A Charitable Scandal

The Other Boss

"Oh, okay," I said, my brow furrowing, uncertain whether this conversation was about to take a turn for the worse. Alec hadn't mentioned the events at the charity office at all that week, and Emily and I were eager enough to sweep it under the rug as well. However, that didn't mean Alec hadn't told his bosses. Maybe as far as Alec was concerned we were safe, but perhaps he got overruled. Maybe our breaking and entering was enough to get us fired and now Colin, the man in charge of hiring and firing, was about to do the dirty 

"I've come to learn that Ms. Crestner and yourself were at the original charity office space." He strode over to Emily's desk and glanced at the chair, but didn't take a seat. Instead he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and his lips 

"Look, that wasn't Emily's idea," I said, rising out of my chair. "It was all me, she just came along to keep me company. If anyone should be 

"No one is getting fired," said Colin with a sigh. "You are thorough with your job. Tenacity is a valuable quality here at Quinto Technologies. However, it's more efficient if you learn to trust your company and seek your answers 

"I thought I was," I answered before my brain could stop my 

"Going off and breaking into an office seems direct to you?" Colin's eyes narrowed and he stepped forward, closing the gap between us. He wasn't much taller than me, but he used every bit of his height advantage to glare down at me. "If you have questions, just come speak to me."

"Look, Mr. Travers," I said, deciding that since I had seriously screwed up, perhaps now was a good time to start treating Colin as my superior, "I really am sorry. I was just trying to save everyone some hassle by looking into it on my own. I'll go directly to Al-l...Mr. Radcliffe from now on should I have questions. I know I should have done that in the first place."

"I believe you misheard me Ms. Jeffries," he said, with a firm severity that rumbled in his throat, his eyes bright as he relished in the power he'd been granted over me. "I did not say go to Mr. Radcliffe, I said you were to come to me. I will be the source of all your answers."

"I don't want to bug you with that. You're so busy with organizing the gala." I fought to keep hold of his gaze, but my shoulders twisted and my head bowed ever so slightly to the authority in his voice.

"I'm made even busier when my employees go around breaking the locks on offices we don't own."

"Yes sir." Now my whole back hunched into a cowering shudder. Somehow I went from being a couple inches shorter to what felt like a whole foot.

"Now, since I'm here, do you have any questions?" He pulled away, heading for the door, giving me a chance to breathe freely once again.

"I...I guess I'd like to know what exactly you can tell me about the charity. Mariska is going to expect something more than a name and a mission statement. Do you expect me to hide the fact that the charity is located in what is currently a rat's nest?"

"Telling her that would be a lie," said Colin with a casual bit of swagger. "After Mr. Radcliffe reported the condition in which the office was in, Mr. Quinto discovered his mistake in not personally assessing the property before signing off the lease. The matter has been addressed. The charity is no longer attached to that office, we have found a better location closer to downtown."

"Oh?"

"You can tell her that we will release information as we deem necessary. We are still working things out and it would be hasty to inform the public before we were even confident in the information."

"Isn't it hasty, then, to throw a gala in a month?" I probably shouldn't have asked the question, but it would be something Mariska would do if I had given her that answer. I wasn't about to be made a fool of on live TV and I liked to think Colin understood where I was coming from. His subtle smirk seemed to indicate he did.

"The sooner we get money into the charity, the sooner we can get the charity off its feet. Until then, she will need to be patient." That wasn't a much better answer and I couldn't stop my pinched lips and furrowed brow from telling Colin that. To my surprise, he actually smiled. "I know, people like you and Mariska need something more solid. I'll have an address for you before you leave, once I've confirmed everything is in place."

"Okay," I said, uncertain what to take from that.

"Anything else?"

"I guess not."

He didn't give me anything more. Not even a proper farewell. He just nodded and headed out the door. I watched him cross through the Pit and stop in front of the elevators. The doors opened and he headed off to a destination unknown.

I took a seat and just stared at the blank computer screen. I sat there, waiting for Emily to return, but after an uncertain amount of time passed, I gave up and decided that I needed to go talk to Alec about this. I didn't know what exactly needed to be said. Perhaps I just needed to ask what was really going on. None of it felt honest. Somehow it actually felt worse than seeing the mess that they tried to pass off as a charity office.

I wanted to trust Colin, but I feared his ambition sometimes outweighed his morals. Alec, however, had always been so true to me, even when I was just another ant in the colony. He was a good man, that I was certain. If he told me it was all as Colin said, then I would believe him and perhaps then I could also trust Colin.

"You just missed him," said Theo, as I stared through the glass walls of Alec's empty office.

"Any idea when he'll be back?"

"Not sure really," he said as he leaned as far back as his chair could manage without toppling over. "He only stepped away because this woman came in demanding to see him."

"What?" I asked, my heart picking up speed, sensing something that my brain hadn't yet caught on to.

"Yeah," he said, snapping back to his full upright position and turning to face me with an eager gleam in his eye, "this woman came bursting through this place, like she owned it. It was actually really impressive. At one point she, like, waved her hand in front of her, like she was commanding the air to part the bodies blocking her way, and then people practically leapt from her path."

The exaggeration in his story wasn't lost on me, but I knew there was a dash of truth in there, and though I couldn't possibly know all the women in Quinto Technologies, the pounding of my heart told me I knew exactly who came tearing through there.

"She near pulled the door right off its hinges. That, understandably, got Mr. Radcliffe a bit upset. He didn't look all too happy when he dragged her down the hall." Theo nodded towards the little corridor that led to the bathrooms. "They really only just left, so if you hurry, you can probably catch them before they get to wherever it was they were heading. I mean, those elevators take ages to show up."

Except, there were easier elevators to access than the one by the restrooms, I thought. I looked over at the central column that formed Quinto Towers. There two elevators faced the Pit, but another larger elevator for deliveries was on the other side of the column where our supply closets and bathrooms were. If someone wanted to have a secret getaway, that was the place to do it. But, why?

I thanked Theo for his help and sprinted down the hall, hopeful to at least make it in time to see where the elevator was headed. They did at least have those digital signs above them, tattling the current floor of the carriage. If I saw where it stopped...

I didn't know why I had to track him down, but I knew I needed to. Mariska had planted a seed of suspicion in me and Colin only succeeded in watering it. With Alec being torn away secretively just after Colin took it upon himself to set me in my place about the charity... I just knew I had to find him.

***

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