Monahan 01 Options (25 page)

I felt every start and stop on the way home and I thanked the lord that Jay had a decent car with good shocks.

When we finally arrived at my apartment, Jay helped me undress all the while asking me what he could do for me but I couldn’t answer. I knew if I opened my mouth it wouldn’t be pretty. The pillows felt good under my head and the cotton sheets were cool under me. I kicked off the duvet because I couldn’t stand the weight of it on my body but then I started to shiver. Jay disappeared and returned with a glass of water and a bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol.

I couldn’t shake my head no, so I whispered, “Tylenol Three’s. In the medicine cabinet. Prescription.” I didn’t get many migraines, usually a couple of times a year, and about two years ago I’d gone to the doctor who’d prescribed the stronger painkillers. I didn’t like taking them because they upset my stomach but they usually did the trick with the pain in my head.

I took two and closed my eyes. It was dark outside when I woke up and discovered Jay sitting in my mother’s old rocking chair beside the bed. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was eight-thirty.

To test the pain level, I opened and closed my eyes a few times. My head was still sensitive but the Tylenol 3’s had done their work.

“Hey,” I croaked out. “You the night nurse?” I smiled at him.

He smiled back at me. “Yup. I’ve got the midnight shift. At your service. How’re you feeling?” he asked.

Bless his pointed little head. He was genuinely concerned.

“I’ll be fine. It was just a migraine. Lie down beside me?” I asked him. He complied and gathered me in his arms. He stroked my hair and put his hand on my forehead.

“No temperature. You’ll be fine,” he proclaimed.

“Thank you Nurse Ratchet.”

“Do you get migraines often?”

“Couple of times a year,” I told him. “Brought on by stress. The funeral home was a little much for me today.” I paused. “The police were there, you know.”

“I know. I saw them on the six o’clock news. Harold called. And so did Vanessa. This has been a busy place.”

“You saw who on the six o’clock news?” I asked him.

“The Detective who was at the funeral home. I saw him there but didn’t know who he was until I saw him on the news.”

“Then you know?” I asked. “That Evelyn was murdered?”

“Yeah. They said on the news they were investigating the death of Evelyn Morris as a possible homicide. They interviewed Danny. How did you find out?”

“Constable Lofaro told me they were investigating it as a homicide. All of the food at the reception the other night was laced with peanut oil. Everything.” I told him.

“Jesus,” Jay whispered. “Then it definitely was no accident. Who the hell would do something like that?”

“Why did Harold and Vanessa call?” I changed the subject.

“Vanessa called because she didn’t see you at Hillson’s. I told her you were in bed with a migraine. She was surprised that I answered the phone and I told her I had driven you home. Harold on the other hand, didn’t ask why I was answering your phone.”

“Harold wouldn’t ask if the Queen of England answered my phone. He never asks personal questions. What did he want?”

“Wanted to know what time you’d be in the office tomorrow after the funeral. He asked if I’d tell you to check your voice mail. He’d leave you a message.”

“Fuck voice mail. I don’t check it after hours,” I declared.

“Are you going to tell Vanessa about us?” Jay asked me.

“Of course. I want to tell everyone and I’d love to get up on the top of the CN Tower and broadcast it to the world.”

“Broadcast it to the world? I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I’m an outcast at TechniGroup right now.”

“I know it’s only been a couple of days, but this feels right Jay. For me anyway.”

“And you know how I feel. I told you last night. I love you.” He said that so easily. I wanted to say it back but the last time I responded quickly to someone when they told me they loved me, I ended up married to him.

So I hedged a little bit and told him, “I feel the same.”

The news that Evelyn’s death was being investigated as a homicide was a big item on the ten o’clock news.

A reporter was interviewing Danny in front of his home. He looked scared and sounded mad.

“I was convinced it was no accident,” he was saying to the reporter. “I had to go to the police and beg them to get involved.” The reporter removed the microphone from in front of Danny’s face and looked straight at the camera. Danny’s image faded away.

“This news comes quickly on the heels of a press release issued by TechniGroup earlier in the week which detailed the resignation of Richard Cox, the company’s chief financial officer,” the reporter told Toronto. “Mr. Morris informs us,” she continued, “that Mr. Cox was his mother’s boss.” She finished her story with a brief description of the company’s business.

Great. I couldn’t wait to see what the stock opened at in the morning.

We were sitting in the dark and I was sipping a very hot Cup of Soup. One of the many gourmet delights I kept hidden in my kitchen cupboard.

I asked Jay if he had heard what the stock had closed at today.

“No change,” he said.

“Well, that’s comforting for now. Tomorrow’ll be interesting. With that reporter reminding everyone about Rick Cox and now the news about the police getting involved, it’ll be like October 1987 all over again.” I thought about the possibility of Oakes jumping out of an office window and remembered that they were all sealed tight. “I wonder how much of a hit the stock’ll take,” I said.

“As if I care,” I answered myself. “If one of those sons of bitches is responsible, I hope the stock goes to a negative. Can that happen?” I wondered out loud.

Jay laughed. “Not that I know of,” he said.

“Why’s Didrickson so hot about what time you’ll be in tomorrow?” Jay asked after he muted the sound on the television.

I thought about the news that Harold had told me about the possible buy-out. I was sworn to secrecy and wasn’t supposed the share the information with anyone. I looked over at Jay and he was staring at me, waiting for an answer.

“Confidentially? What I tell you goes no further?”

Jay nodded.

“Pinkie swear?” I asked him. He held out his baby finger and linked it with mine. This was an old ritual all the neighbourhood kids had. It was a stronger promise than swearing in blood.

“We’re being looked at. Someone out there is interested in buying TechniGroup. Didrickson’s got me getting material together for due diligence. I imagine he’s heard from the other side now on what documents and material they’re going to want to look at. He needs me there to be his personal photocopy slave.”

“Interesting,” he mumbled. Interesting? This was big news.

“Hey,” I prodded. “Interesting? No other comment? Come on. Let’s speculate. Who do you think it might be? The Germans again?”

“I don’t know,” he replied distractedly.

“Hey. Earth to Jay. Over here.” I poked him on the shoulder. He looked at me.

“What? Sorry. What’d you say?” he asked me.

“Who do you think it might be?” I repeated. “The Germans?”

“I don’t know,” Jay said. “But I do know this. Whoever it is, will get a nice price for the company. If the stock keeps dropping they’ll get the place for a quarter of what it’s worth.”

I thought about that for a moment.

“Maybe someone wants the stock price to keep dropping and that’s why everything has been happening. Maybe that’s why Rick got fired and Evelyn was murdered,” he said.

chapter thirty-two

“
And that only happens in books,” I said. “You’re dreaming in Technicolor, Jay. Rick Cox got fired because he fucked up. And because they got him for fraud and sexual harassment too. Remember you asked me how I knew about the fraud? Well, I saw the charges in different memos from a couple of the regional vp’s. Oh, and by the way, the pinkie swear covers those memos too.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that. On it’s own. Rick got fired because of apparently legitimate reasons. But why was Ev murdered? And I’ll go on the record right now. I agree that it was murder. You say they found peanut oil in everything?”

I nodded.

“Well, then,” he said. “Why would there be peanut oil in brownies? Or in a ham and cheese casserole? I’ll tell you why. Because someone wanted to make damn sure that whatever Evelyn ate, would kill her.”

Jay continued. “Those two unrelated incidents will no doubt drive the stock price down. And then you hear that we’re a target of a takeover bid. And,” he pointed his finger at me, “tell me why the shares were down over a buck and a half last week, before any of this news got out? Can you explain that?”

I laughed. “No, Your Honour. I can’t. And I’d forgotten about that.” Less than ten days ago the shares had been over $11.00 and now they were trading around $7.00. And with the news on the street about Ev, the slide wasn’t about to stop.

“You have to agree,” Jay said. “That the two events together are cause for concern. Once the police find out about Cox, and they will find out, they’ll want to know what the two had in common. I’ll tell you what they had in common.”

“Stock options,” I interrupted him. “And, let’s not forget about the other variable in this formula.”

“And that is?”

“You. You got fired too. Because of stock options. The common element. I wonder if the police’ll be knocking on your door?”

“Damn. I hadn’t thought of that.” Jay looked concerned.

“But you’ve got nothing to worry about,” I reassured him.

“You’re right. But no one likes being questioned by the police,” he said. “My mother definitely won’t be impressed.”

“She won’t be impressed when she finds out you’ve been fired. Have you told her yet?”

Jay shook his head. “I’ll tell her when I land another job. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

The funeral the next day wasn’t a merry affair by any means but I did a lot better than the day before. Jay and I sat shoulder to shoulder in the chapel at Hillson’s and I held his hand tightly in mine. There were dozens of people from the office at the service and if they’d didn’t know about Jay and I by now, they’d soon figure it out when they saw how closely we were sitting together. I felt safe with his shoulder touching mine. I didn’t acknowledge anyone and stared straight ahead like a zombie. I blocked out everything and tried not to listen to anything that was said during the eulogy. It was a trick I learned as a child. Don’t listen and what they say can’t hurt you.

“Midget,” they used to taunt me. “Shorty pants.” It was something to laugh about now, but as a kid, it used to hurt me through and through. I was very conscious of my size and when the other kids started to tease me, I just wouldn’t listen. I would sit on the curb with my hands over my ears, blocking out their taunts.

Evelyn was buried at the Thorncliffe Cemetery. We stayed back from the crowd around the graveside and I hung on to Jay’s arm. When they started lowering her coffin into the ground I turned around quickly and started back to the car. The rest of the crowd soon followed us and when the front cars in the funeral procession pulled out, Jay quickly followed.

“Do you want me to drop you at the office?” he asked me.

“Sure, but my car’s still at Hillson’s. I’ll have to get it eventually,” I replied. I had no feeling in my arms and my neck felt like rubber. I wanted to lie down and go to sleep and never wake up again. My best friend had just been put in the ground and the sadness overwhelmed me. I wanted to go to the office about as much as I wanted to have a root canal without Novocain.

“I’ve got some things I want to do downtown. I can hang around and take you back after work,” he offered.

My mind wandered and I wondered if Evelyn was watching me, just like Sarah told me. My eyes looked up at the clouds. I’ve got a prince, I told her silently. You’d be happy for me, Ev. My eyes filled with tears for the first time that day and I quickly wiped them away with the back of my hand and turned to look at Jay.

“Thank you. I’ll take you up on that offer.”

We didn’t talk on the way back downtown and I gave Jay a quick peck on his cheek when he pulled up in front of the building.

“I’ll be here at what time?” he asked me.

“Is five-thirty too late?” I had no idea what awaited me upstairs.

“Five-thirty it is. See you then.” I waved as he drove off and I made my way slowly in to the building.

This is the last place I want to be, I thought as I punched the button for the elevator. When your best friend dies, you should be at the home of her relatives, participating in the grieving process. I had given my regrets to Danny before the service and he looked almost relieved that I wasn’t going back to his place after the burial. He probably didn’t want anything to do with any of us now that there was a full-fledged investigation going on.

I caught a whiff of Vanessa’s perfume and turned around. She was standing behind me waiting for the elevator.

“Why didn’t you say something?” I asked her.

“Didn’t want to invade your personal space,” she replied. “You definitely had the walls up today. I noticed it at the funeral home and the graveside. You alright?”