"Showing me what?" I asked, feeling a rush of excitement.
He returned holding a small stack of paper.
"This," he said. "I know you have a thing about people helping you, but hopefully you can make an exception in this case."
With some trepidation I began to read, but before I'd made it more than half a page I found myself grinning like an idiot. "Oh my God," I said. "Where did you get these?"
"A friend of a friend," he replied nonchalantly.
"Well your friend struck gold," I said, flipping through several more pages. "My God, the partners are going to flip when they see this."
In my hands, I held a printout of a chain of emails that stretched back over several years. Sebastian and I were no strangers to a bit of written flirtation, but these took the idea of sexting to a whole new level. We're talking bad eighties porno script, and judging by the phrasing, it was just a prelude to what the couple were actually doing in the bedroom.
The email addresses weren't instantly familiar — they looked like personal accounts — but the signatures were.
Alan Beatie and Jennifer Smart.
"I thought you'd be pleased," Sebastian replied.
That was the understatement of the century. A long term relationship between an associate and her superior was already enough to land them in serious trouble, but this went a step further. Interspersed between the racier messages were numerous requests for favours and plenty of signs of preferential treatment. Judging by the dates, their arrangement had started before Jennifer was even promoted. It didn't take a genius to see how the other partners would view that. It felt like Christmas come early.
And then I spotted the coup de grace. "Holy shit." I held up one specific line for him to read. "Did you see this?"
He grinned and nodded.
Thank you for finally dealing with that little bitch Sophia. I'm sure I can think of a few creative ways to reward you ;)
It was morbidly gratifying to finally see her talk about me the way I always suspected she did. The prim, sweet girl that roamed our office building was nowhere in sight, here. These emails were Jennifer unfiltered, and it showed exactly what a nasty piece of work she really was. Although my name came up most frequently, she seemed to have a grudge against almost everyone who posed even a vague threat to her advancement up the ladder. For a brief moment, I actually felt bad for her, for being so insecure, but that was quickly crushed under a torrent of glorious satisfaction at knowing she was finally going to get what she deserved.
"I knew they couldn't have had a decent reason for firing you."
I nodded, still mesmerised by the words in front of me. "You think it'll be enough to get my job back?"
"Definitely. These make it pretty clear that there was more to your dismissal than the quality of your work."
I realised I was grinning like an idiot. "I'll go first thing tomorrow," I said, already playing the confrontation through in my head.
His expression dropped a fraction. "I'd rather you wait until we've dealt with our other problem. It's still dangerous out there."
For a second, I thought I'd misheard. "You seriously expect me to sit on this? Why give it to me at all?"
He shrugged uncomfortably. "You seemed upset. I thought it might make you feel better knowing you can wander back into Little Bell when this is all over."
"And what am I meant to do in the meantime? Keep twiddling my thumbs around here? Look, I'm not downplaying the risk. I know it's not safe, but the truth is, we have no idea how long this is going to take. Sure, it could be a week, but it could be a month, or two, or six. Who's to say they're even going to show their faces again, without an opportunity?" I closed my eyes briefly, trying to rein in my emotions. I felt like a hormonal teenage girl again, flitting from jubilant to angry to upset in the blink of an eye. "I need something Sebastian. Being stuck here is killing me — pardon the pun. Surely we can find a way to make it work? You go to and from work every day and you're still in one piece."
His jaw tightened and he glanced away. "That's true." He pondered for a while. "I'm sorry." Sliding closer, he pulled me against him and leaned down to kiss my hair. "I just find the idea of leaving you exposed terrifying. But you're right, this isn't fair on you. How about this: you go in there tomorrow and kick some ass, and once you have your job back, Aaron and Tony will take you to and from the office every day. As long as you don't leave the building, you'll be fine. Several thousand witnesses should be enough to deter anyone from trying anything."
I found myself grinning once more. "Not to mention building security. You, sir, have a deal." Snuggling in against his chest, I began reading over the emails again. "God, I can't wait to see her smarmy little face."
* * * * *
"Hello, Jennifer," I said in my sweetest voice, as I peeked my head around her door.
For a brief second, shock registered on her face, although it was gone in an instant. "Sophia. What a pleasant surprise. I thought you were still on leave."
"I was. I just dropped in to deliver something to Mr Bell."
Her brow furrowed. I think she could tell by my demeanour that something wasn't quite right, but she didn't know what. "That seems... unorthodox."
"Oh, I know. I wouldn't have bothered him, except I recently came into possession of some information that I knew he'd want to see."
"Oh?" She sounded uncomfortable, which only made my smile grow. I knew it was petty and childish, but it felt indescribably satisfying to finally be able to toy with her as she had so many times with me.
"Yeah. It's a bit of a scandal, actually." I leaned in close, as though sharing a secret with a friend. "Apparently, one of the partners has been fooling around with a senior associate. I got a look at the emails they've been sending each other. Some of the things they've been writing... well, graphic doesn't even began to describe them. But the worst part? He's been doing her all kinds of favours around the office. He even gave her a promotion after a weekend away together. Pretty shocking, right? You think your work is what's important, and then you hear about something like this. It's enough to make you sick."
The expression on her face was priceless. Her eyes were open so wide I thought they might pop out of her head, and her mouth worked soundlessly, as though she might somehow still be able to argue her way out of the situation. She looked like one of those rotating carnival clowns.