Page 2 of His Toy

“And you have no idea who left it there for you?” Neil asked in surprise.

“No, and it’s not the only thing they’ve left. A couple nights later I had reworked it incorporating the idea, and the next day I come in and there’s another book pointing to something else,” Ted admitted as their father chuckled.

“Come on there can’t be that many people who stay later than you do,” Neil offered.

“That’s just it, whoever this is doesn’t work for the company because we’ve checked badges. The only people in were the cleaners,” Ted grumbled.

“Someone on the cleaning staff is leaving you ideas?” Neil asked and the others smirked.

“Now you know why he’s irritated…no one knows who it could possibly be from the staff,” Adam stated.

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked amused that someone could so easily get to his brother. Of the three, he was the calmest, possibly because he was the oldest, but mostly Neil suspected Ted simply didn’t display his emotions well.

“Find out who it is and then see if we should hire them or have them sent to jail,” Ted replied.

“You’re enjoying it,” Phil said shaking his head. “They’re playing a wicked game of chess and from the looks of it the other person’s winning.”

“Someone’s beating Ted at chess?” Neil asked more shocked that was possible than with him being irritated by someone messing with him. “Or is it just a metaphor?”

“I wish but every night there’s a new move on the board and I’m not about to be taken down,” Ted stated. “I’ll figure out who it is and then I’ll decide what to do.”

Neil laughed wondering how long it would take him as they finished their dinner.

The next week it seemed as though Ted wasn’t any closer, but his own mind was preoccupied with Brooke’s corrected paper. It was beyond amazing, and he was trying to figure out how to keep her from losing her scholarship. A check on her other courses showed that her grades were beginning to slip there as well.

Friday afternoon Ted called him and he reluctantly stopped by the office to see what his problem was.

“Alright what’s the big deal now?” he asked as he went into the office and saw all of his brothers there along with their father who was trying hard to hide his amusement.

“Take a look for yourself,” Phil said nodding to the chessboard.

“They’ve got you in check Ted, never seen that happen before, big brother.”

“Now I need to know who managed to do that,” Ted stated looking at him.

“Okay…” Neil mused his brow lifting in silent question.

“We’ve all been seen by the cleaning staff, but you haven’t,” Ted said leaning back against his desk as he glared at the chessboard. “So, if you happen to be around the building in say maintenance clothes…”

“You want me to spy on your office to figure out who’s been playing chess with you?” he asked with a laugh. He began to shake his head no, but Ted glowered at him, and he let out a sigh.

“Hey, this company helped pay for your education. You owe it to us to help out.”

“Fine,” he agreed but as the hours slid past, he began to regret the choice to help. He could be doing a million other things including spending the night with someone. Doing his best to get his urges under control before they slipped out and he did something stupid.

The elevator opened later that evening and he watched the group get off. Each one headed to a different area and he noticed for the first time that they were all women. Getting beat was bad enough but for it to be a woman was ten times worse as far as Ted was concerned.

He quietly made his way to the door of his brother’s office and watched the woman clean the trash from the bin, wipe down the shelves and dust before she pushed the cart through to the conference room off the side door and continued on with her job. He was confused and that confusion grew more as the group left.

An hour later the elevator opened again and three more got off heading to the sections with vacuum cleaners. This had to be the most boring work ever, he mused as he leaned back in the chair. The vacuums finally shut off and he watched the group head back towards the elevator.

“You coming honey?” the oldest asked the third woman who was still moving through the cubes.

“You all go ahead. I’ve got a couple more offices to do,” she answered around a cough.

“You okay?” the second asked.

“Yeah…the stupid bag on this thing broke and I still have dust in my lungs I think.”

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