Macy made it home without breaking down in the taxi. She fumbled with the key at the door, but once inside she threw herself on the sofa and curled her body around the pillow. She squeezed her eyes tight, fighting back tears. Why did this happen? How could she work so hard for a company that would accuse her of stealing? She didn’t know what hurt more, the embarrassment of being ushered out of the building like a common thief or the knowledge that English thought she was stealing.
Betrayal was the only word that came to mind. English had betrayed her. After giving up weekends and evenings and holidays and her social life, they had thought no more of her than to send her home.
She bolted upright when she heard Gayle’s key in the lock. What she wanted was a little more time to wallow in her blanket of unhappiness. What she needed was to get her job back. She curled her feet under her and placed her hands in her lap.
She ran her index finger under her eyes before Gayle saw her. Black mascara smudged her finger.
“Hey, what are you doing home so early?” Gayle glanced at her watch. “It’s not even six yet. Are you sick?” Gayle perched on the edge of the chair nearest the sofa.
Macy bit her lip. “They sent me home.”
“Why? Are you contagious?” Gayle pushed off the chair and made her way to the kitchen. “Whatever you’ve got, don’t give it to me. I’ve got a final call back for a shoot later this week, and I don’t want to be sick.”
“No. I’m not sick,” Macy spoke loud enough for Gayle to hear her. “The company is investigating my accounts. They sent me home. Without pay.”
Gayle rushed back in the room. “Wait a minute.” She shook her head as if she was trying to clear out old information to make room for something new. “You mean, like you might be fired or arrested for stealing?”
Macy looked down at her hands. “Pretty much.”
“How much money are you talking about?”
“One-hundred-eighty-seven thousand dollars.”
Gayle’s eyes grew bigger. “Did you say thousand dollars? Holy crap. That’s…that’s a lot of money. And they think you stole it?”
“Stole it. Spent it. Lost it. I’m not sure what they think. But the head of HR told me to stay away from the offices until they finished their investigation. So now I can’t even help uncover this mystery. The only information I have is what I was able to smuggle out in my purse and the copies of the documents I had been looking through.”
“What do you think happened? You must have some clues.”
“I know Michelle quit for no reason. I know Celeste has it in for me. But I didn’t think either of them would go this low. And I thought I was so smart, always checking and double-checking everything. Working late to stay on top of everything and look what it got me. Nothing. A big fat nothing.” She clenched her fist. “I can’t help but think Michelle’s quitting has something to do with what’s going on. Avery says I shouldn’t jump to that conclusion.”
Gayle moved beside her on the sofa and embraced her. “He’s probably right. She could have quit for a whole lot of reasons.”
“Then why isn’t she returning my calls and why did she move?”
Gayle shrugged a shoulder. “We’re tough, honey. English International ain’t the only company in Philly. You’ll find something else.”
“If I don’t find out what happened to that money, can you imagine what kind of reference English will give me? That’s if they don’t decide to prosecute me. The only job I’ll be able to get is a dog walker.”
“Don’t laugh at that. I hear dog walkers make good money.”
“This is serious, please don’t joke.”
“I’m sorry. I was trying to cheer you up. Maybe the auditors will find it. Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do?”
“They didn’t look like they were in a hurry to exonerate me.”
Gayle sat beside her. “I’m going out tonight. Want to come. At least you can forget about your troubles for a few hours.”
Macy shook her head. “I wouldn’t be any fun.”
Gayle gave her a long look before going into her bedroom and closing the door.
A new fear started blossoming. Until she said the words to Gayle, she hadn’t thought about references. Leaving the outcome of this mess in some stuffy old HR Director’s hand would be like kissing her whole career goodbye. They thought she was guilty, and wouldn’t work too hard to clear her name?
She reached for her phone and dialed Michelle’s number again. Without ringing, her call went to voice mail with the standard, leave a message. “Hey Michelle, this is Macy again. I really would like to talk with you. Please give me a call as soon as possible. It’s important.” She hoped she sounded casual. If Michelle heard the hysteria festering in her chest, she wouldn’t call back.
Next, she dialed Avery’s number. She’d be about as good company as a snail tonight.
“How did it go?” His voice was smooth and it calmed her. Maybe he’d be willing to stop by. They could stay in and just have a drink.
She told him what happened without leaving out any details. “I even ran into Roxy just before my meeting, and I should have known something was wrong. As talkative as she usually is, she didn’t say a word. She just looked at me like I was an oddity.”
The line went quiet for several moments.
“Macy.” There was hesitation in his voice. “I told Roxy about the missing money.”
She uncurled her feet, placing them on the floor. The temperature in the room seemed to rise twenty degrees within an instant. “You what?” She enunciated the words, not trying to hide the incredulous sound of her voice. If being sent home was unbelievable then this was downright unimaginable. She’d trusted a Malveaux and again one of them had upended her life.
“She…she…stopped by my office late this morning, and I told her. I had to disclose.” He could have been singing the National Anthem for all she cared or heard. The moment he said he told Roxy about the missing money everything else skidded to a stop.
“I asked you to keep it to yourself.”
“You asked me to keep your addiction to horoscopes to myself. Which I have. But you never said anything about the accounts. Those are company accounts. I would never have promised to keep information from the company. The information was going to come out sooner or later. The auditors were going to find out, they would have told her.”
“But I was supposed to be the one to tell her. Not you. If you hadn’t told her, I doubt if the auditors would have found out about the screw up so quickly. I could have had a few more days to investigate. The minute you told her she probably went straight to HR. All evening I’ve been feeling betrayed by English, and now you’ve betrayed me. I trusted you.” Her voice raised three octaves. She was squeaking. “How could you do this to me? You had no right, or at the very least you should have told me you were going to tell Roxy.”
“Macy, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Look we’re supposed to get together tonight. We can talk this through over dinner.”
“I’m not going to dinner with you. I’m not one of your bimbos that will accept anything you dish to me. Forget my number. Forget my name. Forget me. You are no better than your father,” she was yelling now.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Just hearing Avery’s voice was too much. She ended the call. She marched to her bedroom door then back to the sofa. With her fists clenched at her sides, she yelled something inaudible. Everything was red. She closed her eyes and massaged the lids. This is what she got for thinking she could trust a Malveaux.