Free The Taxman Killeth by Mary Ann Mitchell Page A

periods.”
    “Teddy’s back from vacation?”
    “Yeah, and he’s in with Pickle
right now.”
    “You know, you really should be
careful using that nickname that we have for Pickens. Someday he’s going to
overhear one of your conversations, and we might both be out of our jobs.”
    “The sour old coot is in his own
world most of the time.”
    “I’m not so sure about that.”
    The paralegal, Teddy,
interrupted the women to inform Amy that Pickens was asking for her.
Immediately she went to the conference room.
    “Finally. You don’t look sick.”
    “I’m not; that’s why I’m back at
work.”
    Pickens grumbled and sent Amy to
fetch additional information for him. Later she thanked Teddy for covering the
day before while she was out. She asked the paralegal about his vacation, but
he was vague, saying that he spent most of his time at home. He hardly ever
discussed his time out of the office with any of the staff. For a while, he and
Trudy had been an item, but both seemed to lose interest in each other after a
month’s time. He had grown up locally but never mentioned family or friends in
the area. That always disturbed Trudy, but Amy felt that he had a right to his
privacy.
    At the end of the day, Trudy
popped into Amy’s office to let her know she was leaving.
    “Want to walk me to the cable
car again?”
    “Another date with Schwartz?”
    “Yep. He doesn’t have the looks
of Todd Coleman, but he has one advantage. He didn’t kill his partner.”
    Amy flinched at the comment and
was ready to defend Todd but realized doing so would only spike Trudy’s
curiosity.
    “Matter of fact, he doesn’t even
have a partner. He’s a dentist with his own private practice, and he said he’d
like to work inside me for free.”
    “That’s a direct approach.”
    “No, no, no. He wants to take
out all my mercury fillings and fill them with that new white stuff they use so
that it looks like you don’t have any fillings. Only I’m a bit timid when it
comes to sitting in dental chairs. It took me ages to find a dentist I could
trust, and now I’m not sure I want to change.”
    “Then don’t.”
    “But it’s free.”
    Amy shook her head.
    “You’re right. I’ll get to know
him better first, before I go for this major change. Come on. I’ll be late if
we don’t leave right away.”
    “I’m staying to do some work.
Have fun,” Amy called as Trudy waved ‘bye from the doorway.
    A while later, Amy ran out to
fetch herself some dinner. She couldn’t be sure how late she would have to stay
and didn’t need a rumbling stomach giving her whereabouts away as she browsed
through files where she didn’t belong.
    Around nine o’clock Amy walked the halls, checking each office. The only one with a light still on was Stu’s.
An hour later she checked his office again and the light was still shining from
under the door. She wondered if he could have forgotten to turn the light off
before he left. She decided to wait another hour before lightly rapping on his
door several times. The door swung open and Stu stood before her in baggy
trousers; his shirt was wrinkled as if he had been taking a nap.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I was working late, and when I
saw the light under your door I thought I’d check and see if you were still
here. It gets lonely around here this late at night.”
    “If you’re lonely, Amy, go to
the bar down the block, but don’t bother me.”
    The door was closed in her face.
    God, she thought, he’s certainly
become touchy since he heard of his pending promotion. Nothing to do, she figured,
but go back to her office and wait him out. She left her own door open in hopes
of spotting him when he left.
    It was two in the morning, and
Amy was dozing when she heard the copy machine next door whip into action. A
few minutes later, Stu stopped at her door with a stack of papers and his suit
jacket over his arm.
    “Still here?”
    “I won’t be much longer.”
    “Want me to wait?