I couldn’t afford tolookweak, which wasunfortunate, because I felt it right now.
“You,” John looked up atFox, holding his gaze for a moment. “You’re fired, so you can get the hell out.”
What?
“Excuse me?” Fox said,clearly as surprised as I was.
Foxwas fired? Buthe hadn’t…he was…
The room seemed to tiltsideways as I looked between John, Dwayne, and Uncle Vincent. Dwayne was themost likely of the three of them to be sympathetic, but his entire response wasa tiny shrug and a look that said this had nothing to do with him.
Of course not. Dwayne wasmore or less myhandlerat Harmony, the first point of contact foreverything.
But that didn’t mean he coulddo anything about Fox.
And this was a reminder thatFox didn’twork for me. No matter how many times he stuck his neck out for me, no matterhow much he’d been on my side, I hadn’t hired him.
“What are you, deaf?” Johnasked.
“I am, actually,” Foxresponded.
John paled, the look of aman from the legal department who’d just caught the barest whiff of a lawsuit. “Butfor both of our sakes, I’ll choose to assume that you were only beingaccidentally offensive, rather than suggesting that factored into your hiringdecisions.”
Part of me wanted to cheerFox on for standing up for himself. He didn’tcareabout gettingfired.
He’d built a life that meanthe didn’t have to answer to anyone but himself.
Not for the first time, Iwished I was more like him. Braver. Smarter. More valuable to other people, andless beholden to them.
The room went silent.
Uncle Vincent sipped coffeeout of an eggshell-blue paper cup with a gold lid and played with the stupidrevolver keychain he always carried, like he was some kind of Old West cowboyor something. He should’ve gotten himself a ten-gallon hat to go with hisridiculous white Cadillac and been done with it.
Dwayne coughed.
John played with a stack ofpapers for a few moments before he dared look up at Fox again.
“I’d like to statedefinitively that Harmony Records does not discriminate against either veteransor the differently-abled.”
I turned just in time to seeFox’seyebrow raise so high it nearly met his hairline.
“That hole you’re diggingfor yourself is only getting deeper, so how about you quit while you’re behind?”Fox asked. “You were trying to fire me, if you recall. I’ll need you to explainwhat part ofourcontract I’ve breached.”
“You’re here to prevent theleak of Quinn’s newest album; you’ve failed at that task. One of the songs hasalready made it to the internet, which implies the rest of them have falleninto outside hands.”
No, they hadn’t. They hadn’tbecause they weren’tdoneyet. That was what I was meant to be doingtoday.
I wanted to say so. I wantedto defend Fox, who maybe didn’tneedthis job, but still had his reputationriding on it. It wasn’t fair that he was being blamed for things thatweren’t his fault
When I tried to say so,though, nothing would come out. I couldn’t find the words to start.
I couldn’t make myselfstand up for him.
Not even after all the timeshe’dstood up for me.
“That wasn’t—” Fox began alittle too loudly. He paused, took a breath, and then opened his mouth to startagain. “I cannot possibly prevent crime from occurring,” he said. “I was hiredto determine where the leak was coming from, and that investigation is ongoing.”
“And do you have anyfindings to report?” John asked.
