Page 73 of Love & Other Disasters

Twenty-Five

Violet couldn’t ever remember going an entire work day without talking to Monique, but now, she could add Monique to the growing list of people ignoring her. Her mother would never give her the silent treatment; it would remove her ability to leave angry messages. She understood why Monique had hurt feelings, unlike Jill. And as far as her mom, she couldn’t comprehend why Violet was no longer falling into her role of appeasing everyone.

For a few days, everything settled into a new rhythm of Violet keeping to herself. There were rumors about her falling out with Monique. None of it true, thankfully. Her friend had told no one why she wasn’t speaking to Violet. But, everyone realized something had happened.

Violet received a phone call to report to The Bluebird conference room. It was the smallest conference room on the fourth floor. Only used for terminating employees. Did J.P. relent his objection and give her what she asked? But when she got there, she didn’t recognize the Latina woman in her early thirties. She wore a gray pantsuit with her black hair pulled into a knot in the back.

“Ms. Murphy?” she asked.

Violet nodded. “I am.”

“Come in.” She held out her hand. “I’m Special Agent Alejandra Morales.” With the other hand she flashed her badge.

Violet paused without taking the agent’s hand. What was this about? Then, she realized she’d left the woman hanging and shook her hand.

“Sorry, I’m not used to getting called by an FBI agent.”

“I’m TBI,” Agent Morales clarified. “We’re looking into the theft and fraud committed by Melvin McAvoy,” she paused and pointed to a chair on the other side of the table. “Please, sit.”

“Does Jordan Harper know you’re here,” she asked, taking the offered seat. Surely he would have given her a heads up.

“Yes, Mr. Harper and Mr. Levy are aware,” she pulled something out of her pocket. “I will need to record this interview.”

“Okay,” Violet nodded, it didn’t seem like she had an option.

“Now, Ms. Murphy, how long have you worked for Medi-Health?”

“Five years. It’ll be six in March.”

“Melvin McAvoy hired you?”

“No, Charlotte Andrews hired me. She was the supervisor over the department. I didn’t meet Melvin until after I started.”

“Did you know Melvin or Charlotte before being hired?”

“No.”

“Who trained you?”

This was her first full-time job. She’d been so excited to prove herself.

“Charlotte and Poppy, mainly. A few other people, too. Most of them are no longer here.”

“With the layoffs?”

“Not all. There’s been a lot of turn over the past few years.”

“Why?”

“People think the grass is greener. Usually over a rumor that another place paid more. And many people thought Melvin’s management style was a bit… overbearing.”

“How so?”

“People called him ‘the warden’ behind his back because he was very particular about how he wanted things done. But he was a sweet guy as long as you did your job.”

“Ms. Murphy, can you give me a brief description of your duties here?”

“I was hired to clean up the customer tax database. There were a thousand expired tax exempt certificates, and I had to verify all of the certificates and update the database.” Violet described for the agent her duties from then until now.

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