Last Night

Part 34

I stood at the door of the head of HR, Mr. Donald Harris, taking slow, deep breaths. We'd never met before and this felt like a terrible way to be introduced: Good afternoon, I'll pretend that I've heard of you before, but you're fired due to nonsensical reasons because we can't prove you did anything.

Well, that may not be entirely correct. With all the rumors circulating around here for the last week and a half, everyone had mostly likely heard of me and popped over to gawk at me.

Maybe, he'd been more discreet and just looked me up in the database or online. Either way, I shouldn't push this off and further sully an already bad impression.

After a quick string of five knocks, I waited for acknowledgement and permission to enter. There was the creak of a roller chair and the shuffling of feet before the door opened.

An older man with more pepper than salt in his hair smiled at me and waved me in. He had a few wrinkles, but they were dwarfed by the presence of a van dyke beard that wrapped around his mouth.

"Come on in and have a seat. We need to have a chat." His voice was gentle, but a little strained, like he was trying not to frighten me with grave news.

Did he think I didn't understand what was happening?

I stepped into the room, but froze. Someone else was seated in front of the desk, someone I hadn't expected.

Leo stood up and nodded at me with another strained smile. "Good afternoon, Ms. Cooper. It's good to see you again. You seem to have recovered well over the last week."

"Thank you," I replied. What was I supposed to say to that? He was alive and apparently well. I wanted to hug him, but that would've been awkward since one, I barely knew him and two, I was about to be fired. I cleared my throat and resumed my gait to the open chair next to him. "You too seem well."

"Yes," Mr. Cooley cut-in softly, walking back around to his desk as we sat down. "What was it that happened to you again, Ms. Cooper?"

My heart stuttered, but I spoke with my eyes locked on the nameplate on his desk. "I fell down the stairs in my apartment building. You see, I have a bad habit of overloading myself to make it in one trip and it finally caught up with me. I won't be making that mistake again."

Shoot, what if Leo had told him everything that had happened?

"That must have been one really bad fall," he said more to himself than to either of us. He leaned back in his seat from the soft squeak of fabric on leather.

Silence fell.

I fidgeted with a wrinkle in my pants while keeping my eyes cast down. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Leo avoiding my direction and scratching his ear. I was too afraid to look at the man who was about to deliver my fate.

"Okay, enough with formalities, they're getting us nowhere." Mr. Cooley snapped, sitting up and leaning on his desk. His words drew my attention and I glanced up at him. "Ms. Cooper, er, Nicole, I understand that you've been through a very difficult situation here and are trying your best to not make any waves, but I need you to be honest with me. Has anyone here threatened you or harmed you in any way?"

I blinked and stared at him. "What?"

"Mr. Hart has brought it to my attention that someone has been leaving threatening and offensive notes in your workspace. I'll admit I've heard more than a few rumors about Ms. McIntosh's disappearance and subsequent murder, but after hearing what colleagues had to say about her unusually aggressive behavior prior to it, I'd like to apologize to you. You've been wrongfully accused and used as a scapegoat. This harassment went unaddressed for more than a week and as a result created such a toxic environment that productivity plummeted. I understand if you want to take legal action against the company since we allowed this defamation of character to continue without stepping in. I am very sorry that it took us until now to speak to you."