Truth, Lies, and Second Dates - MaryJanice Davidson Page 0,62
THE BUD!”
TBMD: Never while I live.
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP:
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: Yeah. I’m one of those. I’ll never apologize for gratuitous emoji use, either. Be resigned.
TBMD: Noted.
* * *
“You have the silliest grin on your face, Uncle Tom.”
“Irrelevant. Ava says hello. Ready?”
“Yes. It was nice of her to think of me, especially since she had new information about your case.” Before he could ask, she added, “You tensed up when you first started reading her texts—your shoulders got super tight and you were frowning. But toward the end you loosened up and were smiling. So she must have told you something about the case and then, I’m guessing—”
“Deducing.”
“It sounds less cold-blooded when I say I’m guessing.”
“Point.” He personally adored the way random passersby reacted to Hannah’s towering intellect. Especially since she often “turned it off” and sounded like a typical child immediately afterward … until something new teased her intellect. “You needn’t do that on my account.”
“Thank you. Anyway. I’m guessing that after the case update, she moved up your timetable for social interactions. Which made you smile.”
“So it did. Right on all counts.” He swung both bags off the bed. “Shall we?”
“Obviously. I like Boston, but I miss our house.”
“Those are my exact sentiments as well.”
“Uncle Tom, I don’t want to know what happened to that boy you tried to teach empathy, do I?”
“You do not.”
“Ah.”
Forty
Hilton Boston Logan Airport
“What can I do for you, Ava?”
“Well, Jan, first I’d like props for remembering you’re in California. It wasn’t easy, because my mind is the opposite of a steel trap.”
A snort. “Congratulations. You finally remembered something that you have literally known for years. I’ll FedEx you a cookie.”
“Two cookies.”
“I’m sorry to say we’re still working on your, uh, problem, so I don’t really have an update yet. Is that why you called?”
“That, and to give you an update. I know we’re supposed to come to HR or a union rep when someone makes us uncomfortable…”
“Whoa, whoa. Is this a #MeToo thing? Should I be recording this conversation?”
“No! Nothing like that.” If only. Not to belittle the movement, but she’d rather worry about being sexually harassed than a serial killer chatting her up. “Nobody’s sexually harassing me. Well, India thinks I should score, so he’s trying to fix me up with one of his wife’s relatives. Would that be sexual harassment by proxy?”
“I can honestly say I have no idea.”
“Besides, if someone ever tried it, G.B. would devour them.” She paused at the thought and decided it wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Two years ago, the new VP cornered one of G.B.’s colleagues when he thought he had the room to himself. For some reason, the gentleman in question thought taking his dick out was an appropriate way to make an introduction. He never heard G.B., who clocked him over the head with a water pitcher. It took him four minutes to regain consciousness, and three hours to file his termination paperwork.
“It’s not a #MeToo thing,” she reiterated. “But an employee got a bit in my face and was asking me a lot of questions about my personal life and acting incredibly strange and I have to tell you, it made me uneasy.”
“Becka Miller.”
(??????????????????)
“Ava? Are you there?”
“Okay, how did you know that?”
“She’s an admirer. Your name is all over her application paperwork.”
“Okay, weird.”
“It’s not that strange. I think,” Jan said gently, “and this is off the record and I can’t prove any of it and we never had this conversation, which I’m definitely not recording to cover my ass, but I think she has a bit of a crush.”
“I…” Ava trailed off. The close talking. The shouting. The excitability. The murder talk. Coincidentally running into her in Boston. “… I don’t think that’s it. She was pretty together the first time we met. But she knew I wasn’t from Boston, then followed me to Boston, and she didn’t start acting weird until we saw each other in Boston.”
“Would you like to file a complaint?”
“No.”
“Then what can I do for you?”
“I just—look, I get that this is skating right up to the line—”
“Whenever you say that, you’re already over the line.”
“What can you tell me about her?”
A sigh from the other end. “Ava. I could lose my job.”
“I know. I know it’s a lot to ask. That’s why I made sure to remember you were in California before I called.”
A snort. “Look, all I can say is, she sailed through all her paperwork and her psych evaluation looked great.” Although not required by the