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“But they feel better now about you living here?” He sounded concerned.
“Yes, sir, they really seem to. I think they may have liked it here. They didn’t even try to make me go home with them.”
“Good. Good. Now I would like an update on the status of your investigation.”
With a deep sigh, I said, “There isn’t much status to speak of, unfortunately. I don’t think I’ve ruled anyone out entirely as a suspect. I have a few new things to check out.” Such as what Hertwick the sales gnome was doing in Central Park on a weekday afternoon, but I wasn’t going to rat him out until I’d talked to him. “And Idris has started stalking me, which may or may not mean anything. To be honest, I’m kind of hoping our spy makes another move this week. Otherwise, I don’t have a lot to go on. I’m more convinced that the intent is to keep us all from trusting each other. Gathering information may not be the primary goal. I even get the impression that Idris is trying to shake me up more than he’s trying to harm me or get me out of the way.”
He nodded. “That may be a wise assumption. It was through rumor and innuendo that Mordred divided Camelot. I wasn’t there to stop it, and I cannot allow that to happen here.”
“I’m sorry I don’t have more to report.” I might not lose my job because of losing my magical immunity, I realized. My complete lack of results was more than enough grounds for firing or demotion. Desperately I struggled for an idea, any idea that might make things better. Finally something struck me. “We’ll still want to catch our mole, of course, but if their goal is to divide us, maybe we can fight back by finding ways to pull the company together.”
His face lit up, and for a moment he looked centuries younger. “Excellent idea! I’ve been reading about morale boosting and productivity. There was one particular book about a fun workplace.” He got up and went over to his desk, then began rummaging around in the books and papers. “Now, where was it?” He returned with an armful of the latest management fad books. Someone needed to cut off his access to the Barnes & Noble online catalog.
“Let’s see, this one was about how to improve productivity by creating a fun working environment.” He handed a book to me. “This one was about team building.” He handed me another. Soon I had an armload of books. “Do you have time to put together some activities and events?” he asked.
Quite frankly, I was swamped, but planning team-building and employee morale events was important and probably our best way of undermining the mole, so I agreed. “No problem,” I said. “It’ll be fun. With the holidays here, there are all kinds of things we can do.” Then I had a brainstorm. I needed to be absolutely sure what was going on with my immunity, and since I’d seen Rod’s illusion the other day and knew it was supposed to work on everyone, a visit to him now would confirm whether or not my immunity really was gone. On top of that, he had access to everyone’s employee records, so he might be able to help in the investigation. “I probably ought to work with Rod on this, as it should fall under Personnel,” I added.
He nodded. “Good thought. Thank you for your time, Katie.”
I took the dismissal hint. As I returned to my office with an armload of business books, I tried to think of things that might work to help us all overcome our distrust of each other. We simply had to encourage people to be willing to work together. Once that got going, the mole might become obvious as the person who wasn’t cooperating. Or maybe we could set a trap within the fun activities.
I called down to Isabel and got on Rod’s calendar for the afternoon. Having an important role to play in the current crisis would be good for him. He’d finally feel like he was being noticed in the upper echelons of power, and I could pick his brain.
Flipping through the business books for ideas, I came to the conclusion that little of the advice would work in a magical corporation. It was nice that Merlin was trying to acclimate himself to the twenty-first-century business world, but I wasn’t sure if the Pike Place Market in Seattle would resonate with him as a metaphor for adding fun to the workplace.
I glanced at my phone and noticed that the voice-mail light was blinking. Someone must have left me a message while I met with Merlin. I picked up the phone, dialed into the voice-mail system, and found one new message. It was from Ethan.
“Hey,” he said. “Just checking in to see how the rest of the weekend with the folks went. Thanks again for inviting me for Thanksgiving, and be sure to pass my thanks on to your mom. I was also hoping that you’d be free for lunch tomorrow. Give me a call when you get a chance.”
All at once, the memory of buying the red shoes and the thoughts about Ethan that had gone through my mind at the time rushed over me. A shiver went up and down my spine—this time a pleasant shiver. I’d be glad to see him, the sooner the better, even though lunch wouldn’t be prime time for what I had in mind.
With a smile on my lips, I called his office. “Hey, yourself,” I said when he answered.
“Katie! So you got your parents off on their way home?”
“Yep. They left this morning.”
“And everything went well the rest of the weekend?”
“Just a few minor glitches, but nothing I wasn’t able to smooth over. My parents even started speaking to each other again.”
“I’m glad to hear it. So, lunch tomorrow?”
“I don’t have anything on my calendar.”
“Okay, how about I pick you up at noon? I’ll come up to your office. I have some things I need to drop off for the boss while I’m at it.”
That wasn’t the most romantic lunch invitation I’d ever heard, but I wasn’t going to quibble about it. “Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”
As I hung up the phone, I wondered if the red shoes would be overkill for wearing to the office. Probably, I decided. Besides, I wanted to save them for a special night out. It would be a shame to waste them on a lunch when he wouldn’t have time to ravish me properly. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t wear something cute and alluring. I’d have to get Gemma to help me pull an outfit together that would whet his appetite for the weekend.
Forcing my mind back to my work, I gathered the notes I’d made from Merlin’s books and headed down to Rod’s office to discuss Operation Morale. Isabel gave me her usual enthusiastic greeting.
“Hi, sweetie! Good Thanksgiving?” she boomed.
“Wonderful Thanksgiving. How about you?”
“Nothing special. I helped with one of the balloons in the parade. I make a pretty good anchor, if I say so myself.”
