Hush Baby Hush

* * *

I drop McKenzie off at her therapist’s office for an emergency session.

“I’ll pick you up in an hour,” I tell her, as she’s getting out of my truck.

She lingers by the door.

“You know, you can come in if you want.”

“Nah, I’ve gotta stop by the office.” The entire drive back to Knoxville, I’ve been fighting to keep the ember of rage in my gut from blazing into an inferno.

She squints. “You’re going back to work?”

“Just for a quick meeting.”

“After hours?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Just need to go over some boring quarterly stuff.”

My attempt at acting nonchalant isn’t fooling Kenzie in the slightest, but I don’t want to burden her with the information I’ve learned, at least not until I’ve decided what I’m gonna do with it.

“Promise you’ll tell me about it later,” she says.

Smart cookie.

“I will. Promise.”

She nods. “...Okay.”

I floor the gas all the way to the office. As I march into the building, I barely glance at the crowd of reporters shouting my name. I head straight into the conference room, where Jonah, Mike, and the little prick himself are already waiting.

“Glad you could make it,” Jonah says to me. “And Jeremy, we appreciate your willingness to stay late. It speaks to your dedication.”

“Sure, yeah, no problem,” Jeremy says. He eyes me warily, though as far as he knows, he’s being asked to stay late to work on a clerical error in this month’s quarterly report.

I claim the seat across from Jeremy, taking pleasure in the obvious discomfort my presence inspires. Both he and Mike have their work laptops out on the table.

“You see the fourth line down on the spreadsheet?” Mike asks.

“One sec,” Jeremy says. “Yeah, I see it.”

Mike taps at his keyboard.

“How about now?”

Jeremy stares at his laptop screen in stunned silence.

“Does that look familiar to you?” Mike asks.

Jeremy’s throat shifts as he swallows.

“Uh... No?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“No. I-I don’t know what that is.”

“Well, isn’t that your private online forum dedicated to Hoyt Renier’s criminal exploits?” Mike clicks his mouse a few times. “And here’s the very popular subforum devoted exclusively to McKenzie. Lots of photos in there, Jeremy. You take those yourself?”