It was obvious nothing was going to calm Bruce. At one point, his voice even became so menacing I could envision him taking a swing at Matt and a real fight breaking out. Thank goodness I was wrong and it didn’t happen.
At last he calmed down and stopped yelling. Julia’s soft voice broke the silence. “I never should have left that phone message, but someone really has been threatening me and I stupidly thought it was you. I’m so sorry.”
With Bruce under control, Julia joked about how many of the GS15’s, who enjoyed high credit limits, regarded their government IMPAC card like a bonus gift certificate. Matt continued to support her by blathering on about how so many abused it with no questions asked.
There was a bit more chit-chat until Bruce said he had to get back to D.C. Within 45 minutes he was gone, headed to the airport, and things were back to normal—sort of.
Right after Bruce left, I unlocked the door and ventured out in time to see Matt slam out of the office, carrying his briefcase. When the coast was clear, I gave it a few more minutes, then called Nathan’s private line using my cell so there wouldn’t be a company record of the call. He answered on the second ring.
“Mr. Attorney General, have I got a story for you. Bruce isn’t Ghost and quite frankly I don’t have a clue who the third crook can be. When they got our email, Julia thought Bruce was Avarice-2. It turned out Bruce was more afraid she was going to turn him in for charging huge personal expenses on the IMPAC card. There was even something mentioned about hookers. It sounds like good old Bruce used his card as a personal piggy bank.”
Nathan’s “Uh huh” on the other end was followed by a chuckle. “And how did you happen to hear all of this?”
“Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m turning into a regular Agatha Christie. Bruce asked me to order some breakfast using the phone in the conference room, so I managed to hit the com line button to my office before I left and I heard every word they said.”
“You’re amazing. To think I was worried about you—well, actually I’m still worried about you. I really like you Kimberly and I certainly don’t want anything to happen to you. Good job, though. By the way, please call me Nate.”
Okay, so did “really like you” just mean he thinks I’m pretty nice, or dared I hope it meant more? Before I could conjure up a vision of Nathan giving me adoring looks, he said, “Listen, I should be hearing something about what was found in the warehouses pretty soon, maybe even later today. I’ll call you when I know more. Don’t get too carried away playing sleuth. I want you in one piece the next time I see you. Take care. We’ll talk later.”
I found myself thinking some pretty hot thoughts about our Attorney General and they had nothing to do with the current investigation. I closed my eyes and wondered what it would feel like for him to kiss me. Really kiss me, not one of those perfunctory pecks on the cheek or forehead. A tongue thrusting, long hot kiss followed by—
My intercom buzzed. Julia wanted to see me in her office. I put that image of Nathan in a safe place in my addled brain, grabbed a notepad and went down the hall to her office.
Julia was really upset. She made some lame excuse for Bruce’s tirade and Matt’s sudden departure, but I think she really called me into her office just to have someone to talk to. She attempted a bit of totally ridiculous small talk, but soon clammed up with her arms folded protectively across her ample chest as her eyes flitted around the room, looking for a place to rest. Finally she looked back at me. I said nothing.
Panic had definitely taken over. It was clear Julia knew their entire house of cards could come crashing down any time now that she was faced with trying to solve the mystery of Avarice-2. Someone obviously knew what they were up to. Abruptly rising from her chair, she said, “I’m taking the rest of the day off. I’ve got a lot of personal things to attend to.” She walked toward the door and I followed. Midway to the door she must have realized she hadn’t even picked up her briefcase and doubled back to her desk to grab it.
Julia was totally unhinged.