“So, what’s the latest? You didn’t sound so great on the phone.” Cathy bit into a cookie.
“Ty fired me.”
The stark words sent Cathy into a coughing fit. Her graphic designer friend struggled to catch her breath. “What? Why?”
“He thinks I’m the one who leaked the test results to The Gamer’s Seat.” Iris absently stirred sweetener into her coffee mug.
“What in the hell would make him think that?” Cathy’s perfect complexion glowed almost as red as the scarlet scarf accessorizing her black blouse and matching crew pants. Her feet were bare, exposing the black polish accenting her toenails.
“Whoever sent the test results to The Gamer’s Seat used my computer and Anderson Adventures email account.”
“Pete Kimball.” Cathy gritted the competitor’s name.
Iris sipped her coffee as she mulled that over. “This isn’t him.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“When I confronted him this morning, he seemed genuinely surprised.” Iris recalled the shock and confusion in Peter’s eyes. “Besides, employees need a key card with a special code to get into the offices on the executive floor. I don’t think he’d have contacts with that kind of access.”
“Are executives the only ones with the special key cards?” There was dread in Cathy’s question.
“That’s right.”
Cathy’s dark eyes widened. “One of Anderson Adventures’ executives framed you?”
“It seems like it.”
Her cookies forgotten, Cathy stared at Iris. “Holy cow. Who have you pissed off?”
“I don’t know.” Iris stared blindly across Cathy’s little kitchen and through her sliding glass doors. “I didn’t have enough interaction with anyone to piss them off.”
“Does anyone feel threatened by you?”
“I don’t think so. Why would they?” Iris pictured the company’s executives, as well as their associates. Tyler was the only person with whom she’d ever had a tense exchange, and that was only because he refused to see reason. “Anderson Adventures is a very healthy environment. I never sensed any competition between departments or hostilities between associates.”
Silence settled between them as Iris again struggled with the enormous strain of her circumstances. How had she ended up in this situation again? What made her such an easy target for corporate shenanigans? She had to clear her name. But how? Iris spent more time glowering into her mug than actually drinking her coffee. She gazed absently around the room.
Cathy’s kitchen was a confusing rainbow of vibrant hues: sunset-orange walls and lemon-yellow curtains. Her countertop and flooring were olive green. Her appliances were brilliant white. The result was a room bursting with a joyful cacophony of colors. It made it difficult to brood. She finished her coffee.
“What are you going to tell your sisters?” Cathy’s question added to Iris’s anxiety.
“I’d like to tell them as little as possible but we don’t keep secrets from each other.” Iris collected her mug and Cathy’s, then rose to pour them both another cup from the coffeemaker on the counter.
“Just remember, this was never your fault.” Cathy held Iris’s gaze as she returned with their coffee. “Someone set you up. We need to figure out who did it and why?”
“And what the heck am I going to do about it?” Iris returned to her seat. “I have no idea how I’m going to clear my name.”
“You have to convince Ty that someone is framing you.”
“How do I do that? He won’t listen to me. He’s convinced I’m the leak.”
“Give him a day or two to calm down, then try again.”
Iris exhaled a deep breath and lowered her head to fight back hot tears of anger. “Do you know the worst part?”
“What?”
Iris swallowed twice to dislodge the lump in her throat. “He told me he trusted me. And I believed him.”