[Steven Lyle Jordan]

8: Gail

"You're supposed to be in L.A.!"

"Well, you're supposed to be in San Diego!"

"Don't evade the question!" I snapped. "What're you doing meeting this guy?"

"My job!" Gail snapped back. Abruptly she looked at me with a cocked eye. "Are you following me?"

"No! I came after him!" I said, leveling an arm at Cooley.

"You're not supposed to be here!" Gail stamped at me. "You're getting into my work! What did I tell you about that?"

"And just how is a guy who ruined my life part of your work, hah?"

"L-listen," Cooley, stammered, "if it's all the same to you guys—"

"Shut up!" we both shouted, and Cooley backed up, chastised. A second later, Gail realized what she'd done, and immediately, she looked at Cooley, and her face softened. She took a step towards Cooley, and to his credit, he continued to back away from her. She took a quicker step, and caught him by his arm.

"Mister Cooley! I'm so sorry about this! I don't know why my... boyfriend... (and she said it with enough venom to paralyze an elephant, let me tell you) ...chose this moment to intrude into my work space, but I assure you, it has no bearing on our business!" She tried to soothe him with her voice, steering him over to a nearby chair. "Tell you what: I'm just going to speak to him for a moment, and set things straight... and then you and I will get down to business. All right?" Cooley seemed hesitant, so Gail pressed the issue by pressing closer to him. "I promise... it'll be okay. I just need a minute. Please?"

After another moment's consideration, Cooley finally nodded. "All ri—"

But Gail was already moving, crossing the room, grabbing me by the front of my shirt, and dragging me outside of Cooley's room and into the hallway. The door slammed loud enough that I'd bet Cooley jumped on the other side. And Gail slung me around until my back impacted with the wall on the other side of the hallway.

"You've got a lot of 'splainin' to do, mister!" She pushed her face into mine, with a grimace that made it clear she had no interest in kissing me. "What the hell are you doing messing with my client?"

"Your client," I replied, "happens to be part of the plot that got me fired and blacklisted in my home town! I came here to find out what he knew! Your turn," I added before Gail could respond to that. "Why'd you tell me you were going to San Francisco?"

"Because I didn't want you to come!" she hissed. "If you knew I was going two hours up the coast, you would have wanted to tag along!"

"Yeah, maybe I would!"

"Well, I didn't want you to!"

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't want to hurt you!" Gail shouted.

That drew me up short. At first, I didn't understand what she was saying... was she threatening me? Was she telling me she was going to break off our relationship... was she having an affair? No... wait... it was there in her eyes...

"You knew. You knew B&M was involved in my—"

"Of course I knew!" Gail replied, voice quieter again, so it wouldn't carry all the way down the hall, but no less insistent.

"But how? I never told you—"

"You talk in your sleep, numb-nuts," Gail said, finally touching me... in the form of bouncing the heel of her fist off my chest. "And I've only been sleeping with you for the past two months, haven't I? I knew if you knew I was coming to interview a B&M employee for our firm, you'd do... something stupid."

"It wasn't stupid," I defended myself. "In fact, it worked. Now I know what happened, and maybe I can do something about it—"

"Well, do it on your own time, mister! I'm on the clock, here! And if you make me screw up this gig, I swear to you, no suit in Baltimore will be a tenth as scary as me when I go down on you're a$$!" She shoved me sideways, towards the elevator. "Now, get lost! I'll call you when I'm done." I stood there a moment, hesitant, prompting her to wave at me like I was a bad puppy. "Shoo!"

I finally decided to go. But I said to her, "We're not done with this..."

"Not by a long shot!" she agreed. Then, as I backed away, she smoothed out her hair, checked her suit, walked back to Cooley's door, and knocked on it gingerly. "Mister Cooley? Hello?"