Chapter 7

“Yeah. Whatever.” I saw Colin trade shrugs with Bernard over my bent head. “But then he came out of his office and walked up here.”

“On his way to the kitchen. Or the bloody executive toilet.”

“No!” Colin wriggled with agitation. “He stopped right here, outside your cubicle, and looked in. Then…” He drew a deep breath, as if delivering the coup de grace, and said, “He went back to his office.”

“And did it again a half hour later,” Bernard added. “I was bringing up some software appraisals for the sales department, and I saw him.”

I glanced at Ellen, usually the steadiest of my friends.

“It’s true, Kevin. He came around again, just fifteen minutes ago. I was here to see if you wanted to go through the slides for the presentation. Armstrong was standing outside your cubicle, looking…” She raised her palms upward, then dropped them again.

“What?” Colin said. “Looking what?”

Ellen peered at me, a strange look in her eyes. “Sort of confused. Like he wasn’t sure why he was there.”