“And if they’re not?”
By noon, I was placed on temporary administrative leave.
My access badge was suspended.
Corporate authorization privileges were frozen.
The board stopped short of terminating me only because the investigation was incomplete.
I left through the same lobby I had entered four hours earlier.
This time no one looked at me at all.
Outside, I called Corinne.
Her number went straight to voicemail.
I called again.
Same result.
On the third attempt, I left a message.
“Corinne, it’s me.”
“I’ve seen everything.”
“I need to talk to you.”
I wanted to tell her she had gone too far.
That involving the company was unnecessary.
That taking Owen without telling me where she was had been cruel.
Those were the sentences waiting on my tongue.
But then I recalled the hospital photograph.
The empty chair.
“I know you’re angry.”
The moment I said it, I hated myself for reducing what she felt to anger.
