Free The Mad and the MacAbre by Jeff Strand Page B

never in this
early. "Uh, Bob? It's Charlie Stanlon."
    "Hey, Charlie, what's up?"
    He considered coughing into the phone, then
decided it would sound forced. "Nothing much. I'm just calling in
sick."
    "What's wrong?"
    "Sore throat. Some aches and pains."
    "Charlie, we're already two people down this
week. I worked all day Saturday and half a day yesterday to get
ready for the global operations center's visit. You really can't
fight through a sore throat and some aches and pains?"
    "I...guess I can."
    "Thanks. It's just really not a good time
for you to be out. If you're still not feeling well on Tuesday, it
won't be an issue. See you in a bit."
    Charlie hung up. That hadn't quite gone as
planned. He couldn't afford to get fired, so it looked like he'd be
going in to work today.
    It would be fine. He'd left women in his
basement countless times while at work. It even made the day more
pleasant, knowing they were down there. He'd simply have to treat
this situation no differently than any of the others. If there'd
been a witness, the cops would've been at his door by now, so he'd
just trust that the security measures he already had in place were
sufficient. And maybe this was a good thing. His job was pretty
boring, so he'd have all day to brainstorm ideas on how to let
Patti live.
    And after he dealt with that, he thought he
might build Kutter a doghouse.
    * * *
    Charlie stared at the stapled papers.
    Alicia had been doing so well, but there it
was, stapled in the top center instead of the top left. Only one of
them--the others were done correctly--but this could be the start
of a trend. If he didn't say something, the entire batch of papers
could be improperly stapled tomorrow. He'd have to pluck out all of
the staples and redo them, which wasted staples and put his
fingertips at risk for puncturing.
    He started to type an
e-mail to Bob, then stopped after " Bob, I
need to bring to your attention --"
    Alicia was always nice to him. She was the
one who'd suggested that he keep Kutter. If he hadn't listened to
her, Kutter could've been gassed or adopted by an unloving home.
She'd said that if he had a problem with her, he should bring it to
her directly, so that's what he'd do. She deserved that much.
    He picked up the flawed papers and walked
over to her desk.
    "Uh-oh, did I screw something up?" Alicia
asked.
    Charlie shook his head. "No. It's all
fine."
    What was he saying?
It wasn't fine. It
was wrong in a way that he'd already asked her to fix. Why was he
suddenly compelled not to mention it?
    Coming over to her desk was a mistake. He
should've just e-mailed Bob. It was never a good idea to change the
plan.
    Alicia was a lot more beautiful than he
remembered.
    "I just wanted to tell you that I get to
keep the dog," he said. "The real owner came over, but he's letting
me keep him."
    "Really? That's great! I bet you're
thrilled!"
    "Yeah. So...thanks."
    "For what?"
    "For your help."
    "Oh, I didn't do anything. I just told you
to keep him."
    "That helped."
    Alicia smiled. "Well, then I graciously
accept your thanks. Now tape a damn dog picture to your monitor.
That's the rule."
    "Okay."
    She returned her attention to her work.
Charlie didn't leave. His mouth had dried up and he ran his tongue
all over the inside, trying to replenish the moisture so he could
speak.
    "Did you...did you want to get coffee
sometime?" he finally asked.
    Her smile faltered. Just for a fraction of a
second, but it faltered.
    "You know," she said, "some of us get drinks
after work on Wednesdays."
    He knew. Alicia had mentioned it a couple of
times, but he always declined the offer. It sounded boring.
    "You should come with us."
    Did she really want him to come along, or
was she just trying to get out of a coffee date? He was almost
positive it was the latter. He couldn't blame her for that.
    "I didn't mean it like that," he said. "I
wasn't asking to...I wasn't asking because I wanted to..."
    "No, no, I understood. Coffee as friends.
I'm sure you have a