Chương 15: Chapter Fourteen

Kate called two hours later. My heart rate spiked. I was excited to hear how my plan played out. This was my moment to bask in my triumph. I took a deep breath calming myself. I was going to try to play it off, like I didn't do it. After all, it's not like I was a hacker–why would Kate suspect I did this?

"Hey! You're off early." Her voice was tight and she didn't bother with niceties when I answered.

"What did you do?"

"What do you mean?" I asked playfully.

"Don't. Don't play stupid with me Sam. What did you do to the Allmart presentation? What. Did. You. Do." My heart dropped. There would be no way out of this without lying. I closed my eyes, "Daniel's meeting did not go well?"

"Didn't go well?" Kate laughed humourlessly.

"The Allmart execs watched as Daniel presented evidence of his own fraud for forty minutes. They didn't stop him. After the presentation Daniel realized something was off and turned around seeing a completely different slide than he expected." She took a breath.

"Allmart walked out of the conference room while he was shouting at them to come back, that it was a joke, a silly prank. They had their legal team on the phone and refused to speak to Greg before leaving."

"Greg is having a meltdown, Sam. He's been screaming at Daniel and legal and anyone else that comes close to him." I braced myself, "Sounds like justice."

"Justice?" Kate's voice rose.

"Sam. This wasn't the plan. We were going to build a case and go through proper channels. Get you your job back. Now, the whole company is on fire. They sent everyone home, and I'm sitting here with the photo on my phone that could get me arrested."

"You're not going to get arrested."

"You don't know that! You don't know anything! You blew everything up without thinking about me, or even talking to me. Without even warning me. I thought we were a team." The hurt caused the anger in her voice to crack. She stopped and took a breath, and I allowed her to continue before responding.

"How did you even do this? Without Daniel noticing? Were there really email screen shots?" I searched for a way to not lie, but I couldn't really tell her, Oh yeah, Kate. When I got fired I got a weird level up power and now I can change things and hack with my mind. So, instead I would keep it vague.

"I have my ways." A long uncomfortable silence followed.

"That's not an answer."

"That's the only answer you'll believe."

"Well I don't. I can't believe anything you tell me anymore."

"Kate–""No," She interrupted, "What is going on with you? And don't say 'nothing' because I know you. Don't lie to me, you know how that makes me feel. Something has changed, the decorating the shopping, the fact that you went behind my back to do this and now you won't even tell me what you did."

"Kate–" This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Are you involved in something? Something illegal? Did you go on the black market and hire a hacking cabal?"

"A what? I don't think any of that is real. Kate, please just listen, when you come over tonight we can talk about it."

"Whatever it is, if you're involved in something illegal that could come back on me in any way…"

"I would never do anything that could hurt you."

"You already did." Her voice cracked, "Don't you get it? I put myself on the line for you. I dated a person who could be a stalker, I went through his mail, I spent the last two weeks worried sick about you. And you… you didn't even consider how any of this would make me feel. You didn't consider what would happen to all of our jobs and livelihoods."

"You didn't even trust me enough to tell me about your plan. And now you don't trust me enough to explain. You are supposed to be my best friend. Did you think I wouldn't want to destroy Daniel too? Did you forget that this whole thing was my idea to begin with? You know that lying is the one thing I can't tolerate. I really thought that we'd finally gotten to a point where you trusted me."

"I do trust you."

"Right." She said curtly.

"You know what, don't say anything. Just sit there quietly refusing to be an active participant in your own life. It's what you do best afterall."

"Hey." I said, my own temper flaring.

"That's uncalled for. I know you're mad but–""No." She interrupted before I could continue.

"Just no. I need some space to think. I need to go into damage control for my job, and I need to just talk to someone that isn't you right now."

"Wai–" The line went dead. I sat in my ice blue living room on my big ugly sofa and looked at my Nicolas Cage portrait. The same portrait that Kate had hung on my wall, well with a newly colored coat courtesy of the same powers that caused my best friend to hang up on me. The giddy delight of destroying Daniel was now curdled in my stomach and I could taste bile and stomach acid on the back of my tongue. This wasn't the excitement I had been anxiously awaiting.

I'd worked so hard on getting this right and making sure it wasn't traceable to Kate. Somehow she knew. I should have known she would, she'd always been like that. She had a sixth sense for it, that's what her aunt called it. She could always tell how others around her were feeling and made it her mission to make sure everyone was comfortable. But, on the other hand I was right. I had proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I had done all of it without leaving a trace and I could do it again and no one would ever know. I fought the urge to check in on Kate's phone, to see who she was texting or calling and what she was saying. She would forgive me, she just needed some space. I'd just tell her tonight. My phone rang a few hours later and I jumped for it thinking it was Kate, explaining why she was late. Instead it was an unknown number. I normally wouldn't answer an unknown number but, I was feeling lonely.

Maybe they'd be able to get me a really good deal on electric… or my car's extended warranty.

"Hello."

"Can I speak with Samantha Marion please?

"Speaking."

"Ms. Marion. This is Patricia Gloreole from Harrison and Sons Design. I'm calling about your unpaid leave of absence."

"--okay?"

"Some new information has come to light about the allegations against you. Harrison and Sons will be converting your unpaid leave into paid administrative leave pending the rest of this investigation."

"I see. So, new information showing that I didn't do what I was accused of? Like I told Rebecca?"

"I want to be clear that this is not an admission of wrongdoing on the company's behalf. And that we are currently re-evaluating the prior evidence, the individuals involved in the handling of that evidence, as well as the new evidence which has recently come to light."

"What new evidence?"

"I am not at liberty to say. Ms. Marion I thank you for your time. Before I go, do you have any questions?"

"Am I getting back pay or just going forward?"

"Both."

"And health insurance?"

"Same coverage."

"Will I be able to return to work?"

"That," Patricia declared.

"Is dependent on the next several days and the investigation that is ongoing. We will have a decision by next Friday."

"Oh. Okay. Thank you." We hung up and I stared at my phone. I was getting paid leave, a victory, kind of. So then, why didn't I feel like the victor?