Page 91 of My Secret Snowflake
“Let’s check in the bullpen to see what’s going on,” I say.
But the bullpen is grimly quiet. Everybody is head down, working.
“Did Iris come back?” Jazmine asks.
“No. It’s like that storyAnd Then There Were Nonearound here,” Hank says. “I think maybe she got sick. Reggie came and grabbed some of her stuff. Kevin announced she’s taking a leave of absence.”
What?
“A leave of absence?” Jazmine exclaims.
We back out and turn to each other in the hallway.
“What is going on?” Jazmine asks, worrying her lip.
“Iris wasn’t sick.” I call Iris again and then turn to Jazmine. “She’s not picking up. It’s going to voicemail.”
“You guys are dating, aren’t you?” Jazmine asks me.
“We are,” I say. “But we’d prefer to keep it a secret at the office.”
“I can’t believe Iris didn’t trust me to keep it a secret,” Jazmine says.
“I don’t think it’s youper se. She wanted to keep it professional at the office.”
But she did meet me in the supply closet. I can’t grin like an idiot. I need to keep a straight face. I press my lips together. Especially when Jazmine is clearly feeling hurt.
“She definitely wanted to tell you. I’ll ask Bob what’s going on. And I’ll keep calling Iris, although she seems to have disappeared with Raphael into the Bermuda Triangle,” I say wryly.Why isn’t she picking up?
“I’ll talk to my boss,” Jazmine says.
I walk down the hallway and knock on Bob’s door.
“Enter,” his voice booms out.
Is it me, or does he look older today? He seems rather gray and slumped.
“Did something happen to Iris, the deputy CISO?” I ask.
“You minded my words to figure out the office cooler chat. Company gossip travels fast,” he says. “She’s been put on leave while we figure out who hacked into the system to steal the company PowerPoints.”
I don’t understand.
“Isn’t she the one investigating that?” I ask.
“She’s the one suspected of doing it,” he says bluntly, “so it’s like a fox guarding a hen house, if she’s the one investigating. Maybe that’s why there hasn’t been any progress.”
“There’s no way,” I say.
But why isn’t she calling me?
But then remnants of Colby’s conversation with Kevin replay through my mind:She’s not going to want to do it again. I think she discussed it with Raphael.Who else would talk to Raphael? And she leaned forward at that point as if to hear what they were going to say.
There’s no way it’s Iris. But what if this is me thinking I know a person, but I really don’t? Like Nathan. Like my relationship with Melody. Has Iris been deceiving me all this time? I don’t think so. I can trust my judgment this time. Her character shines through. When Iris and I figured out Raphael’s clues. When she got angry on my behalf about Melody and I held her in my arms waltzing. Her head ducked, listening to Faith explain her solution to a math problem. There’s no way Iris did this.
“Did you ever do any cybersecurity investigations at Capital?” he asks.
“No,” I say.
