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David goes inside his office and I arrange the vase on the corner of my desk. Getting back to work, I take my seat and I actually feel the tension in the lobby grow thicker by the minute. It’s so thick that I feel that I could choke on it.
Where did this come from? James comes out and says, “What a lovely bouquet, who sent them?”
As I stand to go home, I look at him and say, “David,” he stands there a moment allowing the words to register in his brain then he disappears back into his office with a sour look on his face.
The next morning I come in and see some of the rose petals on the desk and the carpet. I clean them up, tossing them in my trash can. As I sit down, I see something on my desk that I didn’t place there.
A thumb drive.
Figuring one of the guys had set it there for me to upload, I stick it into the computer and see that it’s loaded with many different files with the label of ‘high security’ on them. I pull the drive out allowing it to fall to my desk like it’s covered in some kind of disease.
I’m actually afraid to touch it and look around the lobby cautiously, eyeing every corner and door. Realizing that no one is in here watching me, I look back at the thumb drive.
One of my hands covers my mouth and the other soothes my belly as it’s violently churning at this revelation. Oh my god! What do I do with this? If I take it to them, I’ll look even more suspicious to James.
Panicking, my fight or flight intuition takes over and I grab the thumb drive, running to get David and James. They both are in the kitchenette as I barge in on them having a cup of coffee.
Both look up at me, confusion written all over their faces. “What’s wrong, Lily?” David asks me.
I open my hand carrying the drive and show the contents of my palm to them. “I found this on my desk when I came in this morning. Just a few minutes ago actually.” My voice cracks from the panic and my breaths come quick and short.
I’m hyperventilating and before my world goes dark, James sees that I’m breathing way too fast. Sitting me in a chair, he grabs a brown bag and hands it to me, saying, “Breathe into this slowly. That’s it, slow down. Just breathe.”
After about ten breaths, I begin to feel better and the gray that lingers in the back of my mind starts to clear out. I look up at James and say, “Thank you.”
“Now that you’re okay, tell us about the thumb drive,” David says.
“I thought it was something that one of you needed for me to get into the computer. Plugging it in showed me a different screen than I expected and after looking at it closely, I saw that it’s filled with files marked ‘high security’ so I brought it to you guys,” I explain now that I have my breathing under control.
“Who put it there?” David asks, poignantly.
“I don’t know,” I say as I shake my head, looking at him incredulously. “I said I just came in and it was on my desk and I didn’t see anyone else in the lobby.”
“And you haven’t seen this before?” he asks.
Again, I shake my head, “No. I’ve never seen it before today.”
David takes the drive and looks it over for any clue about who it might belong to. His search turns up nothing.
James is quietly standing by the counter deep in thought and I begin to wonder if he thinks that I had something to do with this security breach or this thumb drive. Suddenly, it occurs to me what all the secret meetings have been about.
Little. Ole. Me.
Twenty-Seven
James
The look on Lily’s face appears as if a light bulb came on and some things had finally fallen into place for her. Making some sense of this mess that she’s found herself at the center of. It’s a curious mix of shock and sadness about what’s become a revelation of sorts to her.
I hate the look. It reminds me of my culpability in this sordid affair.
“Let me have that, David,” I ask, holding out my hand to retrieve it from his. Leaving the kitchenette, I head back to my office to incorporate this thumb drive into the piles of other information already cluttering my desk.
I could hear David and Lily mumbling to each other behind me. Their voices fade the closer I get to my office. Nearly slamming my office door, I close it and sit behind my desk, head in hands.
What the fuck?
Every time I decide to exonerate Lily from my suspicion, something happens to not only reinstate it, but heightens my misgivings. Slapping my knees, I toss my head back into my chair and sigh.
