Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Security had an ID on a lanyard waiting for me, and I was waved through with a smile. I made my way to my desk where I found myself alone. The Design team appeared to be in some kind of meeting, but I had enough reading material on my desk to keep me busy. There was a history of the company – mostly stuff I had read on the website – and information on the intern program, as well as some notes detailing my duties and who I was answerable to. A board on the wall introduced the various members of the team, and I made my way over to it, intending to memorize the names and faces. Sean’s smug grin stared out at me, and beside him, the other of the Callahan brothers. This must be Keegan, the one I ran into at Antionette’s. He was the darker and more handsome of the two, with blue eyes and the kind of bone structure that might look good in an artsy magazine, but gave him an angular look that was anything but friendly. I was already dreading meeting him. I wondered what kind of parents had gifted these two charmers to the world, and reminded myself to simply smile and nod.
***
My first day at Clover House had passed without incident, and the rest of the week was – I reluctantly admitted – almost fun. True, I was mostly making coffee and doing some general admin, but now and then I had some more interesting work to look over – part of my training. It was pretty basic, and I had to think up questions to ask so that they bought the idea that it was new to me.
Frank was encouraging, and a few times had asked my opinion on some color scheme or layout option, and I had found it hard to hold back when giving him my input. Sean came by a couple times to make sure I was settling in and to check how far down my top he could see. I had smiled and nodded and pretended I urgently needed to visit the copier. I still hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting the other Callahan brother, who seemed to come in before I arrived and stayed until everyone else was gone, a shadowy figure moving around in the glass box at the far end of the office floor, pacing back and forth.
“He’s all or nothing. Either here from morning to night, or nowhere to be seen. And I don’t know which Keegan annoys Sean more,” Taylor had said with the directness I had already come to appreciate in her.
“Doesn’t he come out to eat?” I whispered. The longer Keegan Callahan was a sort of mythical beast, the more intrigued and slightly frightened I was of him.
“Brings food with him, and has one of those all-singing, all-dancing coffee machines in there with him,” she explained, rolling her eyes.
I got all the way to Friday before my mother managed to wheedle the truth out of Beatrix. I got a warning text from my sister in the morning, and I took a walk during my lunch break to make the phone call I had been dreading.
“Mom!” I did my best to sound upbeat. “Sorry I haven’t been round, I’ve been…”
“Working for the enemy, I know.” She sounded matter of fact, and I braced myself for what was to come.
“I’m trying to help,” I sighed.
“I know. And I know by now there is nothing I can do to stop you once you have decided something, but listen. Don’t do anything that could get you into trouble with the law. By all means, talk to… your colleagues, and keep your ear to the ground. But nothing else. Don’t go hacking their computer system, or stealing anything.”
“Mom, I wouldn’t know how to. But if they give me access to files–”
“Freya,” she cut me off as if she didn’t want to know the details. “Just be careful, and don’t do anything that puts you in jeopardy. It isn’t worth getting into trouble over.”
“I won’t, Mom,” I reassured her, and I wondered for the millionth time how far I was prepared to go to get the information we needed. I could talk the talk, but when it came down to it, I had no real plan. I tried to change the subject, but Mom was quiet. I made her promise not to tell anyone else what I was doing. It had to stay between herself, Dad, and Beatrix. I didn’t want Drew or Paula to know. Drew was working as hard as he could to figure out what had happened, and my detective act at Clover House felt like a betrayal of his efforts, like I was fairly sure he wasn’t going to succeed.
As though he had read my mind, a text from Drew popped up on my phone just as I made it back to the office.