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“Do you know what his plan is?”
“What plan?” I started to panic inside.
“Bea is incredibly practical, more realistic than you probably. I’m sure she’s already discussed with him whether she’ll leave that B&B or her house to him. I got the info that Dennis is just staying with her for the time being. He has another house. But she wanted to stay by the lake. He doesn’t intend to stay there after she passes.”
“How do you know all this?” I shook my head slowly, almost amazed at Tiffany’s ability to scope out information.
She chuckled. “My father. He’s a terrible gossip. He and his buddies have been having a card game for years. They get together twice a month, I think. They know everything, and he tells me everything. I didn’t have a nosy mom, but I have a nosy dad.”
“I guess if I need to know something, I should ask you.”
Tiffany finished chewing a bite of her sandwich, swallowing and replying, “Absolutely. I’ll ask my dad if he hasn’t already told me,” she deadpanned.
“Back to Jonah, maybe I slept well, but it could get complicated. If it gets weird, he’ll be next door.” I lifted my hands in the air, letting them fall to the table. After a flustered sigh, I took an aggressive bite of my sandwich, chewing my feelings away.
“Was it good?” she teased a moment later.
My face got even hotter. I rolled my eyes. “Of course, it was good.” I took a swallow of tea. “I have a question.”
“Ask away.” She waved a hand airily.
I quickly filled her in on the situation at my last job and how Tyler called out of the blue this morning.
“What an asshole!” She narrowed her eyes, slapping her palm to the table in emphasis.
“Agreed. Jonah thinks since HR didn’t do anything with the information, I should report it to the police.”
“On board with that plan,” she replied swiftly.
“Didn’t you say you worked in HR at your last job?”
“I sure did. Not to say that the people who work in HR are not trying to be helpful and aren’t good people, but Jonah’s right. They’re trying to follow the law, but they’re also trying to protect the company. They won’t tell you to file a police report because that’s up to you. Sexual harassment gets reported to HR all the time. Not only did that ass take an illegal photo but he’s also threatening to use it like revenge porn. Except you weren’t even in a relationship with him.”
I felt unsettled inside. Twisting my lips to the side, I nodded. “I think you’re right. I suppose I just had faith they would handle it, but he’s still working there.”
“Please tell me you blind CC’d yourself on everything, so you have any of the emails related to this.”
“I did do that. My friend who knew about it told me I should do that, so I did.”
“I will sit right here with you while you call to report everything,” Tiffany said firmly.
“Now?” Anxiety spun in my belly. “What if—” I began.
“Hon, your what-if is already hanging out there in the universe. For all you know, that Tyler guy has already done something with that photo. Please tell me it was a shitty photo.”
“It’s not great, but I’m close to naked. I was changing after a surgery in the women’s locker room. He had a camera installed in there.” I paused, summoning my composure. “Okay,” I said, to myself as much to her. “When’s my next appointment?”
She smiled prettily. “Remember? We were going to take an extra half an hour at lunch today to go over the new calendaring system I set up. We can do that tomorrow. I can handle it, so let’s take that time now to call.”
Tiffany sat with me through both reports. It started with the police, who then routed me to the district attorney’s office. It took a little longer than half an hour, but my next appointment was conveniently running late, and had texted Tiffany to let us know.
When I finished the second call and we tapped to end it, I looked at her. I was cold and clammy all over. “I can’t believe I did that.”
“You don’t know what will happen now, but he’ll probably be held accountable somehow. Fucking asshole,” she announced, dipping her chin as if in emphasis.
“What if nothing happens?” I was instantly afraid it was all going nowhere.
Tiffany reached over, curling both of her hands around mine. “The detective told you they can’t make any promises, but you have a paper trail for both situations. That cybercrime guy will reach out to the person who handles financial crimes, and they will follow up with you some more. While you don’t know what will happen, if he dares to leak that photo now, he’s fucked.”
