Monahan 01 Options (23 page)

“I wouldn’t worry about it. If the police find anything, they’ll all find out soon enough.”

We sat quietly for a long time. Jay turned on the television and pushed the mute button. He flicked through the channels and I stared at the images on the screen. Jay settled on the Weather Channel and he put the remote control on the table in front of him. We watched the satellite pictures and I tried to read the announcer’s lips. Across the bottom of the screen were several digital clocks showing the local time in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. The clock showed nine-fifteen in Toronto and eight-fifteen in Winnipeg. The minutes ticked by.

When the clocks showed nine-nineteen in Toronto and eight-nineteen in Winnipeg I sat up straighter. eight-nineteen.

“Jay, what time did Evelyn die last Thursday?”

“Um, around eleven-thirty I think. Why?”

I ignored his question. “What time did we leave the office to go to the hospital?”

“I can’t remember. Around eight or eight thirty. Why?”

Eight-nineteen set off some bells in my head. I tried to remember the sequence of events that night.

I remembered the paramedics rushing Ev on to the elevator. I remembered trying to call Danny from the phone in my office. I remembered waiting for Jay in the lobby of the building. I remembered my frustration because he was taking so long. And then I remembered looking at my watch. It had said eight-twenty. Or it could have been eight-nineteen. I’m never that accurate when reading the time from my watch because it’s not digital.

Okay, I thought. I was waiting for Jay in the lobby of the building at eight-nineteen. Or eight-twenty. What was the significance of that? It was really bugging me and I couldn’t pin it down. I got up off the sofa and poured myself another coffee in the kitchen.

I leaned back against the counter in the kitchen and sipped my coffee and methodically went through the events of the last few days. Eight-nineteen had been significant in another discussion I had participated in, or listened to, sometime in the last few days. The light bulb finally went on in my head when I remembered it was during the discussion between Ray and Grace. Ray had been helping Grace read the user information from the report Ray had printed out. The system had shown that Rick Cox had logged on the system at eight-nineteen. I remembered now asking Grace to repeat the time to me. Something must have seemed wrong to me at that time as well.

But eight-nineteen was significant to me because I remember waiting for Jay in the lobby of the building at that time. And I remembered that it was five minutes or more before he showed up. And Jay had Rick’s password to the system. I felt sick when I realized it could have been Jay who signed on the system while I was waiting in the lobby. While Ev was dying. Maybe Rick’s protests of innocence weren’t so far off base. Had anyone seen Rick at the party, I wondered. If he wasn’t in the boardroom at the reception, he could have been logged on the system. The log report showed that whoever had logged on, had been at Evelyn’s terminal. In her office. While she was dying.

My mind protested this line of thinking. Rick Cox had been accused, tried and found guilty. I knew Jay. And I knew Jay would never have done what they accused Rick of. No way. He was too honest. Besides, I didn’t sleep with dishonest people. I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that Jay would have anything to do with this whole mess.

I sensed Jay’s presence in the doorway and looked up guiltily.

“A penny for your thoughts,” he said quietly. He was leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his jeans pockets. “The Weather Channel was getting boring so I thought I’d join you. You look confused. What’re you thinking about?” he asked me.

“Nothing,” I lied. “Just thinking. About Ev. And the funeral. I have to go to the visitation tomorrow afternoon. I’ve never done this before, you know. I wonder what it’ll be like.”

“Not pleasant,” Jay said. “Funeral’s never are. I’ll go with you. We can find out together.”

Jay came over to where I was leaning against the counter and put his arms around me. I hugged him back very tightly. I felt guilty about putting Jay at the scene of the crime, so to speak. But the dirty deed had been done at eight-nineteen and Jay had had the opportunity.

“I have to ask you a question,” I said into his chest.

“Shoot,” he said back.

I took Jay’s hand and led him back to the living room.

“Sit down,” I said.

He sat on the sofa and looked up at me. “It’s too early for a marriage proposal Kathleen,” he said. “And besides, I wanted to be the first to ask.”

“Don’t joke about that Jay,” I said. “And this wasn’t going to be a marriage proposal.” I sat down beside him.

“Let me take you back through a sequence of events as I remember them,” I continued. I looked down at my hands and said, “Last Thursday night, after the paramedics disappeared on the elevator with Ev, I went back to my office to try and call Danny. When I couldn’t reach him I left. I went to the lobby of the building and waited for you. It seemed like forever before you came down in the elevator. I remember looking at my watch and deciding that if you didn’t show up soon, I was leaving without you.” I looked at Jay. “You said you were just going to get your jacket. What took you so long?”

Jay looked back at me. “I can’t remember. I went back to my office and got my jacket. I met you in the lobby. That’s all, I think.”

I stared at him and measured his words. There was no hedging. He sounded honest.

“Then what took so long?”

“I don’t remember Kate. What’s this all about anyway? Why am I getting the third degree?”

“Because. I know some things that’re bothering me. And I’m trying to figure something out.”

“Well maybe I can help figure it out if you tell me what you know,” he offered.

I lit a cigarette and dragged deeply. I felt the smoke seer my lungs. I have to quit this filthy habit, I thought. I took another drag.

“Okay. I know some things that I’m not supposed to know. I hear things. I’m privy to confidential information. Sometimes, I’m amazed at how much I know. But then I remember that people speak in front of me and forget that I’m there. It’s like I’m invisible. Because I’m a lowly support person, they don’t think I can understand what they’re talking about. So they talk around me and ignore me. You understand?” I asked him.

“Yeah. I understand. Can you be a little more specific?”

“I’m getting there. The other thing I wanted to say is that the confidential stuff I hear, has to stay confidential. Sure, I talk about it with Vanessa, but she’s bound by the same code I am. We keep our jobs because we’re discrete. And we’re expected to keep things that we hear, confidential.”

“Kate, I understand confidentiality. And you should know that people talk in front of you not because they think you don’t understand. It’s because they trust you.”

“Well, I’m about to break that trust. I know we have a relationship. Or at least I hope it becomes a relationship. I keep forgetting it’s only been a couple of days.” I smiled at Jay.

“Anyway, I shouldn’t share any confidential information with you. Especially since you’re an ex-employee of the company,” I said quietly. I wasn’t about to put my foot in my mouth again and rub it in because he didn’t have a job. I was consciously practicing sensitivity here. “Even if you were still working at the company,” I continued quickly, “I wouldn’t be in a position to share this stuff with you.”

“I understand all that Kate. So what’s the big deal? Did you discover the secret to the atomic bomb in Harold’s out-basket?”

We both laughed.

“No. Nothing quite so serious. Did I tell you what Grace and I were doing at the office on Saturday?” He shook his head.

“We were checking the stock option records. My records against Ev’s. And she had Ray print-off a report that shows when everyone uses the computer system. The report shows every time someone logs on, what terminal they’re using, what part of the system they log on to, stuff like that. Did you know they had those sorts of records?” I asked him.

“Sure. I knew. I learned a lot about the internal system when I was working in with some technical guys on one of my rotations.”

“Well, anyway, Ray’s report shows that Rick Cox logged on to Ev’s terminal at eight-nineteen on Thursday night. He logged into the stock option system and was on the computer for three or four minutes. That’s the confidential information I shouldn’t be sharing with you.”

“Rick told me that they had a report showing he logged on. So where do I come in to this?”

“I remember waiting for you in the lobby. You said you were going to get your jacket but it was taking so long. I looked at my watch and it said eight-twenty or something. I waited another five minutes.”

Jay thought for a moment. “So, you’re thinking that because I was taking so long it could’ve been me?”

“Admit it Jay, if anyone knew to ask me the right questions, I could theoretically put you at the scene of the crime. You knew Rick’s password. So you could’ve logged on to Ev’s terminal and made those changes. Help me out here. What took you so long?”

“Admit it?” he demanded. “Who the hell are you? The Gestapo? What the fuck is this Kathleen?” Jay stood up from the sofa and looked around for his jacket. He was going to leave. I’d done it again. He stormed down the hallway towards the door.

“Jay. Please.” I got off the sofa and hurried after him. I grabbed his arm.

“Jay. Come on. Just listen to me. I’m not accusing you of anything,” I said to his back. “Please.” I tugged on his arm and he turned around.

“I have all this information, in bits and pieces. So I put some of the pieces together. I wasn’t going to say anything but it was bugging me. I’m not accusing you,” I repeated. “So work with me here. Let’s figure it out. What if someone did lace Ev’s food with something? What if the police start asking questions? Won’t they find out about Rick getting fired and start putting two and two together? There’s definitely a link here with the stock options. Please, Jay. Don’t make me apologize again tonight. I seem to be starting off every sentence with you saying, I’m sorry. I am. But look at it from my point of view. Think. What took you so long?”

Jay took a deep breath before he answered. “I was pulling myself together. I left you and went to my office. I closed the door and put on my coat. And I sat down for a while. I was in shock. It’s not every day I have to perform CPR on a friend.”

I took a step towards him and put my arms around his waist. He hugged me.

“I was so scared,” he said.

“And you’re too macho to admit it?” I asked him.

“No. I’m not too macho. I learned how to cry from my sisters. There’s no shame in it. I needed to be strong for you. I needed you to lean on me.”

“I’m leaning on you now Jay. And not just figuratively,” I said into his chest. “So why couldn’t you tell me that?”

“Thursday night was the first time I was going to be allowed to do something for you. You had actually asked me for help. You wanted me to take you to the hospital. Call it macho. Call it what you want. I was going to look after you. I had to pull myself together.”

I stood back and looked at him.

“You did help me Jay. Thank you.” I held out my hand to him. “Don’t leave. Especially don’t leave mad.”

He took my hand and looked hard into my eyes.

“Kathleen Monahan, I helped you because I love you.”

My throat tightened. “It’s too early to say that Jay.”

“Not for me it isn’t. I’ve loved you forever Kate.” And he kissed me. Just like in one of my favourite Harlequin romance novels.

chapter thirty

I made sure Harold Didrickson wouldn’t have any excuse to chew me out for being late on Tuesday morning. I arrived at the office at seven-fifteen. I hadn’t slept well and had tossed and turned for what seemed like forever. I tried waking Jay with a kiss just before six but he just smiled in his sleep and turned over. I left him sleeping and dragged myself out of bed.

I put on a black Chanel-style, light wool suit with white piping on the collar and cuffs of the jacket. It was a little heavy for the warm spring we were having but it was the most appropriate outfit I had for a funeral home. I planned on going straight to Hillson’s from the office for the visitation.

I was powering up my computer and having my first cup of coffee of the day when I heard a tentative knock on my door.

“Yeah,” I shouted. “Come in.”

The door opened at few inches and Harold’s face appeared. I looked at my watch.

“You’re in awfully early Harold. It’s only seven-thirty. Come in.”

Harold came in and shut the door behind him. He sat down in the guest chair across from me.

“A couple of things Kate,” he started. I grabbed my notebook and a pen and looked at him.

“First of all. About yesterday. Let’s forget about it okay?” He looked at me expectantly. I figured this was as close to an apology as I was going to get. It must have been difficult for him to say that much. I thought about letting him stew for a while longer and then remembered that I’d said some pretty nasty things to him too.

“It’s forgotten Harold.” I felt simply magnanimous. Like the governor granting a pardon at the last minute. “Don’t worry about it.”