The knocking faded as he closed the door to the master bedroom. He swallowed another finger of bourbon and further insulated himself in his bathroom. He stared into the medicine cabinet mirror and didn’t like what he saw.
Noelle,
I’ve received an email from Dane Russ that we need to discuss. I’ve been unable to contact him. Would you please give me a call at your earliest convenience?
Maxwell Baker
Val dressed for work like she always did. She peeled the dry-cleaning plastic from one of her many crisp dress shirts, zipped up her skirt, and ran her hands down the fabric to straighten it. She wore no pantyhose but slipped on a pair of business-appropriate heels. She’d already fixed her makeup and hair. She checked her lipstick one last time and stood back from the mirror pleased with her appearance.
On her way out the front door, she slipped her phone into her purse. She’d given up on hearing from Dane anytime soon. He’d gone into hiding. In time, he’d have to come back around. She’d screwed him over before, and he’d stuck around. Angry, but there.
As long as he never found out exactly how little control she’d actually given him, he’d continue to think they were equals. He’d return to the game board.
But today was her victory. She’d beaten every other woman. Today she’d savor the downfall of a rival. On a whim, she drove over to the donut shop and bought two dozen assorted pastries and a box of coffee.
She carried the food into the meeting room and laid them on the sidebar, smiling at the others sitting around the long table. She didn’t have to fake her ebullience. Her smile was met with sour expressions, even hostility. Typical Monday morning.
The board had set up the meeting at the last minute, and Val suspected they’d have something more important than usual to discuss. The chairs around the table were mostly all taken, but the head was vacant. Noelle’s absence from the office only furthered her certainty that today, they’d announce the CEO’s forced resignation. She only regretted Noelle wouldn’t be present to bear the humiliation publicly. No matter, with Noelle out of the way, Val would once again become invaluable to Dane.Why hadn’t he come in yet?
Val sat down in Noelle’s place. She considered for a minute whether she’d accept the offer to finally take up the executive mantel. She’d always turned it down, but why not? It might be a fun change to run a company again.
The tech support guy, Chris something or other, got the screen projector working with the cameras, but without Noelle, there was no slide show to display. All they saw were their own faces looking back at them, and the list of attendees’ names.
Val unlocked her phone to find Dane’s email, but he’d zipped the file with the incriminating evidence. She wanted to download the audio of Noelle to play back in case anyone in the room hadn’t yet heard it. While Chris finished up, she reached into her bag to drag out her laptop and powered it up.
Maxwell Baker spoke up first. “I don’t know if all of you are aware, but Noelle Constance has taken a leave of absence.”
Val smiled triumphantly, but nobody in the room reacted with the level of shock she desired. She spoke up. “Maxwell, can you please expand on this?”
The laptop came to life. She opened Outlook and found the email. She right-clicked and downloaded the zip file.
“Actually, yes Val. She let us know that she was severely disillusioned with certain activities and is no longer sure she wants to maintain her position. She wanted to resign, but we urged her to reconsider. She’s taking time to recuperate in New York.”
This wasn’t at all what Val wanted to hear. “What are you talking about? What about the sexual harassment suit?”
Amy Waterson broke in. “I’m glad you brought that up, Val. We weren’t sure if you were aware of the charges.”
Val scoffed. “I’m aware of the email Dane sent.”
“Dane? We did receive an email from him on Saturday.” Amy’s face on the screen appeared shrouded in darkness, but Val could make out her confused expression. “Have you spoken to him?”
“Not since Saturday.” She checked her expression. She didn’t need them to know she’d been with Dane when he’d started the unfolding drama.
Amy frowned. “Val, you do know it’s a fire-able offense to use corporate power to compel an employee for sexual favors. Possibly criminal as well.”
“Of course.” Were they really going to make her spell it out? She unzipped the downloaded file and opened it. “I assume you’ve reviewed the documents Dane provided?”
She went to click on the audio file, but there was only a single Word document in the zip. How could that be? He’d said he’d uploaded the audio and email records. She’d heard the audio. Where were the emails?
On screen, the board members shuffled, and then Maxwell spoke up. “Val, the only thing Dane sent Saturday was his resignation letter. We haven’t been able to contact him since.”
She double-clicked the Word document. It began:
Dearest Val,
Had you bothered to double check the email addresses—
She looked at the list of email recipients, really looked, and saw the names of all the board members. Except.No. He’d misspelled each so slightly she would have had to be expecting it. The email never made it to anyone. He’d tricked her?
