“Yes. I’m her.”
“This is for you. I am out of here.”
The woman reached down to grab her purse and threw it over her shoulder. “Worst temp job ever.”
Sinead stared at the letter in her hand, but the activity of the woman moving distracted her. “Wait, I have questions.”
“Lady, I don’t have any answers. I work for a temp agency who told me I had to come here, sit at this desk from eight to five every day for six weeks or until you showed up. Two weeks in and I’m losing my mind.”
It had taken a few days of feeling sorry for herself, then a few more days to come up with a plan. All things considered, two weeks to track Tricorp down wasn’t that bad.
“What temp agency?”
“Emerson Group. ‘You have holes, we fill them.’ Lame I know, but there it is. Now you have the letter and I’m done. There are only so many Facebook posts you can read in a day without going slightly crazy.”
Sinead watched the woman leave, the glass door closing behind her. It all happened too fast. Sinead should have asked her more questions. She hadn’t even gotten the woman’s name.
Great. If she needed more answers all she had to go on was tall, attractive blonde who works for the Emerson group. It had been the letter. Sinead knew she’d been rattled by it.
The letter that was still sitting in her hand. With nothing left to do, she opened it.
Dear Sinead,
You’re clever. I knew this, so I imagined if you chose to find me you would get this far. Please accept my deepest apologies for the events of these past few weeks. What was done, was something I had to do.
While I accept the irony, please trust me and know I’ve corrected an injustice. Something that you, as an officer of the law, would appreciate. Garrett Huntley is not a good man.
I have also considered the possible ramifications of my actions on your career. I would hope that your department might listen to your story, see your obvious innocence… if lack of judgment, and give you a second chance.
If not, I will know and I will make financial reparations to help you transition to whatever new career path you choose.
You are strong. You are brave. You will survive this.
I purposefully left the dress receipt in the garment bag to give you some closure on what happened. But the path ends here. There are no more trails to follow. No strings to reach for. I know, I’ve cut them all.
If it means anything at all to you, you were someone I did not expect and I very much regret causing you any pain.
Yours,
D.
Sinead had to read the letter a few times to process it. The first through the tears. The second time to really focus on the lack of judgment comment. The third time to truly grasp his appalling condescension.
By the time she was done the fourth read, she thought she was truly cured of any emotional anguish. The anger had gobbled it all up.
“Oh no he didn’t,” she said to an empty office.
* * *
“Report,” came the clipped order through her ear buds.
Jillian stood across the street from the Hampton building, her eyes on the target. With the buds in her ears and sneakers on her feet, she looked like any other professional woman waiting for the bus.
Instead, she watched the target drive out of the building. Subtly, Jillian lifted the binoculars to her eyes and watched as Sinead pulled out of the parking lot. The car stopped, she seemed to be shouting to herself, and after a few moments she merged out of the lot and into traffic.
“She received the letter. She read it.”
A beat.
“How could you know that?” he asked.
Jillian smiled. Because she knew it was exactly how she would have looked if she’d gotten a letter like that from a guy who played her. Not that Jillian would ever be played by a guy.
“Because I just saw her and she looked pissed. And if I’m any good at reading lips, she used the words fuck and him… a lot. Like a lot a lot.”
He sighed in her ear. “She’ll get over it.”
“True. I’ve always thought you were forgettable.”
“Finish out the job. I’ll see you when you’re back.”
“Yep.”
Jillian tucked the binoculars in her purse and peeled away from the bus station. There was still work to be done. This mission wasn’t close to being over yet.
She also thought despite what her partner might think, they had not seen the last of Sinead O’Hara.
* * *
Sinead stared at the ranch house she thought never to see again and felt a renewed sense of fury. They had been happy in that house. Those three weeks had been real. He’d made her feel like a treasured woman, a desired woman, and he couldn’t take that back.
After she’d left the Tricorp office, she went home and showed the letter to her father.