Chapter 42
Late Lunch
Jamie unwrapped her backup sandwich from its envelope of wax paper. She’d assembled it last night with leftover roast chicken from Sunday’s weekly family dinner. Now that she had a job, she could afford extravagances like real mayonnaise, dill pickles, avocado, hothouse tomatoes with little vines still sticking out of them, and sliced cheese. She’d piled the toppings high on a seemingly healthy multigrain bread that, she justified, offset a bag of potato chips. She’d been looking forward to it all morning, even feeling a tinge of regret when Lisa had called about meeting for lunch. And now, after their argument, the sandwich was still here, faithfully waiting in Jamie’s insulated lunch bag.
Jamie took her first bite just as her cellphone rang. She glanced at the screen expecting one of the Salder women, but to her surprise it was Patrick.
She answered immediately and managed to spit out, “Dudeyouareinsomuchtrouble.”
“Jamie?” asked Patrick. “Is that you?”
“Onesec.” She chewed furiously and swallowed. Once again capable of speech, she said clearly, “Dude. You are in so much trouble.”
After a beat Patrick answered. “Yeah. I really am.”
Jamie was taken aback by how profoundly depressed he sounded. She’d expected him to demand details on Lisa and George Green, yet obviously something else was on his mind. Regardless, she wasn’t about to back down now. She blurted out, “You’re Victor Smith’s son? How is that possible? I’ve known you for years and you never talked about your parents, but that kind of detail is pretty important, particularly considering . . .”
“Jamie. Please, can you just listen for a minute?”
“I guess,” she said.
“I’m an idiot.”
“Agreed.”
“I need your help.”
“I don’t know if I should help my enemy. You do understand that Victor Smith is the bad guy, right?”
“I know that now. But, Jamie. He’s my dad. I thought maybe . . . Oh, forget it. You’re right.”
Jamie paused. She’d never heard Patrick sound so defeated. Angry or frustrated, sure. The Patrick she knew always had a tireless optimism that had helped get him through even the worst times at the Academy. “I’m sorry, Patrick. Are you okay? Is he threatening you?”
“It’s not me I’m worried about. I made a really bad call, and there’s only one way I might be able to make up for it. Can you help?”
“Sure. Yeah, I can help. Do you want me to talk to Lisa?”
“No, it’s not about Lisa. I mean, it is sort of. Anyway, I need you to find something for me on the mayor’s computer.”
“What? Are you kidding me? You want me to steal information from the mayor?” Jamie couldn’t believe it. Patrick was just manipulating her. She shook her head in disgust. Patrick really had gone to the dark side.
“Please, just listen to me,” said Patrick quickly. “I need you to find a file that I saved to the mayor’s computer on the day of the quake. Remember how embarrassed she was that I’d found her password? I left something really important on it for safekeeping. It’s a video.”
“Okay, but she’s out of the office right now. I can’t just log on to her computer and start snooping around. I could get fired.”
“Jamie, it’s important. Trust me, she won’t fire you. I need you to do this for me now. I might not have another chance for a long time.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. Just help me. Please,” Patrick said, the tension rising in his voice.
“Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll do it.” Jamie stood up from her desk and walked to Ellen’s office, hoping the mayor had left the door unlocked. Luckily she had. Jamie looked over her shoulder just in case Ellen was about to walk into the lobby, but saw no one. Quickly she entered, sat down at Ellen’s desk, and flipped over the mouse pad. “Ha! She still keeps her password in the same spot.”
Patrick chuckled. “Nice to know some things never change.”
As she typed in Ellen’s password, she said, “You know that Lisa wasn’t with George Green voluntarily, right? Her temp agency stuck her at Burnam & Green today.”
Patrick didn’t respond.
Fine. They’d argued about him and Lisa a dozen times over the last few months, and she wasn’t about to start again now. “Anyway, what am I looking for?”
“Search for something about taxes, or maybe audits.”
“Dude, there are hundreds of files and folders.”
“Then look for a folder that was updated the day of the earthquake.”
“Okay.” She sorted by date and scrolled through the list. “How about ‘Quarterly tax audit archive do not delete’?”
“That could be it,” said Patrick eagerly.
She clicked the folder open. “I see a single movie file called Die Hard?”
“Holy shit. That’s so great,” he said.
“Do you want me to watch it?”
“No,” he said emphatically. “Do not watch it. No matter what. Only the mayor should see it.”
She paused, then asked, “It’s not anything kinky, is it?”
“Seriously, Jamie?”
“Just adding some levity.”
“Not the time,” said Patrick. “Just make sure she watches it as soon as she’s back. Tell her I hope this can help make up for my mistakes. And Jamie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for letting me know about Lisa. I lost my shit when I saw her with George.”
“Lisa misses you, you know. She was upset that you didn’t even say hello.”
“I had my reasons.”
“I’d love to know what they are.”
“I hope I can tell you someday,” said Patrick, and then he hung up.