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“Not really. William’s tracking program caught two members of my team making changes to the scoring program we’ve been having so many issues with.” I flop down on the couch to lay my head in his lap. It’s become one of my favorite spots to be in.
“Uh-oh. That’s not good. What’s going to happen?”
“We plan to confront them at a meeting with my boss tomorrow.”
“Does your boss know?”
“Not yet. I’m going to meet with him early to explain before the meeting.”
Sam pauses as if he’s not sure he wants to ask. “You don’t have to go to the office, right?”
“Oh.” That wasn’t what I was expecting him to say. “No, I’m going to be on a video call.”
“Okay, good. I was worried I’d have to put my foot down or something.”
I grin. “Put your foot down, eh? How would you do that?”
Sam narrows his eyes at me. “I’d think of something.”
There’s no holding back my laugh after that. Even in the moments when I’m stressed and overwhelmed, he knows exactly what to say to make things better.
“Hey, Carter—Jesus. You look rough. Are you sure okay?” Tom’s eyes bug out of his head when he sees me on camera. He’s sitting at the head of one of our conference tables. Inez booked the room to make it easier to meet, since I couldn’t be there in person.
I chuckle. It’s becoming amusing to watch the shock cross people’s faces when they see my bruises. They’d get even more of a fright if they saw my stitches. I’m glad to have these few extra minutes to talk with Tom before Inez and Paul arrive. It’ll help us move past all the small talk faster.
“Yeah, I’m on the mend. Not quite 100 percent yet, but getting there.”
“It’s one thing to read an email about needing time off after the attack. It’s something else to see it in real time.”
“It’s gnarly, I’ll give you that. Look… I need your help during this meeting.” I go into what William found. It doesn’t take long for Tom to get appropriately angry.
“What were they thinking? Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know, but that’s why I want to tread lightly. I don’t want them to clam up and never find out the true reason behind the changes.”
Tom nods. “Agreed. I’ll follow your lead here, since you know them best.”
“Thanks, Tom.”
We chat about Tom’s kids and their multiple activities until Inez and Paul walk into the office. I say my hellos to my team. They both check on how I’ve been healing, asking if I’ll be back to work full time next week.
“That’s the plan. I’ll need to stay home for the next few weeks, but I’ve been cleared to resume daily activities.” Before we get too far off track, I switch to the reason we’re here. “If everyone’s ready, let’s get started.”
Inez pulls out her tablet while Paul sets a legal pad on the table. Tom leans back in his chair, an obvious sign I’m leading the meeting.
“I wanted to start by sharing the good news about our tracking program. Tom, I told you a little about what William’s been working on, but our team took it a step further to test out how it works. Inez and Paul did some test runs on how it tracks changes, and I think it’s perfect.”
“That’s great?—”
Inez interrupts Tom. “What are you talking about, Carter? I thought we were going to test it out together? When William didn’t tell us it was live, I figured he ran into some issues.”
Inez’s face shows genuine confusion. It throws me off the track I was heading down. Is this a tactic to throw suspicion off her? Except, if that was the case, why would she ask a clarifying question? I look over at Paul to gauge his reaction, only to find him as white as a ghost.
I wish I was there in person. Being on a screen makes this a whole lot harder. Before I can respond, Inez turns to Paul. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“Um…” He swallows hard. “N–no. I don’t know any more than you do.”
“And yet, we know that’s not entirely true,” I say. With my plan out the window, I figure throwing out what we’ve found is the only way to move forward. “William got the tracking program uploaded a day early and noticed two different people making changes. Now, if you weren’t testing out William’s program, what were you doing?”
