Keaton #2
I looked down at the table without seeing it. Instead, I was racing through things in my head. Fernando had always been so pleasant when I saw him with Clara, and she said he was loving, caring, and kind. I hadn’t seen evidence of any of that, and from what Ace was saying, neither had anyone else.
Could someone really, truly be two different people? One at home and one at work?
Or was there something else going on here?
“Well, this is good progress,” Ace said, tapping the pictures stacked on the table.
“Now we know Brody is involved in this whole thing. I just don’t know what we can do about it.
As you said, this is a pretty basic cufflink, and I’m sure he would be very easily able to claim it wasn’t him at all.
Just a coincidence that the person who dropped off the contract wears something similar.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had an alibi lined up. ”
“So, what do we do with this information?” I asked. “Confront him? Show Coleman?”
Ace thought for a long moment. “Nothing,” he said, at last.
“Nothing?” I repeated. “We can’t do nothing!”
“We can’t use this as proof,” Ace said. “If we confront him now, he’ll know that we know. And Coleman? Coleman knows already. That’s the only explanation for all of this. He must have been trying to tell Harvey, which is why Harvey told you to investigate him. That’s how this all connects.”
“You think he might slip up and do something else if he thinks we don’t know?”
Ace’s face was grim. “I know he will. That asshole can’t stop himself. He’ll keep interfering until he gets what he wants.”
“What does he want?”
“Hell if I know.”
I thought about it for a second. “But isn’t that risky? If he does something worse then it could have even more serious consequences.”
Ace nodded slowly. He spread his hands wide. “If you have any other ideas, I’d be happy to hear them.”
I looked away from him. I couldn’t let him read the thoughts flashing over my face as I considered it.
I had thought about it a hundred times. A million times, maybe. Ever since it all came out and I realized that they needed my help to figure out who was behind all of this, I had considered the fact that my footage could be helpful.
I had also thought about how much it could incriminate me.
And I had also thought about how much worse it would look if they found out I was there from someone else.
“I have something to tell you,” I said. My heart was beating wildly in my chest. At least it was Ace – not Mr. Harvey. I couldn’t have admitted it to him. There was no way the words would have been able to leave my mouth. “I was there.”
Ace stared at me in silence for a long minute. When I finally looked up and met his eyes I could barely read his expression. “Okay,” he said. “Now explain to me why this is totally innocent and I shouldn’t be telling Harvey to fire you.”
I flinched. “It’s… not totally innocent,” I said.
I held up a hand as he opened his mouth and rushed on.
“But I wasn’t part of it or anything. I just – I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I took a video of Ridley. I – I’m a big fan of his and when I heard him say he was going to O’Finlays, I followed. I wasn’t the leak. I swear.”
Ace regarded me for another long moment. I felt like I was going to sweat myself to death. God, this would have been so much worse if it was Mr. Harvey. “If you weren’t the leak, and you know you could get in trouble for being there, why are you telling me now?”
“I wondered if I might be able to help somehow,” I shrugged helplessly.
“I watched my footage back and I can’t see anything helpful.
Anything new. I know the person who filmed it must have been somewhere to my left or behind me, but I didn’t see them.
I just thought that maybe, maybe, there’s a slim chance that you’ll spot something if you watch it back. ”
Ace sighed and held out his hand. “Fine. Phone.”
I scrambled to get it out and give it to him, finding the video of Ridley stumbling outside the bar and handing it over ready to go.
He pressed play and watched it with a frown on his face – first at normal speed and then slower, pausing it from time to time to zoom in on things in the background.
My heart pounded and my palms sweated the whole time.
“Well,” he said, at last. I realized I’d barely been breathing and forced myself to take a deep breath. “I can see you weren’t the leak. The angle is just slightly different and, frankly, your camera work is better. Steadier.”
“Thanks,” I said automatically, then cringed a little when he snorted at me.
“You’re lucky to get away with this,” he said, handing my phone back. “But you are getting away with it. There’s nothing useful in the footage, so I don’t think there’s any point in telling Harvey.”
My eyes popped open wider. “You’re not going to tell him?”
Ace made a grimace and waved a hand in the air.
“If I tell him you didn’t bring this up right away, he’s going to fire you.
And I’m the one that would have to try and find him another secretary again.
I would really like it if you lasted more than a couple of weeks.
At least give me a chance to catch up with my own workload before I have to start doing interviews on top of everything else. ”
I half-laughed, a desperate sound of relief. “Thank you,” I said. “Even if it’s for a selfish reason, I’m really grateful. I won’t forget this. I owe you one.”
“Yeah,” Ace said. “How about you do all my filing for me for the next month and we’ll call it even.”
“Why don’t you have a secretary of your own?” I asked, glancing around curiously. There was space for someone else to move in here, even if there wasn’t much room outside in this part of the hall.
Ace shrugged. “I’m supposed to have one. I just spend my whole life interviewing for Harvey. And then I slept with one of my secretaries and he took away my privileges for a while, but that was a one-off. Seriously. I learned my lesson.”
“Then,” I said. “I think I have an idea, and I hope you won’t get mad at me for it.”
“Um, sir?” I said. I waited until Mr. Harvey looked up at me. His grey-blue eyes halted me in my tracks and made me forget what I was saying for a moment.
That was why I needed to say this. I needed to do something before my crush got out of hand.
And Ace was the one who was getting into fights and juicy stuff in the office, anyway.
He needed someone to reign him in and keep him on track.
A gay secretary to round out his gay team and make the firm even more marketable for gay athletes.
It was all making so much sense. That was what I was telling myself to justify this.
Anything to avoid the fact that I wanted to stay so badly, it was a reason in itself to go.
“Out with it,” Mr. Harvey said.
I was grateful for his brusqueness. It made this easier.
“I want to request a switch,” I said. “Or, like, a transfer, or something. Ace mentioned he doesn’t have a secretary right now, and we work well together.
I’d like to be his secretary. Of course, I’ll do all the work of hiring my replacement. ”
“No,” Mr. Harvey said.
I stared at him. There had been no hesitation. “Um, obviously it can wait until after this situation with Mr. Angus is resolved,” I said. “I wouldn’t leave you without a secretary in your time of need. It’s just, we’ve been working really well together on this investigation and I think that –”
“No,” Mr. Harvey said.
I opened my mouth and then closed it again, and looked at the doors to think for a second. He was being so stubborn. He wasn’t even giving me a reason. If he gave me a reason, at least I could argue it. Come to think of it, that was probably why he wasn’t giving me one.
“Well, can I at least go back to sitting out there?” I asked.
It was the last-ditch attempt, the only thing I could think of that might save me.
Not having to look at Oliver Harvey’s face all day long.
Not slowly falling deeper and deeper into this crush on my boss.
Not getting tempted to film things I shouldn’t and getting caught.
It was the only way I could see myself keeping this job.
This job – that I wanted. Deeply.
All of a sudden, I knew I wanted this job more than I wanted to make some get-rich-quick video and expose the people who worked here. I wanted to be one of them. I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s career or public image. I just wanted to be useful.
Even if I could only stay in the same building as him and work for someone else, it would be enough. To be near him.
Just not to be so close to temptation all day, every day that I ended up not being able to work at all.
“No,” Mr. Harvey said. “Make me a coffee.”
I looked down at the mostly-full cup on his desk.
He maintained full eye contact with me as he picked it up and drained it empty.
My shoulders slumped as I turned to the coffee machine. I was trapped.
And it was going to be the most delicious torture I would ever endure to keep on working for this gorgeous, stubborn, stoic man day after day.