Page 62 of The Vegas Rerun
I shake my head slowly.
“I never believed that. But I saw what happened.”
Her head snaps toward me.
“You were there?” she asks.
“No, but I watched the CCTV footage,” I tell her. “From the stairwell. Do you remember me telling you the communal areas of the office had cameras installed, but I didn’t tell anyone we had them. Well now I’m glad I didn’t.”
Her lips part in a half smile.
“I forgot about those cameras. What exactly did you see?”
“I saw you and Sarah arguing. And her hitting herself. Then you trying to leave and her pushing you. Watching you fall was awful. If I didn’t already know you were mostly ok, except for your ankle, I would have honestly thought you’d been killed.”
Molly’s eyes fill with tears, but she blinks them back fast, fiercely, as if crying would let Sarah win.
“She’s crazy,” Molly says. “She was going on and on about how I took her job and how bad I was at it.”
“Except you aren’t bad at it at all. You’re really good. You haven’t been making mistakes,” I say. “She was sabotaging you, trying to get you fired so she could have your job. Little did she know even if I fired you, she would have been my last choice.”
“She admitted to it?” Molly asks, surprised.
“No, but she dropped herself in it. Remember the restaurant booking? Redfart?”
“Oh God, don’t,” Molly moans but she’s smiling, and I smile back.
“She mentioned that incident today. Only you and I knew about that. She was setting you up,” I finish.
Molly goes very still and then she nods her head quickly.
“Of course. That’s why she was helpful. Or I thought she was being helpful at the time. I didn’t know which restaurants would be appropriate for the meeting because I hadn’t beenback in Boston long then and I went and asked the other secretaries. Sarah recommended the place and said her sister worked there. She must have had her sister change the name in the reservations book.”
“That explains it. I did wonder how she managed to change the name,” Joshua says.
“I knew I wasn’t going crazy,” Molly whispers. “And it’s not just my job she wanted.”
She blushes a bit and I wait for her to go on.
“Somehow, she found out about me going to Oscar’s christening. Well, not just her, the whole damned office knew,” she says.
“Yeah, I blame my dad for that,” Joshua says. “He must have told someone.”
“Sarah is really into you. She was kicking off saying it was bad enough I took her job but now I took her man too,” she says.
“Well, she’s going to have a long wait on that one. There’s only one woman for me, and I think I knew that all the way back there in Vegas,” I say. She looks up at me and I know she’s about to tell me to stop, but I plough on before she can. “I lied to you that night you know. When I told you there was a problem with the flight being over booked. There wasn’t. I just couldn’t stop thinking about you. I came back for you.”
“You did?” Molly says and I nod my head.
“I did,” I reiterate.
“Don’t tell Sarah that for goodness’ sake, she’s already out to get me,” she says.
“She’s gone, Molly. I fired her the second I saw that footage. Security knows she’s not to be allowed into the building, and if she tries to come in for any reason, they’ll call the police. Don’t worry. She won’t touch you again.”
Molly closes her eyes, the tension starting to uncoil in her shoulders.
“You’re safe now,” I add, my voice quieter.
