Page 37 of Emergency Exit
“You do realize that if I hadn’t decided to come in to grab my crossbow dice roller that we wouldn’t have found this until Monday? The security company says they recycle the video after forty-eight hours. By Monday, we’d have no shot at finding out who did this.”
Ash let that sink in. He wasn’t a cop, but his instincts said that whoever had broken in was, at minimum, familiar with the building.
“I’m going to take a bunch of photos. Then we can start cleaning up,” said Ash.
Mel nodded and went to their office door. Ash heard the click of the biometric lock unlatching as he began to take photos. Once he’d taken every angle he could think of, he went into hisoffice to text Harper.
Sighing, he sank into his desk chair and contemplated his phone. His office was another example of his open-shelving philosophy. All his toys were on display, and any paper he had to have was filed in open racks with labels on the bins. Ash knew that he was brilliant at his job, but he also knew that he would never be able to do it without Romeo’s help in keeping him organized. His life was a team sport, and there was no way he’d expose Romeo to the kind of risk that came with a phone call to the police. But Ash didn’t know how to explain any of that to Harper. After starting and erasing multiple messages, he finally settled on something factual.
Sorry. The office was broken into. I think this is going to take a while.
He hesitated before hitting send. He felt like he ought to say something about that kiss.
What an amazing kiss. She had been soooooo...
He didn’t have actual words for what Harper was. Harper was the delicious center of a pastry, warm sheets on a cold night, the sound of rain outside a window. But what had he been thinking? Harper had been three glasses of wine in and clearly in love with her new clothes. He couldn’t think of a more manipulative moment to plant a kiss on her. Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she had liked it as much as he did.
Ash dug in his desk drawer and found a hair tie. He pulled his hair out of his face and got to work. He found a cereal bowl he’d forgotten in the conference room, then brought it back to the lobby and attempted to rehome the bamboo plant into it.
“That’s a good idea,” said Mel, looking out from their office. “I’m really worried about Bob.”
The bamboo plant’s name was Bob. It had been a group decision based on Ash’s late-night viewing of a Bill Murray movie. A lot of Bob’s dirt was scattered and ground into thecarpet, and Ash felt angry as he settled the plant back on the desk. He, Mel, Romeo, and Gary, the accountant who came in once a quarter for tax prep, had all been trying their best to keep Bob alive. Gary even brought in plant food on his quarterly visits. Keeping a plant alive had been a triumph for their little community.
And someone had smashed the plant as if Bob had committed a personal offense.
“Let me set up a system scan, and then I’ll be out to help,” said Mel.
But by the time they finished, it was nearly four. Ash collapsed back onto the couch in his office and tried to decide whether to text Harper. Probably not. Hopefully, she was sound asleep back at home.
“Or she went to her home,” Ash muttered, kicking off his shoes. He didn’t want Harper to go home. He wanted her where he could talk to her all the time. He tipped over onto his side and smushed his face into a pillow. He’d get up in a minute and go home and find out where things stood with Harper, but for the next few minutes, he was going to lie here and try not to think.
12
Harper
Waffles
Harper woke up on Ash’s couch and stared at the ceiling. Cold, gray light from the tall windows flickered in cloud patterns.
They had kissed. There had been kissing.
But that couldn’t be right. Ash said he was her friend and that their arrangement was strictly friends helping friends.
But they had kissed.
She could tell by the empty feeling in the air that Ash wasn’t home. Nothing moved. But in the kitchen, the faint ticking of the analog clock made tiny little slices of time.
She fumbled for her phone and checked the time.
“Shit!”
Harper rolled off the couch and scrambled to her feet. She was going to be late. She hated being late. Why hadn’t her alarm gone off?
She looked around the clothing-strewn living room and tried to concoct a work-appropriate outfit from the pieces in front of her. She grabbed some pants and a sweater that she hoped wouldn’t look out of place with the heels she’d worn the previous night, then ran into the bathroom.
Her makeup was a disaster, but at least Ash kept a stash of travel toothbrushes in his bathroom. Harper swabbed at her face to get the smudges off and ordered a rideshare while brushing her teeth. She scrambled into her coat and shoes and headed for the door. Ash had shown her how to set the security system, so she hoped it would be all right that she couldn’t lockthe door.
Downstairs, she flung herself into the Uber and felt relief that, despite the rain, traffic looked light. She might actually make it to work on time.
