address because she was close to him. If he moved, her connection moved with him and he doesn’t matter anyway if you figure out who she’s been seeing. Take the key. Find her damned boyfriend.”
She held out the envelope again.
“I want you to find her. You said you would find her.”
We were back to the boyfriend, only now she was more desperate than angry. I wondered why she was desperate. I still didn’t take the envelope.
“There’s something you aren’t telling me.”
“I told you everything.”
“No. Not yet.”
“Take the damned key. Find her. I need to make this right.”
The envelope trembled.
“How did you make it wrong?”
She took a long deep breath and sighed as she folded the envelope in her lap. She stared at the diner, where normal people with normallives were going inside to enjoy waffles and omelets. She mumbled so softly I barely heard her.
“I made her do it.”
“Do what?”
“I hired her, you know? She was so quiet and shy it took a while, but she was so sweet you couldn’t help but like her. Here she was, a single mother raising this boy. Her entire life revolved around Jacob.”
“The boy’s father around?”
Meryl Lawrence made a derisive snort.
“Abandoned her before Jacob was born. Destroyed her self-esteem. An emotionally abusive piece of shit.”
“Is that what she says or what you say?”
She glanced at me hard, frowned, and turned back to the diner.
“Me.”
“Okay.”
“Well, whatever. She had no one, okay? In all these past fourteen years, I don’t think she saw anyone. She didn’t have a life outside her job and that boy, and honestly, she seemed fine with it. Loved her job. Loved her son. Then she lost Jacob—”
She fell silent for a time, then slowly looked at me.
“She was just so lonely, you know? It was painful. I told her to try one of those online matchmaking services. I pushed. Women like Amy can be—”
She searched for the right word, but wasn’t pleased with the result.
“—persuaded. I talked her into it.”
“You think this is your fault.”
“Isn’t it? I badgered. I nagged. She started swapping emails with someone. This is how I know there’s a man. I was thrilled and I wanted to know all about him, but she wouldn’t say anything. Don’tyou find that weird? I think it’s weird. She told me he was interesting. She told me she liked him. And now here we are.”
“Maybe he’s just some guy. Maybe he doesn’t have anything to do with why she left or why she took the money.”
Meryl Lawrence made a tiny self-loathing snort.
“I’ll ask her if you can find her.”
I took the envelope.
She watched me put it away but didn’t look any less unhappy with herself or relieved.
“Thank you.”
“I promised.”
She gave me a rueful smile.
“If there’s anything else you want to know, now’s the time. I’m thinking about killing myself.”
“Let me get out of the car first, okay?”
“Ha. Ha.”
“All this Top Secret stuff is slowing us down. Last night you told me her office was off-limits. If she swapped emails with someone, her emails might be on her office computer.”
“They aren’t. I read her account.”
“I might find something you didn’t. I might find something else in her office.”
“You won’t. This isn’t just me being obstinate. Our email, phones, and computers are open to the security division. Our Internet usage and phone calls are recorded and reviewed. This is why I gave you my personal cell number and not my office. We have no internal privacy, so none of us use our office computers for personal mail.”
“If they monitor everything, how were you able to read her mail?”
“I oversee the security division.”
“Oh.”
She glanced at her watch.
“Her home is a different matter. You can tear out the walls for all I care. I want to make this right, but I don’t know how much longer I can cover for her.”
I felt bad for her.
“Meryl.”
“What?”
“This
Shauna Rice-Schober[thriller]