Миранда Джеймс: No Cats Allowed

“Reilly hasn’t so far impressed me as being anything other than slimy and obnoxious, and I know you don’t care for him, either.” I had observed him leering at two of the youngest and prettiest female library staff several times when he evidently thought no one was watching him. “He sure doesn’t know anything at all about what a library does or how it should function. But why would you associate a stranger on the street with Reilly?”

Diesel warbled loudly when he heard the name Reilly . My cat and the interim director had met twice since Reilly stepped into the interim position, and both times Diesel took one sniff and backed away.

The first time it happened, I should have taken it as a sign that things were about to get unpleasant. Upon initially meeting the man, I found Reilly charming, sympathetic, and eager to do his best for the library while it was in his charge. What became quickly apparent afterward, however, was that he was mercurial in temperament, harsh in his criticisms, and contemptuous of his staff.

The president couldn’t find a new director soon enough to suit me or the rest of the staff. In the meantime, if Reilly aggravated me too much, I could simply hand in my notice. I had sufficient income that I wouldn’t really miss the part-time salary, but I would definitely miss the work I did cataloging the rare books and maintaining the archives. Others, like Melba, didn’t have that option. They needed their jobs, and they were all terrified Reilly would fire them at any moment.

“You never know what might crawl out from under all sorts of rocks when that man’s around,” Melba said darkly. She continued to scratch Diesel’s head. “I wouldn’t put anything past him. Maybe the guy watching him is out for revenge.”

“Revenge for what?” I asked. “Reilly hasn’t been in Athena all that long.” He had come from a small school in New England only four months ago, in fact, to take the job here. “Surely you’ve had time to dig up most of what there is to know about him.” Melba always managed to find out details about the lives of anyone who interested her—or who annoyed her, in this case.

Melba shook her head. “All I’ve heard is that he’s a widower with two grown children who live up North somewhere. I don’t know the girl who was his assistant over in the finance office, but I’m going to make her acquaintance right soon. I’m sure she has a few tales to tell.”

“You’d better be careful.” I tried not to sound like a stern father admonishing his daughter to behave, but as much as I loved her, Melba sometimes tried my patience. She could worry at a subject until it was in rags. “Reilly impresses me as the vindictive type, and you don’t want to lose your job. He’ll be replaced eventually, and we can hopefully get back to business as usual.”

My reward for what I thought was a well-tempered speech was a look full of irritation.

“He’d better not try to fire me,” Melba said in a fierce tone. Diesel trilled loudly, alarmed by the shift in his friend’s demeanor. “I’ve been here a long time, and I know a lot of people. People with influence, and if I have to call in favors, I’ll do that.” She further stated that if Reilly crossed her too much, she would hand him a certain part of his anatomy on a platter and make him kiss it.

Melba was a lot more riled up than I had realized. Normally she was an easygoing sort, but once her temper started rising, she could turn into a gale-force wind.

Before I could speak in an attempt to calm her down, she went on. “He had the nerve this morning to accuse me of lying to him. Can you believe that? Why would I run the risk of lying to my new boss?”

“That is utterly ridiculous.” I could feel my own temper start edging toward the red. Melba was one of the most forthright people I knew, and she wouldn’t lie. “What could he possibly accuse you of lying about?”

“My lunch hour yesterday. He left for a meeting around ten, and he wasn’t back at noon when I left to go to lunch with a friend. He claims he was back by ten to twelve, and I didn’t come in from lunch until a few minutes after one.” Melba’s face reddened as she talked, and I feared for her blood pressure. “When I told him I was late by only about five minutes, he said it was obvious to him I was goofing off the whole time he was gone and had left for lunch a lot earlier.” She paused for a deep breath. “Then he said he would see about putting in a time clock to keep me from cheating the college out of work time.”

“That’s outrageous.” I could understand now why Melba was so angry with the jerk. She didn’t tolerate any aspersions against her character, particularly against her truthfulness. She did like to gossip more than she probably should, but she never passed along dirt just for the sake of it. She was invariably right, at least in my experience.

“He asked me if I could prove my story, and the way he said it made me want to scratch his eyes out right then.” She shook her head. “I tell you, Charlie, that man is crazy.”

“Why did he wait until this morning to talk to you about it?”

Melba shrugged. “I don’t know. I was so surprised by the whole thing I never asked him.” She glanced at her watch. “Break time is over in two minutes. I’d better get back downstairs.” She gave Diesel a couple more scratches on his head before she rose.

“Don’t do anything rash,” I said, even though I knew I risked annoying her further. “I think you ought to talk to human resources and file a complaint for harassment. He’s creating a hostile work environment, and he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. You need to document his behavior toward you and let them handle it.”

“Good idea,” Melba said. “I’ll go call right now and make an appointment.” She strode briskly from the room, and moments later I heard her clattering rapidly down the stairs.

Diesel came back around the desk and jumped into his window again. I gave him attention briefly before I turned back to the computer.

I found it difficult to concentrate on work, though, because I was concerned for Melba. What was the matter with Reilly? Why was he so combative?

My thoughts then turned to the strange man in the car. What was he doing, sitting out there every day? Keeping someone under surveillance?

I stared at the computer screen blankly for some time while Diesel napped. The ringing of my office phone finally roused me. I picked up the receiver and identified myself.

“Hi, Charlie. Penny Sisson from HR. Sorry to bother you, but I’m afraid I have an issue I need to discuss with you.”

“Hi, Penny, what’s up?” I didn’t know her well, but the college’s chief HR officer was known to be intelligent, thoughtful, and highly competent. I wondered if her call had anything to do with Melba’s problem with Reilly.

“There’s been a complaint.”

I couldn’t interpret the tone in Penny’s voice. There was a bit of hesitancy to it, and that made me uneasy.

“A complaint about me?” I couldn’t imagine what I could have done to upset anyone.

“In a way,” Penny responded. “Can you come over to my office this afternoon sometime?”

“Sure.” I glanced at my watch. Ten minutes after three. “I’m about ready to wind things down here, and I can be over there in about ten minutes.” I paused a moment. “Can’t you at least tell me what this is about?” Curiosity was one of my besetting sins. I had to know now; otherwise I’d work myself into a tizzy.

Penny exhaled into the phone, and for a moment I thought she would refuse to answer until I was in her office. Then she said, “It’s about your cat. We’ve had a complaint about you bringing him to work with you.”