Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
G ood enough for you, Jerky McJerkface?
I stared at my reflection, admiring the stylish ensemble on my petite frame. Slim black wool pants, a structured blazer, a silk blouse, and patent leather loafers. I looked good. Classy. Professional. I was even wearing undies that matched my bra for once. Not that Neil would ever need to know that. Perish the thought.
As well as the pieces I currently wore, I had purchased a pencil skirt, another blazer, and two more tops, all optimised for maximum mix-and-match ability. Too bad my outfit lacked one crucial element: a good bag. As I reached for my peeling, faux-leather handbag, I wondered if Neil would let me expense a new one or whether that would be pushing it. I decided I’d save up for one. My salary was more than enough to cover a new bag while I saved for my OE.
Feeling invigorated, I left twenty minutes early, ready to tackle whatever hurdles Neil Kingston threw my way.
He was picking some printing off the printer when I entered the office. He wore his signature three-piece suit and his signature scowl. Petra’s desk was empty. Friday had been her last day. From now on, it was just me and Neil. Could I handle it? If I were going to make it to the end of the year, I’d have to.
“Good morning,” I said cheerily, but the two words made me blush. Somehow, I always forgot their significance until they came out of my mouth.
“Good—” Neil’s eyes landed on me. He looked me up and down. “You went shopping.”
“Yes, I did.”
“You look…” He cleared his throat.
This is it. He’s going to compliment me. My first compliment from Neil since I’ve started working for him.
“…Acceptable.”
My heart sank. I had expected too much from him. Why was I so hung up on receiving his praise, anyway? I didn’t need him to like me. I didn’t care what he thought about me, as long as I could keep this job.
Neil’s eyes lingered on me. I stared back at him, defiant. Then something unexpected happened. He smiled at me. A wisp of a smile, but it caught me off-guard, and I broke my gaze from him, blushing.
What the heck was that?
I stood there dumbly while Neil turned his attention to stapling his document, all traces of the smile long gone, as if it had never happened. Maybe I had imagined it.
Why am I being so ridiculous this morning? Focus, Milly.
I remembered I needed to give Neil back his credit card. I rummaged in my bag, retrieved the card, and presented it to him. “Here’s your card.”
“Keep it. Use it for any office expenses that come up—with my approval, of course.”
“Right then. I will.”
“Scan and send any receipts to Denise.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, and Amelia, now that you have the proper attire, would you accompany me to this morning’s meeting?”
I took a second to respond, stunned by this sudden request. I’ve never cared for meetings, yet I couldn’t help but feel excited. It was like he was inviting me into his secretive world for the first time. After a week of nothing but pointed looks and snarky comments, it felt like a breakthrough.
“Of course!” I said, a little too enthusiastically. I tried to calm down. “Is there anything you need me to prepare?”
“No. All you need to do is listen and observe. I will introduce you. We’ll leave in an hour.”
“Right. Can I get you a coffee in the meantime?”
“Yes, please. Make it a large one.”
“Coming right up.”
I scurried to the kitchen, pleased to get away from Neil for a few minutes. On my way there, I saw James. He was humming an upbeat tune to himself, a vacant look in his eyes. My approach burst his bubble. He stopped humming but didn’t seem to care I’d overheard him.
“Hi, James,” I said as we both entered the kitchen.
“Hey, Milly. How are you settling in?”
All I could do was sigh in response. Sure, Neil had just invited me to a meeting with him, but it didn’t make up for everything else he had put me through.
James grimaced. “That bad?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never experienced a new job like this. Neil doesn’t do a lot of hand-holding. He just lets me fail, then criticises me for it.”
“That must be why Bridget left.”
“You mean the woman before me?”
James nodded. “She didn’t last long.” He reached for a box of berry-flavoured tea bags from the overhead cupboard.
“How does Neil treat you ?”
James shrugged. “I suppose we get along okay, but I keep my communication with him to a minimum. He’s not my direct report. Charlotte Dalton is—the head of admin.”
“I see.” I pressed the button on the coffee machine, and it groaned to life.
“Most of the other execs on this floor like to keep their distance from him too. It’s like they’re scared of him or something.”
I recalled how the COO had cowered in Neil’s presence that time he unexpectedly took the stage.
“I wonder why that is.”
“Beats me. I’m just the receptionist. All that stuff is way above my pay grade.” James stirred his tea, then dumped the used spoon in the sink with a clang. “Well, all I can say is good luck, and I hope you outlast Bridget,” he said on his way out of the kitchen.
At least there was someone around here I could talk to about my troubles. James was a good guy, even if it seemed like he was away with the fairies half the time.
I tidied up after myself, as well as washing the spoon James had left in the sink. Neil’s coffee mug was full to the brim. I carefully walked it to his office.
Neil sat in front of his computer with a heavy frown on his face. A familiar scene. I placed the coffee cup down in front of him, but with a little too much force. The hot liquid splashed over the edge of the cup and fell right in the vicinity of Neil’s lap, making him wince.
I gasped. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.”
“Be more careful,” he bit back.
“I’ll get some cloths and clean it up.”
Neil stood, revealing the wet patch on his crotch. I never thought I’d have a reason to look at his crotch, but there it was. Were his trousers always that snug? I looked away, feeling even more hot and flustered. One thing was clear; a dab with a cloth wasn’t going to fix this mess. We would have to go to the meeting soon, and he couldn’t go with pants looking like that.
“Oh no. What can I do to help? Where can I get you another pair of trousers?”
Neil brushed me off. “It’s fine. Stop fretting. Do you think I wouldn’t keep a spare suit for cases just like this? In fact, I have several.” He walked across the room to a closet and opened it. Three suits, in immaculate condition, hanging up side by side.
“Thank goodness. I’ll go grab those cloths to clean your desk and chair.”
When I returned to Neil’s office bearing cloths and tea towels, he had gone. I cleaned up the mess in his absence. How could one small splash wreak so much havoc?
Neil returned shortly in a clean pair of trousers. He held the stained pair in his arms and thrust them towards me. “Take these to the dry cleaner.”
“Now?”
My response surprised me. It wasn’t like me to argue about the urgency of stain removal.
“Yes. Now.”
“But what about the meeting?”
“Forget about the meeting. You don’t need to come.”
“Oh. All right then.”
I tried not to look so dejected. Why should I be upset? It’s just a stupid meeting. I’d rather not go, anyway.
By the time I returned from the dry cleaner, Neil had already left. Two hours later, plodding footsteps drifted from the corridor. Not Neil. Neil didn’t plod . I watched the open doorway as the sound grew louder, then James poked his head in. “Knock, knock,” he said.
“Come in.”
He entered carrying a giant dog plush toy.
“What in the world?” I asked, staring at the oversized toy.
“Delivery for Neil.”
“ That’s for Neil?”
“Yep.”
I scratched my head. “Who would send him that?”
“No idea. But the card is clearly addressed to Neil Kingston.” He flashed me the gift tag attached to a blue ribbon around the dog’s neck.
“Oookay. Well, I’ll put it in his office, then.”
I took the soft toy from James’s hands; a German shepherd with shiny black eyes and a pink felt tongue. “It’s pretty cute,” I said, stroking its brown fur.
James grinned. “Yeah. I love stuffed toys.”
“More than Neil, I’m sure. What was the person who sent him this thinking?”
“Who knows?”
“Well, thanks for bringing it here.”
“No problem. By the way, feel free to get stuff delivered to work. I know all the courier drivers. They leave the packages for this floor at my desk, and I’m usually around to sign for them.”
“That could be a good idea. Sometimes there are package thieves at my apartment building.”
“Package thieves? That’s the worst! Definitely get your deliveries here—and I promise I won’t rag on you for ordering loads of stuff. I do it too.”
I chuckled. “Okay. Sold.”
That solved the package-thief problem.
I waved James goodbye with the paw of the stuffed dog. As soon as he left, I took a closer look at the tag around the dog’s neck. Neil’s name and work address were printed on one side. On the other side, there was a message.
Dear Neil,
Thank you so much for your continued support.
Margaret (AAS)
Neither the name nor the acronym stood out to me, even though I had studied our list of contacts in the office manual back to front. I shrugged it off.
The door to Neil’s office was closed but unlocked. I pushed it open. The room was dark, quiet, and still. Dust particles floated in a beam of dull light through a half-open blind. The room seemed even larger in Neil’s absence. Large and empty. The smell of the coffee I spilt lingered in the air, mixing with the comfortable scent of leather and old paper.
It crossed my mind that maybe I shouldn’t be here, but wouldn’t he have locked the door if that were the case? I was just going to put the dog down, then I’d leave.
Stacks of paper topped Neil’s desk in an orderly fashion. It wasn’t tidy enough for my liking, but it appeared he had some kind of system going. The surface was free from personal effects—no photographs, no knickknacks. Hardly surprising. Neil didn’t seem like the sentimental type.
I placed the dog on Neil’s chair. As I moved away, I realised it looked like the dog was sitting at the desk. I chuckled to myself. Neil probably wouldn’t find it half as amusing, but at least he couldn’t miss it.
My focus drew to the shelves behind the desk. Something had caught my eye. All the books and folders stood flush in neat rows—except for one file. It stuck out as if Neil had recently accessed it. It bugged me so much that I couldn’t leave it like that. I walked to the shelf and pressed my fingertips to the spine. I hesitated. What was it that Neil had been looking at? I pulled the file out further, just enough to read the label. My eyes widened.
The label said Alex Patterson.
Why had Neil been looking at information about the deceased former CEO? Curiosity overwhelmed me. Neil wasn’t back yet, and if I listened carefully, I’d hear him if he was coming. Could I risk a peek?
Yes, I decided.
I pulled out the file and flicked through the documents inside. Details about Alex and his family. A personal profile. A picture of the crime scene on the office roof. A graphic photograph of the body on the ground. I gasped, slamming the file shut in disgust.
What the… ? Why does Neil have this?
A connection I hadn’t made before flashed through my mind. Neil was here on the morning of Alex’s death, and there was a rumour that someone had tampered with the railing on the roof. Did Neil know something? Was he involved somehow? If he wasn’t set to become CEO yet, why was he even here on that day?
Footsteps approached. Footsteps that matched Neil’s urgent, even stride. I tried to shove the file back into place, but in my rush, I fumbled and dropped it. The pages fell out and scattered on the floor. I got on my hands and knees and tried to gather them in time, but my effort was futile.
“Do you make a habit of entering my office and snooping around while I’m out?”
I felt Neil’s deep, silken voice in my bones. He stood over me, assessing me through narrowed eyes. He had an uneasy look on his face. A look I hadn’t seen from him before. “Stand up,” he said.
I did so, my cheeks burning.
“Explain yourself.”
“I brought in a delivery for you, then I saw this file sticking out?—”
This piece of information seemed to disarm him. “It was sticking out?”
I nodded.
“I was careless.”
He bent down to pick up the papers. I followed suit. In the scramble, I didn’t notice much more information than I had already seen. When one page was left, we both reached to grab it. Our hands brushed. His touch startled me so much that I couldn’t move. Neil pulled away first. I picked up the last piece of paper and handed it to him. Rather than returning the file to the shelf, he unlocked a filing cabinet and stored it in there instead.
I wanted to ask him why he had all that personal information about Alex—not to mention crime scene photographs—but I feared the consequences of prying. While I was still deciding whether to bring it up, Neil spoke. “I take it that dog is for me?”
“Someone called Margaret from AAS sent it to you.”
“I should thank her.”
“Do you want me to email her a thank-you note?”
“No. It’s a personal matter. I shall do so myself. Did you sort the dry cleaning?”
“Yes. It’ll be ready by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Good.”
“Did your meeting go well? Anything you need me to action?”
“You didn’t miss anything by not being there. Tomorrow morning’s meeting with operations, however, that I would like you to attend. Eight-thirty sharp.”
“I’ll be there.”
As I left his office, I ruminated on the notion that Neil was hiding something. I couldn’t trust him, he seemed dangerous, and yet… he intrigued me.