“Is it okay if we talk to you for a few minutes? In private?” Hailey asked reluctantly.
“Yeah, of course, come on in,” Mike said while he cleared a pile of papers off one of the two empty chairs across from his desk. Hailey sat while Anne shut the door and then took the other chair. “So, what’s going on?”
Hailey looked at Anne for some strength and got a resolute nod in return that helped steel herself for this conversation. Since she had been working with Mike for a while, she felt at least a little comfortable with him. She couldn’t imagine having this conversation with a stranger, like a detective investigating her so-called “claims.” This was plenty hard enough.
“I think I need to take a break from working here for a little while. Not a long time, maybe a few days. Um…” Hailey wasn’t sure where to go from here but Mike didn’t appear to be angry or annoyed that she had to take off, just worried. “Something happened at the going away party the staff had the other night and I’m, um, having trouble being back here thinking about it.”
Mike furrowed his brow and looked at Hailey withconcern. He then looked between Anne and Hailey and looked like he was performing some calculus in his head. “Okay, we can work with that. Is it … for both of you?”
“No. No, just Hailey. I’m just here for support in case she needs it,” Anne answered.
Mike nodded and brought his gaze back to Hailey. He seemed to collect himself before continuing, like he was just as nervous as her.
“Is this related to someone else at work? I could make the schedule so you wouldn’t have to work during the same shifts anymore.”
Hailey relaxed a bit at that offer because she knew how much trouble it was organizing the schedule for so many people. That offer would absolutely make Mike’s life harder and he made it without even a thought.
“That means a lot, thanks. But, he’s already gone so nothing to worry about.”
Mike closed his eyes and dropped his head for a moment.
“Scott did something, didn’t he? Son of a bitch. I’m so sorry, Hailey.” He started shaking his head as if he was pissed at himself. “I heard a couple of the cooks talking yesterday morning about him and wondering if they should say something but not having any proof. Apparently, they didn’t know it was you but they had a feeling he did something because they saw him pull out something that looked like drugs but he was cagey aboutit. They didn’t know what kind they were or if they were even prescription meds, but things make sense now.”
Hailey was a bit lightheaded and wasn’t sure what to say, and she was pretty sure that if she did know she would be incapable of expressing any words at the moment anyway. Anne did not have the same problem.
“Well, fuck this. What are we going to do?” she demanded.
Mike leaned back in his chair and started stroking his chin like he was pondering the latest crossword clue and not the huge elephant in the room. Then, he seemed to think out loud.
“Okay, well I can’t fire him since he doesn’t work here anymore. We have no proof to get cops involved and it sounds like that wasn’t something you wanted to do anyway. So how else can we absolutely destroy this man’s life?”
At that, Hailey gasped and then started choking on her own spit. Anne thrusted a glass of ice water with a straw at her and she drank until it was under control.When the fuck did she get a glass of water?
“We could call his new boss and tell him who is working for him? Could that do anything?” Anne asked.
“Maybe. But, they have no reason to believe me. They might think I’m making it up to try to get him to come back here or something,” Mike argued. It seems these two were ready to launch a plan of attack and allHailey could do was watch slack-jawed as her gaze ping-ponged between the two of them. She couldn’t keep up with their ideas.
“Poison?”
“Illegal. We don’t want to stoop to his level. Bad reviews about his food online?”
“That could just get other cooks in trouble and may not effect him enough. Message his wife?”
“We could, but she may not believe us either. Hire a private investigator to go after him?”
“We’re poor. How about we get him fired?”
“Yes! But how?”
Something niggled at the back of Hailey’s brain as she remembered her conversation with Danny or Chris from the gym. The ghost of a smile crossed her lips as she cleared her throat and drew the attention of both Mike and Anne.
“Have you guys ever heard of a glitter bomb?”
———————————
It turns out, Anne and Mike are evil masterminds and Hailey made a vow to never get on either of their bad sides.
Mike helped Hailey organize the glitter bomb and Anne used her social media sleuthing skills to find someone who worked at the same restaurant as him toget in on the plan. It turned out, when she revealed the reason behind the prank, the new female coworker of his jumped at the chance to avenge Hailey. The package was delivered to the restaurant and the employee they befriended pushed him to open it in the middle of the kitchen. She got the whole thing on film with her cellphone.
