Terminated (3 page)

“I see,” Ingram said, but it didn’t sound like he did.

“Now I’d like to ask you the same question,” Gwen said. “Why don’t you want me to contact the police?”

“My objective is to protect you and everyone at Pace Pharmaceuticals from a possible violent threat. While police involvement will take care of the issue in the short term, it’ll do nothing in the long term. It could give rise to retaliation and we don’t want that. I need the next few hours to build a case against Mr. Tarbell”—Ingram said Tarbell’s name with considerable disdain—“to dispose of him in short order.”

Gwen didn’t know who Ingram was and what he did, but she felt safe. She felt walls rise up around her and her family that Tarbell couldn’t penetrate.

“What do I do now?”

“Carry on as normal.”

“Should I go into the office
tomorrow?”

“Yes. At this point, I want Tarbell to believe he’s won. Submit his evaluation as requested. If he asks, tell him you’ve done as instructed.”

“I’m not sure I can do that.”

“I need you to, Gwen. It’s vitally important. You won’t be in any danger. My team will see to that.”

“Team?”

“I need you to meet with me at my office tomorrow. I’ll explain everything then. Just be rest assured that you’re in no danger. I won’t allow it.”

Gwen no longer felt as secure as she did a moment ago.

“Just go into the office like you normally would. Don’t engage or antagonize him. Just be yourself.”

That was easier said than done.

G
wen had been soaking in the tub for ten minutes
when Paul came in with a cup of tea. He set it down on the ledge and sat on the toilet. She guessed his pressuring wasn’t about to let up.

“Why’d he do it?” There was no malice or underlying theme in his question.

“Jealousy. Inferiority complex. I don’t know.”

“How did he think he would get away with it?”

The same thought had been rattling around inside her head. He had to know she’d report the attack. He hadn’t made some idle threat. He’d threatened to kill her.

“All I can think is that he believes the power of his threat will keep me from doing something about it.”

She let the idea seep from her mind and concentrated on relaxing her body in the hot water. It was the first time she’d felt warm since leaving the office.

“Why don’t you want to go to the cops? Is it because of before, because of him?”

“Paul, don’t.”

“You stood up for yourself. You put him behind bars. Do the same to this bastard.”

She’d put Desmond Parker in jail for her
abduction, assault, and attempted murder. Jail should have been her justice for his cruelty. It wasn’t. Prison could never nullify the fear she’d felt or erase the sensation of his steak knife entering her stomach. The police and justice system couldn’t repair the damage Parker had done to her, but she’d survived it. Compared to Parker’s gorilla-like build, Tarbell was a fly, an irritating buzzing insect. She’d survive this thing. She’d been through worse.

“Drop it,” she demanded, then softly, “please.”

“I can’t. I need to understand.”

“You don’t know what it was like when Parker attacked me. I was on trial as much as he was. The police investigation dissected my life, looking for flaws, and that was an open-and-shut case with physical evidence, testimony, and a knife left in my stomach. Parker’s defense lawyer dug for dirt. But that was fine. I put up with it. There was just me to worry about. Not this time. I have you and Kirsten to think about.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re behind you.”

“It does matter. Our life will become a circus. People will take sides. You might not think it’ll hurt us, but it will. No one will treat us the same and worse than that, we won’t treat each other the same.”

“It won’t happen.”

“I love you, Paul, but believe me when I say you don’t know what you’re talking about. We will change. We have already and the cops will make it worse. Stephen Tarbell isn’t worth it, so let me handle this my way, please.”

Paul dropped to his knees at the side of the bath. She sat up and let him embrace her. He held her tight and this time, she couldn’t hold back the tears.

“I’ll support any decision you make.”

“Thank you.”

“Just don’t shut me out.”

“I won’t.”

He pulled away from her. His T-shirt was
soaked and covered in bubbles. “OK, I’ll leave you in peace.”

“No, don’t,” she said and held the sponge out to him.

Paul ran the sponge down her back and over her legs. His tenderness was something she hadn’t realized she needed. She held her hair up while he rinsed her off. He wrapped her in a fresh towel and kissed her.

“I’ll change my shirt,” he said and left her alone.

She found him lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. She snuggled up next to him and stretched an arm across his chest.

“I saw the letter by the recycling can. I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, well, what are you going to do? It seems petty compared to the rest of the day.”

“Do you have anything else lined up?”

“Nah. I’ll check with the headhunters tomorrow and make some calls. Maybe something new will come up.”

“It will. We’ve had our quota of bad luck.”

Gwen sat at the kitchen table watching her daughter eat her breakfast. Like most three-year-olds, Kirsten met the day with enthusiasm. She didn’t seem to remember her rude nighttime awakening and easily put the night’s upset behind her. Gwen hoped she could do the same. It was going to be a long and difficult day.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” Paul asked.

“Ingram said to act like nothing had happened. If I bring you, then Tarbell will know I haven’t kept my word.”

Paul frowned then nodded.

“I’ll be OK. Pace will make sure Tarbell doesn’t do anything.”

She kissed him before grabbing her purse on the way out.

The drive across Alameda to Bay Farm Island, where Pace Pharmaceuticals had its operations, was a short one. Normally, commuter traffic across town made the short drive
feel longer, but not today. For once, she wanted the commute to drag and make her day at the office a short one. She should call in sick and screw Ingram’s instructions.

Pulling into Pace’s parking lot, she scanned the cars for Tarbell’s Toyota and didn’t see it. She had no desire to be cornered by him. She parked away from the trash enclosure with an unobstructed view of the reception area. She wouldn’t be caught off guard again.

She exchanged hellos with the other early arrivals. She didn’t feel nervous until she entered the building. She felt as if she’d entered some creature’s lair. The sensation worsened the closer she got to her department. A single incident had turned her turf into someone else’s, but Tarbell wouldn’t hold sway long. She passed his cubicle and her heart almost stopped even though he wasn’t even there.

“Son of a bitch,” she murmured, entering her office.

She sat at her desk, flicked on her PC, and tried to calm down. She had an image to portray, not only to Tarbell but to all her coworkers. It had to be business as usual. This facade would satisfy Tarbell. She couldn’t afford to give him any inkling that she’d called someone last night.

People filtered in and took their seats at their desks. Gwen went cold when someone greeted Tarbell as he walked in.

This was the moment she’d been dreading most. How would he handle their first encounter? With a smirk? With an act of cruelty? It wouldn’t surprise her if he sent her the knife from last night through the internal mail as a nasty little reminder, or left some voice mail or e-mail filled with innuendo. When she checked, no surprises welcomed her.

The view from her office didn’t stretch as far as Tarbell’s cubicle. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear him. He laughed at a joke and chatted as though nothing had happened. He was in no hurry to confront her. No doubt ignoring her was a tactic to prolong her torture. He’d want her to hide in her office
afraid of the monster that lurked outside her door. Well, screw him. She wouldn’t be treated like this. She grabbed a report off her desk as an excuse to run over to the copy room.

“Morning, everyone,” she said on her way past.

“Morning, Gwen,” her staff said, including Tarbell.

She wanted to strangle the son of a bitch for his coolness.

She copied the report and stormed back to her office. She threw herself in her seat, so blinded by frustration that she didn’t realize Tarbell had come in behind her. His body blocked the doorway.

“Could I have a moment?” he asked.

This was it. Ingram had promised her Tarbell wouldn’t harm her. How was he going to protect her when he wasn’t around? She should have gone to Deborah’s office first thing this morning and insisted that security escort Tarbell off the premises. Instead, she’d left herself totally exposed with no protection. She eyed her only weapon, the phone on her desk. She reached for it.

“I’m supposed to call into a meeting right now. Can you come back later?”

“This’ll only take a second,” he said closing the door.

Seeing the door close set Gwen’s pulse racing. She kept a tenuous rein on her panic.

“I just wanted to apologize for being late. No excuse. Just late. It won’t happen again.”

Before Gwen could object, he was gone, leaving the office door open. Tarbell amazed her. How could he have totally blocked the incident from his mind? Maybe he’d realized the line he’d crossed and was pretending nothing had happened. No, he was messing with her because he thought he could. Last night, he threatened her with physical harm. Today, he was using psychological threats. He wanted to scare her without saying a word.

She felt slightly sick. She couldn’t keep this “acting normal” thing up all day. Ingram had promised her protection. Where was it? He’d told her that Pace had a duty to
keep her safe. It was about time they showed her their plan. She had to talk to Deborah. Situations like this were the reason the head of Human Resources earned such a healthy salary.

She jumped up from her seat, then stopped. She needed a cover story to visit Deborah. Despite Tarbell’s laissez-faire attitude, he would be watching her like a hawk. A trip to HR would set off alarm bells, but one thing would change that. She grabbed the evaluations file and headed out of her office. She didn’t make a big production of it. She just passed by Tarbell’s cubicle holding the file marked evaluations prominently so that he could see what she was doing. Let him think that she was complying with his demand and ride a wave of false security until the next one wiped him out. She felt his gaze burning into her back as she headed across the building. She estimated this piece of subterfuge bought her about five minutes.

Deborah welcomed Gwen into her office and closed the door. She ushered her to a seat before sitting at her desk.

“Have you heard anything from Ingram?” Gwen asked.

“No, but you have a meeting with him after work, don’t you?”

“Yes, but that’s a long way off. He promised me protection. Where is it?”

“Has something happened?”

“Yes. No. Stephen talked me. He didn’t say anything threatening. It’s just not easy to pretend nothing happened when it did.”

“It’s going to be OK, trust me. Ingram will have answers. He’s very good.”

“I’m sure he is.” Deborah’s reassurances sounded good but only because Gwen needed to hear them.

Deborah pointed to the cut under Gwen’s chin. “Did Stephen do that?”

Gwen nodded.

“I hate to ask, but is that all he did to you?”

“No.” Gwen unbuttoned her blouse and
showed Deborah the bruises on her chest. “There are more on my back.”

Deborah put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God.”

Gwen felt suddenly self-conscious and she quickly closed her blouse.

Gwen checked her watch. She estimated she had a couple of minutes before Tarbell would get suspicious. She handed the evaluations to Deborah. Tarbell couldn’t see her returning with them.

Deborah escorted Gwen to the door. “Tell no one about this. Confidentiality is paramount. You’ll be protected, but the program only works when no one knows of its presence.”

Gwen nodded and left the office. What program? She knew the company’s employment policy and its dismissal procedure. It was pretty much boilerplate stuff.

Someone passed her in the corridor and asked if she was OK. She forced a smile, horrified to realize that she was wearing her troubled emotions on the outside. It was going to be hard work maintaining a happy public face. She did her best to shake her harried look. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Just thinking.”

She passed by Tarbell’s cubicle on the way to her office. She expected a smug smile or a wink, but he had his head down, business as usual.

She dropped into her seat behind her desk. Her body tingled as if every nerve ending was exposed to the air. She willed her body to calm itself and took a few deep breaths.

She picked up the phone and called Paul.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Tough.”

“I wish you’d let me be there.”

“I wish I could.”

“Has he said anything?”

She thought about Tarbell’s closed-door visit. He was sending a message to her, but it was a message she couldn’t use against him. He made no verbal or physical
threat. That was the genius of intimidation. It was so damn hard to prove.

“No, he hasn’t said anything.”

“Maybe the son of a bitch is laying low because he’s frightened by what you can do to him.”

She doubted that but humored Paul. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Crap. I’ve gotta go. The headhunter is on the other line. Call anytime. I’m here for you.”

“OK. I will. Love you.”

“You too. Hang in there. I hope they fire this asshole today,” he said and hung up.

An unnerving thought punctured her mind. Pace could fire Tarbell, but that wouldn’t protect her from retaliation. If he intended on following through with his threat, there was nothing stopping him from doing it. Paul was right. She should have gone to the police last night in spite of her misgivings. She’d let her emotions overrule her common sense. If Deborah didn’t bring up police action, she would.

The day dragged after Paul’s call. She lived on her nerves, unsure if Tarbell would pull another stunt and who’d protect her if he did.

She kept to herself, just getting on with her work, but her senses were on high alert. It was impossible to make sure she had someone in her office at all times, but she did her best, calling in her other employees for impromptu meetings. A witness was as good as a weapon with Tarbell around. The tension receded when Tarbell left for an off-site meeting.