AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That is not what happened,” Samson said peevishly. “Don’t go spreading rumors.”
“She came in here a week ago, very upset, and told us that she couldn’t work here anymore,” Garcia said. “I tried to argue with her, but she said it would be impossible for her because of how things were with you. I told her she could just wait you out. You’d be out of our hair in a few months, but she wasn’t having it, and I gave her some contacts for a new job.”
“She’s probably heading back to New York by now,” Jessie said.
Samson almost dropped his coffee and actually stumbled backwards. “Why would she go back to New York?!”
“She has contacts there. She’s always talking about how she likes it better up north,” Jessie said.
Samson stepped up to Garcia’s desk, causing the man to hop off and step back. He slapped the desk hard. “You are going to give me the leads you gave her. And I’m going to go get her back.”
***
Samson spent the next hour on the phone. Although he called April first, he kept getting her voicemail. After three messages, he gave up and began following up on the contacts to figure out where she might be headed.
One answer seemed obvious. He should simply go over to his sister’s apartment and demand to know where April was. He wanted some kind of hint that he had April’s consent to talk to her first. He simply didn’t know what to do after that kind of fight. Clearly, she didn’t either, if it had caused her to separate completely from the elements in her life that touched his. How would that even be possible now that she carried a part of him with her?
And how had that even happened? Samson opened up his desk and started sifting through his condoms, looking carefully. It probably wouldn’t help. This box was a new one. He would have to examine the old ones, and those were long gone. Maybe Babette would know where they’d come from, or have a few extras squirreled away. She was the one buying them, after all, along with a number of his other daily supplies.
He went back out to her desk, and she jumped again when she saw him.
“Sir! Are you ready for those messages?”
“No. I have some fires to put out here, first. Do you happen to know where you bought the last batch of condoms? The Trojan ones with multicolored wrappers?”
“W-were they not what you wanted?” Babette peeped.
“The brand and type was fine. I just need to find out if they had a recall, or if something happened. I might call the company.”
“I can get you on the phone!” Babette said eagerly. Very eagerly. Why was she sweating?
Samson sat on her desk and looked at her square in the eye. “Babette? Do you know if something happened with my condoms? Did you get a notice?”
“No.”
“No, you don’t know? Or no, you didn’t get a notice?”
“I, um…” Babette looked down.
Samson leaned over
and tilted her head back with two fingers. “Babette. What happened to them?”
She blinked rapidly.
His voice grew deeper and slower: “What. Did. You. Do?”
“I didn’t mean to do any harm. I was just angry because you brought me here, and then you were with all of these other women.” She jumped again as he began to lean forward. “I may have put a needle through some of your condoms.”
“You what?” Samson boomed.
“Maybe a whole box?”
For a moment, Samson couldn’t feel anything. Not a damn thing from head to toe. It was possible there for a moment that he would lift Babette up by the neck and slam her into the wall. Only his barely functioning higher brain structures kept him from launching himself at her. She would never understand the damage she might have done.
“Get out, and don’t come back,” was all he said before he flew out of the building.
***
