31. Olly
THIRTY-ONE
OLLY
After another hour of sitting at that conference table wishing I could kick old man Evans in the balls just once for good measure, I couldn’t handle it anymore.
I felt like I’d been forgotten amidst the whole ‘who’s getting what?
’ never-ending list, and I was sickened by the whole process.
I mean, Clark was behaving in a perfectly acceptable manner, but even that was pissing me off.
There was nothing acceptable about what that dead fart had done to me, my family, and Clark’s own family.
And everyone was shielding to the nines, not that I’d go deep diving in anyone’s head, but even those leaky thoughts were protected, so I had no clue about what was said regarding Bea earlier, and I hadn’t put my foot down yet to be told.
I don’t know why not. I supposed it was out of fear.
Fear of what I would do? That had to be it.
They were talking about stocks or some such, and I decided it was now or never.
“Gentlemen, could everyone please just...please just shut the hell up for two minutes so I might ask a question and then leave this room?” I got a surprised look from the lawyer, Mr. Boutillier, a concerned look from Clark, and Robert just looked a bit tired and bemused, however, they did all cease blathering on.
“Thanks. You realize that this man was responsible for many crimes, everything from kidnapping to murder, and I heard one of you talk about who was inheriting the silverware sets. Silverware, people. That’s how far off the beaten path you’ve gone.
He used his powers to flat-out rape the minds of everyone here—although perhaps not you, Mr. Boutillier, though you were the one talking about the silver like this is a normal Will reading and not a picking of the bones of a terrible man.
Maybe not today, but soon, we need to talk about justice for his victims. It could take the form of making restitution to the people we know who have been violated by him, like Robert and Jeff, to partnering with a group like Médecins Sans Frontières, sorry.
I mean Doctors Without Borders, for prevention efforts for Dengue Fever in Kenya, considering he felt attached to Rose enough to name his company after her.
Something more than this dumb nickel and diming of everything.
We need to think of his estate as something that can bring some good into this world, good that he seemed incapable of.
I also would like it explained, in detail, what was said about my daughter before I was present in the room.
I know it was something, but I can’t keep guessing.
I’d like to know so I can leave. I just can’t be here anymore. Please, fill me in.”
After hearing that Bea should never have to worry about money in her adult life, which was going to take me time to absorb, I decided that a cup of decaf coffee wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
I felt anxiety thrumming through my veins, and like I was going to puke at any moment, probably because the stress of what I’d experienced was sort of catching up with me, as much as I was trying to mentally run ahead of it and not let it get me.
I moved slowly down to the break room that had my Keurig, holding the wall for extra support as I went.
My knees were “talking to me,” was what my nanny used to say, when her joints acted up.
From the few employees that were still here today, I got smiles and nods, but I found myself unable to return them, because every time someone acknowledged me, or pointed at my belly, I felt like Bea and I were under attack.
It was a ridiculous feeling, but I couldn’t help it.
By the time I reached the break room, I was sweating from exertion and fear.
I had my left arm covering as much of my bump as possible.
I popped in a pod of decaf and while I waited, I tried something I hadn’t bothered with before.
I decided to ‘read the room,’ but on a deeper level than I used to think ethical.
It’s interesting how your ethical priorities can change when you are caring for the most precious thing in your world.
If someone else was on a hunt for a psychic baby, they damn well weren’t getting mine.
I wondered what I had even been thinking, bringing her down here, and that if there were more than three other psychics blinking on my radar, excluding the conference room, I was leaving and not coming back.
Not while pregnant, and not for the eighteen months maternity leave I was owed.
We’d see after that, depending on what radical changes had been made to methods The Organization used.
So I stood in the break room, and just as my coffee was finished, I opened up my mind, and I was stunned at what I saw. The building was lit up like a Christmas tree. Psychics, psychics, everywhere! I’d never seen or felt such energy before, all in one place.
‘I swear to God, if they don’t get a new photocopier for our section, I’m going to take a baseball bat to this one!’
‘I need a drink so bad. goddamn why can’t she understand the voices, it’s just to drown out the voices. She’s going to take the kids and leave, fuck...’
‘...no, Robert’s not the new boss, it’s going to be that new hot guy from like, last year who vanished with Olly McLeod, and now she’s pregnant. Now shut up so I can focus on what they are saying...’
I put my hand to my forehead and willed the voices to be quiet.
It was easy to let them in, hard to push them away.
I took several deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth while focussing on a song—Popular from Wicked—and the voices receded.
I brought my shields back up. I couldn’t hold it against Clark that he never figured out how powerful his grandfather was, because he didn’t have the tools to do so.
Actually, we needed to work on my abilities as well.
How in strengthening my shields, I cut off my power to see how I was working in a hive of people with psychic abilities for the last three years. Years!
I made my way back to the conference room, coffee in hand, still feeling a little shaky from everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
I’d like to think anyone would be rattled.
I thought very carefully about what was read to me about the future of Beatrice Rose Evans.
What in the holy hell kind of drugs was the old man smoking?
I was just kicking off eight months of this pregnancy so, in theory, I had about two months to decide these things.
I wasn’t anywhere ready to give her Clark’s last name, we weren’t even still an ‘us,’ were we, really?
Had we ever been? I knew he loved me, but after the months of the torture of involuntary solitary confinement and mind-numbing drugs I was still weaning off, I didn’t know if I had the capacity in me to be in love with someone again.
It just felt like it added up to more pressure, more conforming to other people’s expectations and desires.
I knew I wasn’t ready to be a Mom, but I wondered if anyone ever really was.
At least I wouldn’t have to worry about money or a home, I thought, rather bitterly.
The “keys to the kingdom” were being passed to Clark, and it would be his decision in what direction he wanted to take The Organization.
I was also to be given a top position, likely of his choosing, though I knew he would give me whatever I wanted or needed.
Just then, I knew what I needed: I needed to talk to Shepard.
I had to get in the presence of someone who wasn’t connected to all of this Organization fuckery.
I entered the conference room, and sat at the table next to Clark, and everyone seemed to decide that the coffee smelled great and that they should all stop for a quick break.
That seemed a perfect time to ask, “Does anyone mind if I roll out of here? There’s a friend I need to visit.
Mr. Boutillier, is there anything else that specifically applies to my daughter? ” The lawyer shook his head.
Clark rose from his desk chair and reached an arm out in my direction.
I backed up, having been touched far too much over the last few months without consent.
I then realized that this was freakin’ Clark, and I could trust him.
I reached over and touched his arm lightly, and hoped he could understand.
I murmured to him, “I’m going to Shepard’s.
I might stay there overnight, but you can call me anytime.
Er, actually you can’t. They never returned my phone.
Probably because it’s at the bottom of the Atlantic. ”
Robert cleared his throat and said, “I have a tote bag for you, prepared by Nurse Elizabeth, who will be reinstated today, if she hasn’t already been.
There’s a new phone in it, and we’ve already set you up with your old number.
We also made sure all of your personal things we could recover are in there: security badge.
Wallet. And your spare key fob. Your car is parked at home, but charge a cab and anything and everything you might need to the corporate card in your wallet until we work out what the eventual limitations on that might be. ”
I loved how they all thought so assuredly that they would still be employed.
I had superficially read the room earlier.
No one thought their butt was on the way out.
Still, I accepted the tote bag from Robert and was glad that Elizabeth would be getting her job back.
In fact, I decided to leave them with a little homework assignment.