Chapter 46
“Do you guys wasn’t to go to the cafeteria?”, I asked as soon as we left McMurrich’s office
“Let’s go”, said Alice, and Brad followed
We waited for the elevator without speaking. “I am awfully disappointed”, I said when we got in
“I know”, agreed Alice, dropping her head
“I wonder if Mike made up the whole story about Sandeep being scared and not wanting us to go to the cross cancer institute”
“Yeah…”, said Brad, who had been silent up to that moment
“What about going there again to see if he was making it all up?”, suggested Alice
“That’s what I thought”, I nodded
“But if all three of us disappear for a moment too long McMurrich is going to wonder”, worried Brad
“It’s lunch time, right?”, I said looking at my watch
“So if we go now McMurrich will assume we headed for lunch”, Alice said, brightening up
“Bingo!”, I said
“Ok…”, conceded Brad, somewhat unsure it was a good idea but not finding strong reasons not to go
“And we’ll stop at the Greaser to grab a fat slice of junky pizza on our way back so we won’t go hungry”, I smiled
“Sounds like a plan”, Alice smiled back
The elevator opened the door to the main floor
“But does anybody have their car keys with them?”, Brad asked
“Oops…”, I said shaking my head
“I can run upstairs get mine”, offered Alice
“It’s fine, I’ll go. You guys can start heading to the parking lot, I’ll be back in a moment”, Brad said
We went outside and the burning hot asphalt yielded under our weight
“It feels good to be outside”, said Alice, turning her head up, the sun showering over her closed eyes
“Yeah, FoodTech is a sick place. I still cannot believe what is happening. Why did Mike do that?”, I said
“I don’t know Iris. A part of me refuses to believe things are as they appear…”, Alice told me, keeping her head tilted upwards
“What do you mean?”, I asked
“I mean that perhaps Mike didn’t intend to betray us at all”, she said, looking at me now
“I thought so to. But then why not talk to us?”
“Mike was never the talkative type. Maybe he has a plan, but he didn’t want to involve us”
I pondered the possibility and nodded. “It’s not impossible”
I saw Brad walking out the entrance and waved at him as if I hadn’t been seeing him for a while. The exuberance with which I was waiving my arms should have called for laugher, or at least a shy gest of recognition. But Brad walked towards us seriously, and when he got closer I saw the frown on his face.
“What?”, I asked
“I think you were right”, he said
I looked at him with a question mark on my face
“Someone is trying to dig in your stuff”
“McMurrich?”, I asked, feeling all of a sudden it was way too hot outside
“No, the cleaning lady”
I burst out laughing.
“She is trying to steal my pens or what?!”, I exclaimed relieved
“I don’t think so”, Brad replied, and the worry on his face extinguished my smile
“Explain then”
“I cannot be sure of what I saw, but she was where our desks are and when she heard me coming she started”
“Maybe her thoughts were elsewhere and you startled her?”, Alice suggested
“No…I don’t think so. I cannot say why, but I have a strong feeling she was up to something. And it’s not only your activity she wants to know, probably she is interested in mine too...”
“What do you mean?”, asked Alice
“There was something with my desk…it felt like something had been moved”
“That’s exactly how I felt”, I confirmed
“But why would a cleaning lady be sticking her nose in your files?”, Alice asked
“I don’t know…”, I said, shaking my head
“It seems like a crazy idea but I wonder if she is not who she pretends she is”, Brad said
“I wouldn’t believe what is happening if someone told me…”
“Ok guys, why don’t we deal with one thing at a time and head to the cross cancer institute now?”, Alice interrupted
Brad opened the car, “Right, let’s go, we don’t have much time”