Eve considered it a bonus when an hour of paperwork didn’t make her eyes actually bleed. She checked the time, then calculated what she had left.
After casting her non-bleeding eyes to the ceiling, she got another cup of coffee. If she put in thirty more, she could finish. Be done. Have it over.
So she bore down, blocked everything else out, sucked it up, and attacked the last miserable, sticky bunch of it.
When she finished in twenty, she pressed her fingers to her eyes. Still no blood.
She’d emerged victorious. And she deserved a reward. Forget trophies, medals, cash prizes.
She wanted candy.
She got up, walked to her office door, listened. Yeah, still some activity in her bullpen. She eased the door shut, just in case.
After turning her desk chair over, she sat on the floor. With her penknife, she carefully unscrewed the wheeled base, lifted it.
Instead of the jumbo chocolate bar, she stared down at a jumbo smiley face sticker. A big yellow smiley face with googly eyes.
“Son of a bitch!”
Because it looked puffy, she pressed a finger on it.
As the googly eyes shook, it went: “Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!”
“That’s not funny.”
Maybe a little funny, she admitted. But now the insidious Candy Thief mocked her. Stealing her candy stash wasn’t enough for them now?
She sat a moment, plotting revenge. Coating the next bar with liquid laxative before stashing it came to mind, and felt very satisfying.
But, as lieutenant, she couldn’t afford to have anyone in her bullpen suddenly shitting their pants while in the pursuit of justice.
And yet as she stared down at the smiley face, she seriously weighed serve and protect against vengeance.
She’d think about it.
She replaced the wheelbase, righted the chair. To comfort herself, she looked at her cleared desk and told herself good work required no reward.
When she went out to the bullpen, Peabody still manned her desk.
“I’m just waiting for McNab. They busted that major cyber case, so he’s pumped. We’re going to catch a brew with Callendar and some of the others. I’ve got what might be a line, I think, on some of the fabric, but it’s after hours in Europe.”
“Right. The wheelbase on my desk chair was loose.”
“Oh? Do you want me to call Maintenance?”
Innocence, Eve wondered, or caginess? Hard to tell.
“No, I fixed it. Ha ha ha.”
Peabody’s brow creased. “You okay, Dallas?”
“I’m dandy. Like candy. And I’m out.”
In more ways than one, she thought as she walked to the glides.
Remembering the Marriage Rules, she texted Roarke that she had a few stops to make on the way home.
Maybe she should backtrack on her candy hiding places. Try labelingit under something like broccoli in her office AC. No, she realized, reverse strategy. Put it under something tasty.
