Chapter 10

“Listen, Sean, I am as single as it gets. There must be some mistake,” I said. “Are you sure you got the right records?”

Sean sighed. “Hazel Whitaker, correct? Please confirm your date of birth and social security number for me.”

I whispered the info into my phone so no one else would overhear.

“That’s what we entered into the database. I don’t know what to tell you, it comes up as ‘married’ under marital status,” Sean said.

Of course. Of course this one simple thing I should have gotten did not go my way. “Okay, thank you for calling,” I hung up, frustrated and confused, but I didn’t have time for this, I had to get back to work.

After helping Logan with his weekly schedule, I decided to start trying to build my case against Bob. My job was on the line and I needed to figure out what he was up to…fast.

I walked to the pantry, a well-known source of office gossip. Surely somebody had some dirt on him. This was the place where everyone learned about his potential in-office affair with a former assistant of his, after all. (And how we learned his wife attacked and cut off that girl’s hair in the parking lot soon after she found out herself.)

The pantry was abuzz alright…but not about Bob. Everyone in the pantry seemed to have another on their mind: Logan.

“Oh hey Hazel,” another secretary named Ella said when I walked in. “How’s it going with everyone’s favorite CEO?”

“Oh, uh…fine,” I said, not wanting to get stuck in a conversation about Logan when I had other convos to eavesdrop on.

“You are so lucky to get to work with him so closely,” Ella said, with more than a hint of jealousy in her voice. “What’s he like anyway?”

A handful of other women heard our conversation and huddled around close, hoping for something juicy.

“He’s professional. Straight-forward. There’s nothing really exciting to tell,” I shrugged.

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me you’re not even the slightest bit interested in him. Especially after Vegas,” Ella said. After she realized she spilled a little bit of gossip about me to me, she clamped a hand over her lips.

My face burned. “If you’ll excuse me, I just came in to grab something for my break.”

The women turned, quietly whispering as the walked away from me. I grabbed a chocolate bar and a magazine, and positioned myself against a wall that was closest to where all the ladies stood. I pretended to read while I was listening to snippets of their conversations, hoping to hear something, anything about Bob.

But a good half hour in the pantry only got me more gossip about Logan. These women were obsessed. They wanted to know if he was single, which one of them had the best shot at him if he were, which one had the best shot of stealing him if he weren’t. They wanted to talk about how good looking he was, how much time he possibly spent in the gym, which cologne he wore so they could buy it themselves. And on and on.

I tossed the magazine on the counter and left, discouraged. Logan-mania wasn’t going away anytime soon. When would all the other good gossip return?

I walked into the restroom and into a stall. A moment later, two pairs of feet entered and stood at the sinks. They started chatting about the lost order, the newest makeup trends they liked, and I was just about to tune them out when one of them mentioned…

“Did you hear that Bob’s been spending like, a weird amount of time in his office lately?” Woman 1 said.

“Like how much time?” Woman 2 asked.

“He practically lives here. The weirder part is he won’t let anyone go near his office anymore,” woman 1 said. “I wonder what he’s hiding in there?”

“What? I just saw Elena going in there at the end of the day yesterday,” woman 2 said.

Woman 1 gasped. “Do you think…?”

Woman 2 laughed. “Uh, yeah. They’re both definitely the type for something like that.”

The women left and I came out of the stall, smiling. Those two were absolutely having an affair, I was surprised I hadn’t guessed that already about them.

Now to just catch them in the act.

The next morning, the office had a completely different vibe than the day before.

At least for me.

I entered the office smiling and greeting everyone as I passed by them on my way to my desk. I carried a small succulent with me; my desk could use a new plant, I had decided on my way home the night before. Especially since I wouldn’t be going anywhere.

I noticed Elena watching my every move from her desk. She furrowed her brows. “What are you so happy about?” She finally yelled at me from across the room.

“It’s just a beautiful day, that’s all,” I smiled at her. I set my stuff on my desk and carefully pulled an envelope from my purse.

Elena got up from her desk and headed towards the bathroom. I followed her. As I stepped through the bathroom door, I saw Elena standing at the mirror, applying some lipstick.

My heart started pounding, suddenly nervous about what I was about to do.

“Hey Elena, what are you doing?” I asked cautiously.

“Solving world peace,” Elena said, rolling her eyes. “I’m putting lipstick on, what does it look like?”

“For anyone in particular?” I asked. I opened the envelope I held.

“Why are you being extra weird today?” Her eyes landed on the envelope. “What’s that?”

“Oh, this?” I pulled a picture out of the envelope and turned it towards her. “Just a little picture of you and your boo.”

After I left work the night before, I was walking to my car in the parking garage and saw Bob and Elena kissing inside her car. I swear in that moment I saw the clouds part and heard angels singing. I took my phone out and snapped as many pictures as I could.

She gasped. “Are you stalking us?? I’ll report you!”

“Oh please. It’s not like you’re trying to hide it.”

“Fine. So you have a picture. Big deal.” She went back to applying her lipstick, but I noticed this time she was having a little trouble steadying her hand.

“I heard his wife is back from from her overseas work trip,” I said, leaning against the wall.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Oh, it’s on her social media. He didn’t tell you?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. I pulled out my phone and opened Bob’s wife’s page.

“His poor wife. And poor you! What if she found out about you guys? I’d really hate for your reputation to be ruined, especially when it’s already not such a great one. Or your beautiful hair. You heard what she did to the last one,” I made scissors with my fingers and made a chopping motion.

She paled. “Okay Hazel. What do you want. Do you want money?”

“Nah, nothing like that. I need evidence against Bob. I know there’s something sketchy going on with that lost order and I’m not gonna lose my job over it.”

She hesitated.

“If you help me,” I continued, “maybe I can put in a good word with the CEO for you too. But if you don’t…I hope you have some good wigs at home.”

“Fine.” She slammed her lipstick into her purse. “I messed up the order. When I realized what happened, I asked Bob to go into your email and delete the ones that would prove it was my mistake so we could pin it on you. He has access to company email that I don’t have. He did it because…well, let’s just say you’re not the only one around here that blackmails people.”

“Do you have access to his computer?”