Page 40 of In the Line of Ire

"Runalong," said Maddox, barely glancing at me. I resisted the urge tostick my tongue out at him because Magda was watching and Icouldn't. Instead, I nodded and walked away, wondering if Magdawere the reason Maddox often chose to stay after hours. Not that itwas any of my business, but ugh, Magda was awful!

Joan wasthe only person in the accessories department when I arrived andshe was waiting by the cash register, casually watching thebrowsing shoppers. "Magda just left," she said. "She asked whereyou were. I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t say anything.Sorry."

"I sawher in the breakroom when I put my bag in the locker," I toldher.

"Great.She's out of the picture for twenty minutes. The things we could dowhen she's not looking!"

Ilaughed. "You really don't like Magda?"

"She'sokay but kind of a pain in the butt. Being our supervisor, Isuppose it's her job." Joan shrugged before nodding to a woman whowas waving to her. "I'd better go serve our customer. Curtis isrunning an errand so it's just the two of us untilthen."

"Whatshould I do?" I asked, looking around.

"Justhang around by the register. If someone comes in and asks for help,do whatever you can. I think it's going to be a quiet day so thereprobably won't be much to worry about." Joan hurried to thecustomer and I watched for a few seconds while she demonstratedsomething with the bag handles on the purse the customer pickedout. I redirected my attention to the cash desk. While no one waswatching, I quickly searched through the desk but the only thing Ifound of interest was a small bag of mints individually wrapped inplastic wrappers. There was nothing that screamed "counterfeitingmastermind at work."

"Whatare you doing?" asked Magda, suddenly next to me and making mejump. I hadn't seen or heard her soft-footed approach.

"Serving," I said.

"Who?"

I lookedaround. Joan was assisting the only customer. "Um..."

"Nevermind." Magda tapped her fingers on the desk. "Adam said you twoworked together before?"

"That'sright."

"Wherewas that?"

"At afirm I temped in," I said, skirting the truth. Plus, I had no ideawhat Maddox might have told her already so the scarcer my factswere seemed to be the safest commentary. "I did filing and typingand answering the phones," I added.

"Was ita very social firm?"

I hesitated.What did she mean bythat?Then, like a switch suddenly flipped,I understood. Magda wanted to know if we socialized, perhaps evenif we dated and I wasn't sure how I should answer that. So Idecided to take her comment very literally and give her an answerthat was actually no answer at all. "Not really," I said. "But Iwasn't there very long. Is that a customer? Shall I go helpthem?"

"Yes,and don't go hard on the sell," said Magda, already losing interestin me, but even as I walked away, I thought I could feel herwatching me. Clearly, cozying up to Magda to gain information wouldbe hard work.

Fourhours later, my feet hurt, Joan had apologized ten times, I'd onlysold one purse, and I remembered why I hated shop work. Thecustomers were often rude, it was boring for long swaths of time,and Magda enjoyed wielding her authority as a supervisor a littletoo much. I'd had my fill of dusting, tidying, and carrying outevery whim she could come up with. I was ready to call it quits forthe day when Magda summoned me with an imperious wave of herhand.

"Lexi,find this purse in pink in the store room," she said, holding up abag then nodding toward the door at the rear.

"Rightaway," I said. I hurried behind the cash register and yanked thedoor handle. It didn't budge.

"Youneed to enter the code," said Joan. She punched in a four-digitcode slowly enough for me to watch, and the door clicked. "I’m sohappy Oliver put a code on the door. I lost the keys twice in myfirst week. I can’t help losing stuff. I’m clumsy like that!"

"Thanks." I stepped through into a room filled with shelvingand realized I had no idea where to look. As I stood therevacantly, I contemplated the odds of incurring Magda's wrath byreturning empty-handed, when a young woman in jeans and a t-shirtpopped out from behind the nearest shelf.

"Hi, canI help?" she said. A ponytail cheerfully bobbed at the back of herhead.

"Magdasent me in here to find a pink purse. I don't even know the firstplace to look."

"Youmust be the new girl. You don't have to look for it. Just tell mewhat the product code is and I'll find it for you."

"Um..."

"Or adescription will do just fine too."

"Pinkand about this big," I said, indicating the size and width in theair with my hands. "Chain strap."

---