Chapter 19: The Note

I met Jessamine in the stream room at nine that night, and I brought Gus.

I did not bring Lorne, because I did not trust my face around him and her.

She was sitting on the stool with her hands between her knees.

Without her phone she looked younger and a lot less sure.

"Say it fast," I said.

"I'm sorry."

"That isn't fast. That's a greeting card."

"Okay."

She took a breath.

"She told me you were getting the lead job over me. She said you'd laugh at me about it."

"I wouldn't have laughed."

"I know," said Jessamine. "I think I knew."

"What did she pay you in?"

"Nothing. Promises."

Her mouth went tight.

"A hundred and eighty thousand shares of a company that doesn't exist."

"That's a lot of nothing."

"I know," said Jessamine. "Every single one."

I should have felt something warm.

I felt tired, and I felt the cold spot under my ribs, which had been there for five days.

"What did you mean by the backup?" said Gus.

Jessamine looked at the stool.

She got down on one knee, which I had not expected, and slid her hand underneath the seat.

There was a strip of blue painter's tape under it.

It was my tape, from my headset.

Taped to the tape, flat against the wood, was a small black drive.

"You hid it under the stool," I said.

"You said you wanted the stool to be a witness," said Jessamine. "I thought, what if it was."

Gus laughed, a short surprised bark, and then pressed his hand over his mouth.

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