Page 87 of Girl, Empty
Ripley pushed inside and closed the door behind her.The paper mountain on Edis’s desk had been replaced with cardboard boxes, and the director was rifling through the closet where he kept his spare suits.Ripley always thought it took an impressive level of self-assurance to install a private closet in a federal building, as if you never expected to be cleaning it out one day.
‘Will.Saw your car in the lot.Thought I would come and pick my roses up while you were here.’
‘You came at the right time,’ Edis said.He gestured to the boxes.‘This is my final hour.’
‘You’re going?Now?’
‘Correct.’
Ripley’s stomach went into free fall.She’d seen a grand total of five directors come and go during her time here, but for some reason, she struggled to imagine a post-Edis Bureau.He was as much a part of the furniture as the flags outside.
And if he was going, it meant someone new was taking his place.
‘Who’s the replacement?’
‘Oh, no replacement yet, but my federal authority expires at midnight on the ten-year anniversary of my swearing-in.That’s today.’Edis checked his watch.‘Well, yesterday.As of five minutes ago, I’m a civilian.You don’t have to answer to me anymore.’
Ripley wrestled with two sudden conflicting truths.William Edis, the man she’d endured the past ten years with, was leaving, and that stung.This was the end of an era, and endings deserved a moment of sadness regardless of how turbulent the journey had been.
The second truth was that there was apparently no new director on the horizon, and the speed of which she imagined herself behind that desk felt like a betrayal of the man who was still packing up his suits.
‘Thank you for clearing up that mess in Indianapolis, by the way,’ Edis said.
‘It’s what we do.’
Edis removed a hanger of blue ties and set them in the box on his desk.He smiled and said, ‘You know, I don’t deserve you and Miss Dark.You’ve been my best assets for years, and if not for you two, I’d be leaving this place with a lot less dignity.’
‘Yes you would.’
‘All those demands, some of them downright crazy.And you two answered the call every time and never let me down.So, thank you.I mean it.’
‘You took a chance with that rookie program, and it paid off.It was all your idea, and if you remember rightly, I was dead against it.’
‘Yes you were, but nothing ever changes by staying the same.We took a risk.’
There might never be another chance to do this, Ripley told herself, so she had to do it now.She had no idea if this was the right way to go about it, or even if the director had any sway in this.Still, if she didn’t do it, she’d regret it forever.
‘Sir, I…’
‘Sir?’Edis laughed.‘You haven’t called me that since the day we met.When you and Byford took me and the Attorney General to that sports bar.Pretty sure I’ve got some photos of that night in my drawer somewhere.’
‘Good times,’ she said.
‘Sorry, what were you going to ask?’
Ripley swallowed the lump in her throat.‘Will, you said I answered all of your crazy requests without fail.I’ve got a crazy request of my own.’
Edis went back to his closet and unearthed a charcoal grey suit.He smoothed down the blazer and said, ‘Now’s your chance.What is it?’
‘You know, I’m running out of space for all my clothes back at my place, and if your closet is empty…’
The director’s hand stopped working.His head spun first, followed by his shoulders a second later.He held the charcoal blazer out to his side, his arm locked straight, as if he'd forgotten he was holding it at all.‘Stop, Mia.’
‘Why?’
He laid the suit on the desk.‘Because you can’t.’
‘Why can’t I?’
