"Just
give the word," Harrison continued. "I'll flip the switch and let
your Romeo know you're there, and send you on over his vital stats. Hey, I'm a
firm believer in women having the right to make the first move." His
greasy chuckle brought up a handful of college memories I would rather had
stayed lost in forgetfulness.
To
be fair, Harrison wasn't really a greasy character. He wasn't really that
unethical or manipulative, either. He was just kind of thoughtless, and when he
got his sights focused on a prize, it was hard to stop him from going for it.
He tripped over a lot of people and got his toes stomped on. I really had to
feel sorry for the guy, because he meant well. He just couldn't figure out
things like proper procedures and privacy and personal space.
"Pretend
you never got the message," Conrad said, when I reached up to my phone and
ended the playback.
After
Harrison gave me his phone and email, and then a condensed version of his
spiel, then the phone and email again. Like I could forget, with shivers of
horror trickling down my back and ruining the really good lunch I had just
eaten?
"What,
blame the equipment?" I turned my chair around to face him. Conrad was
slouched into one of the chairs the trio had used on Monday to report on
Athena's faked attack.
"It's convenient. Which is why I keep saying no to the new owner, who wants to upgrade all our equipment." He shrugged and gave me a thin sort of smile. "If you call the guy back, even if it's to say no, you will never hear the last of him. He screwed up big-time, using your information, and he's scrambling to keep from getting in trouble. No," he hurried to say, when I reached for the button to open up the voicemail controls. "You want that message to use against him if things get out of hand."
"Like what?" I shook my head and waved my hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to respond. "Don't even say it. Saying it aloud makes it possible. I can think of a dozen awful things that could happen. I'll transfer the message to my email and send it home, then delete it from here."
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