Diana Orgain - Bundle of Trouble

The staff from my office had sent a baby bathing basket. In it was a little yellow ducky robe complete with a bill hood and two feet dangling from the end of it, a couple of rubber duckies, baby shampoo, lotion and soap, and a waterproof bath book.

I hadn’t had the time or energy to mail the thank-you cards. What had happened to my manners? I reached for the pen that was near me and re-added “Mail thank-you cards” to my to-do list.

“We got the basket,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Glad you like it. Sheryl picked out everything. You know how she likes to shop.”

Sheryl was Nora’s ever faithful and devoted assistant. Everyone in the office knew Nora would be lost without Sheryl.

“Have you thought about your return date?” Nora asked.

I’d thought of little else, except for Laurie and solving this mystery.

What to tell Nora?

I want to launch my own business so I can stay home with my little treasure and my husband is hopefully going to get a raise today, so maybe I won’t be coming back. Besides, I’d probably crack in two if I had to leave Laurie, so you don’t really want me back.

“I don’t have a return date yet. I have to see my doctor first and get a release,” I said.

“Of course,” Nora said. “I understand.”

Did she understand? She didn’t have any children, or a spouse for that matter. She had given up everything to climb the corporate ladder.

I tried to put a little cheer into my voice. “Thanks for calling and checking in. Tell everyone I said hello. I’ll let you know about my return date after I see my doctor.”

We hung up.

I paced.

Return to work? Ugh!

Not that there was anything wrong with my job. It was a good job, and I worked with decent people. I was responsible for the management of the entire architectural office. It was a creative place to work, and things were always busy around me. But I would have to be away from Laurie all day, every day.

I had to find a way to solve this crime. Investigation was much more exciting than my corporate job ever had been. And more important, if I could launch my own business, it would give me freedom and flexibility.

I googled “starting a business” and got busy reading.

Laurie was nestled comfortably in the baby carrier, lunch barely on the table, when I heard the front door slam. Laurie and I peeked into the hallway in time to see Jim let his briefcase fall to the floor with a loud thud.

“What are you doing back so soon?”

He stared at me. “I was fired.”

“Fired? I thought everything was going well.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You said the presentation went great. What about the promotion? The raise?”

“My presentation was great. We got the account. I landed my firm a multimillion-dollar account and they canned my ass.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They found out that I got arrested.”

“What? How? And what does that have to do with anything? You’re not guilty of anything! You were released.”

Laurie began to wail, as though she sensed we were upset. Funny how intuitive people are when they start out.

“That cop, McNearny, plays poker every Saturday night with Josh Garner, the top partner at my firm. Turns out McNearny blabs that I was arrested. Josh pulled me into his office this morning and said I’d violated, get this, a moral turpitude clause in my employee contract.”

I sat on our couch, stunned. Waves of disbelief washed over me. “I can’t believe it! You haven’t been convicted of anything!”

“I know. He said it didn’t matter, said it was bad for the firm’s image.”

“Maybe if you talked to another partner. What about Dylan-”

“Screw it! I’m not going to beg for my job. Ungrateful bastards!”

I stared at the mallard print that hung above our fireplace. A bird in flight. I love that picture simply because it’s an incredible act of nature. Such a small creature defying nature’s biggest law. Gravity.

I mustered the most courage I could. “Honey, we’re a team. We’re going to figure this thing out. Together!”

Jim’s shoulders slumped. “I’ve never been fired before.”

Pain shot through my temples. “You think I should go back to the office?”

His eyes searched out mine. “I don’t know what I think. I know how you feel about being home with Laurie.”

We sat in silence. I unbundled Laurie from the baby carrier and placed her on the little play mat. She was happy again, and played with a little witch rattle Mom had brought her in preparation for Halloween. Laurie clutched the rattle and studied her hand in surprise, as if wondering how the witch had gotten there.

Jim and I looked at each other. I covered my face and burst out crying, shaking all over. It seemed every time we took one step forward, we managed to take two back.

He hugged me tight. “Don’t cry, honey. We’re going to figure it out. We have our savings and I’ll have unemployment, for all that’s worth. Don’t worry, Kate. Please don’t cry.”

Miraculously, we ended up getting a good night’s sleep. Laurie must have tired herself out playing with the little rattle and ended up sleeping for a blessed six hours straight, which all the medical books comically term “sleeping through the night.”

In the morning, Jim awoke at his normal time-6 A.M.-in a panic. “Oh! Oh. This is weird, honey, really weird.”

“What is?”

“Not having to get up and go to the office.”

He turned over in bed and looked straight into my eyes. “I’m sorry, honey. I feel guilty. If I hadn’t picked a fight with George-”

“No! You didn’t know. How could you know that you would be fired over that? And by the way, George had it coming for getting us involved in all of this in the first place.”

Jim smiled. “You’re finally starting to see things my way.”

“Let’s look at the bright side,” I said. “At least this will free you up to help me solve the murders.”

Jim nodded. We peeked at Laurie, nestled in the bassinet by our bed. She was still sleeping.

I snuggled into Jim. “Let’s go back to sleep.”

“Yeah.” Jim said, putting his arm around me. “I’m depressed. It sucks to be fired.”

I hugged him tight. “Oh, honey! Don’t worry. Things always work out for the best.”

“How can this be for the best, Kate?”

I sighed. “I dunno. I have to say that to keep from getting depressed myself.”

Jim fluffed up a pillow and pulled the blanket around himself. “You’re right, we should go back to sleep. Maybe it’s all a dream.”

We dozed until what felt like a decadent hour-7 A.M.! Then our little Laurie alarm went off.

Wailing.

Jim seemed in better spirits after the additional hour of sleep. “Better start looking for another job.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll find something soon. You’re the best ad executive I know.”

“I’m the only ad executive you know.”

“That doesn’t matter. You’re still the best.” I winked at him. He nodded back at me. “If you don’t find another job soon,” I continued, “I’ll go back to work. We can swing it on my salary for a while, until you find something.”

I tried to keep the panic out of my voice and my eyes free from tears at the thought of going back to the office. Something must have shown because Jim’s lips tightened into a line.

He stared at me, then we both nodded solemnly together, trying to convince each other that we believed everything would work out.

I snuggled with Laurie while I listened to Jim tap on the computer keyboard in the other room.

At 8 A.M. the phone rang. A refined gentleman’s voice asked, “Is Mr. Connolly available?”