He Called Himself Blind and Kept Me Poor, So I Let Him Watch Me Leave novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: The Box
The HR director came down off the stage with a face I had never seen on her.
She took the box from Hank, set it on the lawyer's table, and lifted the lid.
"This was removed from Ms. Huber's locked desk drawer on December fifth," she said. "I did not intend to present it today."
"Why not?" the chief executive asked.
"Because I did not understand it until last night."
She took out a thick rubber-banded stack of envelopes and laid it down.
"Mail addressed to Brinley Pembroke. Insurance statements. Two benefits notices from the company. A letter from the clinic billing office. A year of it. None opened by her."
A hush went over the room.
"Mail addressed to an employee, held back by a payroll administrator," she said. "That alone is grounds."
"It could be a mistake," the lawyer said.
"It could." She reached into the box again. "This is not."
She held up a yellow legal pad.
She turned it so the first row of the audience could see, and the lawyer, and the camera on the stage.
Down every line of the page, filling it from top margin to bottom, was the same name.
Brinley Pembroke.
Brinley Pembroke.
Brinley Pembroke.
The first ones were stiff and wobbly.
The middle ones had the long loop on the M.
By the bottom, the A leaned left, and I knew it, because I had been staring at it on the wall.
"Fifty-two signatures," the HR director said. "Written in blue ballpoint. The last twelve are the one on the approval letters."
Somebody in the back row said, "Oh my God."
"It's a practice sheet," Hank said, very gently, to no one in particular. "A person doesn't do this by accident."
Keep reading free with an account. Start He Called Himself Blind and Kept Me Poor, So I Let Him Watch Me Leave from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend