. It had to have started again after Ellie had moved north. Why hadn’t she mentioned it? Why had she kept it a secret?

  Ellie took a slug of her Guinness and silently fumed. Several conversations were going on at once around her and she let them wash over her for a while, not really attending to anything until the tone of one caught her ear.

  "...can't really believe she's gone," a washed out, pudgy mousey-haired brunette was saying in a nasally voice. But there was no sadness or grief in the tone. She fingered a pearl pendant almost neurotically.

  Cary was nodding at the woman. "I know." He took a big swig of his beer, and from the sloppy way he clunked the mug down on the table, Ellie knew he'd had more than a few before they'd gotten here. He pitched his voice low, but she could still hear him. "It's weird. I mean, I'm sorry she got killed and all, but I can't say I'm really going to miss her. I sure as hell won't miss her constant nit-picking."

  The woman nodded. She was slurring a bit. "No more fat jokes, no more comments about what I put in my mouth." She barked a laugh and pulled a twin package of snack cakes from of her purse, ripped open the cellophane wrapper and took an enormous bite of one. "I can now eat what I want with impunity," she said through a mouthful.

  Cary raised his bottle to the woman's glass of wine and they toasted. Cary took another slug of the beer, draining it. As he set the empty bottle down, he suddenly realized Ellie was there. "Oh. Um..."

  Ellie smiled. "Don't apologize. I knew Lacey well. I know how she could be." She gave the woman a nod. "I'm Ellie, by the way."

  The woman raised her eyebrows. "Oh." She glanced at Cary. "That Ellie?"

  Ellie frowned. "Apparently my reputation precedes me. And you are?"

  "Oh, sorry. I'm Muriel. Muriel Theissen. I worked in the same department as Lacey."

  Ellie looked up, tried to smile politely. "Nice to meet you. So you work for Rob Lawson too?"

  Cary snorted. "We ALL work for Lawson. He's the big cheese. You'd've thought he'd have come tonight, maybe even offered to pick up the tab on his corporate card. But oh no, he wouldn't want to sully himself by drinking with the common office riff raff."

  Muriel stiffened a bit. "Now, Cary, you know that's not really how it is. Rob is just like the rest of us. But he has a reputation to maintain with senior management. It's a hard line to walk. Plus, now that he's going to run for State Representative, he has to be very careful about where he's seen."

  Cary didn't look at Muriel, his eyes scanning the bar behind the woman. Finally, he waved his hand, capturing the attention of their server. Ellie wondered at what point she should step in and make sure he got a cab home.

  Muriel scooted back her chair and stood a bit unsteadily. How long had they been here before Ellie and Kate arrived? Or did Muriel just not handle her liquor well? "Okay, I've got to go."

  Ellie opened her mouth to suggest a cab, but before she could say anything, Cary jumped in. "You're cabbin' it, right, Mo?"

  Muriel nodded. "Yeah. No El for me tonight." She grabbed her parka and bundled up as though it were thirty below outside instead of an unseasonable thirty. "See you on Monday, Cary." She gave Ellie and Kate a glance. "It was nice meeting you both." Then she turned and left without waiting for a response.

  Ellie watched her weave her way to the door and out into the darkness beyond, then turned back to ask Cary a question, but Cary had gotten up and moved down the table to talk to someone else. Nursing her Guinness, she angled herself a bit so she could listen in on the conversation taking place down a ways across the table. Two women were talking in what might have been low voices, had they not already had too much beer.

  "...so she took my PowerPoint deck," the dark-haired, forty-something woman was saying, "made a couple of changes to it, and then presented it at the next senior manager's meeting like it was all her own stuff." She slapped her palm down on the table top. "I worked like a dog on that data. And who got the god damned promotion?"

  "Lacey!" said the two women in unison.

  Ellie nodded. “Typical Lacey."

  Both women looked up abruptly. The younger one, a redhead who was maybe thirty. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to speak ill of the dead, especially you being her friend and all.”

  Ellie gave them a wry smile. “The truth is the truth. And that was Lacy all over.”

  Down the table a ways, she could feel Kate bristling and giving her a look. Ellie ignored her. Maybe Kate needed to hear a bit of truth.

  The redhead nodded vigorously. "Damn right it was. Of course it helped that she was slee--" She stopped abruptly, glancing over at her friend.

  The older woman shook her head at the younger one, then said to Ellie, "Maybe she was different outside of the office, but at work she was a shark. There was nothing she wouldn't have done to get ahead." She shared a look with her co-worker. "And I mean nothing."

  Ellie glanced at Kate, who looked hurt and confused. “Not so very different.” Ellie caught Kate's gaze and raised her Guinness. Kate rolled her eyes and turned back to her conversation with another group of people. "Lacey was always ... driven."

  The older of the two snorted. "That's one way to put it."

  A middle aged man came to stand behind the older woman. "Need another, Gina?"

  Gina nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Barry. Tina?"

  The redhead shook her head. "Nah, I gotta hit the road. The boyfriend and I are headed up to Galena for a romantic weekend. We leave first thing in the morning and the drive will totally suck if I've got a hangover." She slipped gracefully out of her chair and into her coat. "See you guys on Monday."

  There were goodbye noises and then the man named Barry sat down in the vacated chair. "I heard you talking about the PowerPoint thing. Do you remember the time she got Harry Ryerson to do all that competitive analysis on the new product line and then took it to Lawson like she'd done it herself?"

  Ellie watched Kate, could tell by her posture she was still listening. She felt sorry for her friend, but at the same time, she was glad it was someone else saying these things about Lacey and not just Ellie.

  The older woman gave a chuckle. "Well, Harry was always looking for an easy climb and I think he thought that if he did the analysis, Lacey would take him with her."

  "Yeah, well, we all saw how that worked out."

  Ellie leaned forward. “I'm almost afraid to ask what happened."

  "Six months later there was a big re-org. Lacey got promoted to Senior Marketing Manager and Harry got laid off."

  Ellie smiled sardonically behind her bottle of stout. Lacey had been a master of manipulation. Gods, how had she forgotten all that? How had time lessened those memories so much that she'd literally not remembered how much she'd grown to dislike and distrust Lacey?

  Kate glanced down at her watch, then over a
t Ellie. "Ellie, we should probably think about heading out - Dan and the kids will be expecting us." A polite way of saying she was done listening to Lacey's co-workers talk trash about her.

  Ellie checked the time on her phone. It was nearly six. Had an hour really passed? She finished off her Guinness and nodded. "Okay." She stood, gave a little wave at Cary, who waved back at her with a sloppy grin, then threw a couple of tens on the table to cover her and Kate's tab. Motion from across the room caught her gaze and she saw Charlie stand up from a stool at the bar. She'd almost forgotten he was there with them.

  Kate shook hands with the man named Barry and the older woman whose name Ellie had already forgotten, then waved to everyone else she'd been introduced to.

  Ellie gave a half-hearted wave as well then moved as quickly as she could to the door and out into the brisk night air. She had to wait for a moment for Kate and Charlie to join her, and in that moment, she felt something else besides the chill wind coming off the Lake. It was as though a frozen hand gripped her left wrist and tugged. She actually felt pulled and stumbled forward a few steps towards the corner.

  For a moment, she brushed off the sensation, but when Ellie stood still, she felt it again, a distinct yank on her arm, as though an invisible and an unnaturally cold hand held her wrist in a vise-like grip. She stumbled again then resisted.

  She knew that feeling. She'd been visited before. "Lacey? Lacey is that you?"

  The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and a zing of electricity passed through her. A second later, she felt a shove on the back, again towards the corner.

  "Lacey, if that's you, then stop it." She wished again that spirits would just talk like the ordinary people they had once been. "If you want something, just tell me."

  Her scalp rippled.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, tried to center herself enough to sense Lacey's presence better. "Are you pissed because all your co-workers were trash talking about you?"

  There was a sense of anger. Maybe even rage.

  "Well, you deserved it, didn't you?"