Part 26 (2/2)
Romey waited for a moment, but the day had already been too long for her. She didn't have her usual amount of patience.
”Was it unusual that you couldn't reach Gulliver?” she finally asked.
A single tear ran down Lenox's cheek, making the glitter sparkle, but not dislodging it. Romey stared at that path. The stupid woman had had the glitter embedded into her skin. It was some kind of enhancement that made her sparkle like that, not something she'd added later.
”Medora? Was it-”
”Yes.” Lenox raised her chin slightly. ”He would always contact me all day.”
”I thought you just monitored transmissions.”
”I did,” Lenox said. ”But Gulliver . . . me and Gulliver . . . we . . .”
This time Romey did wait. She knew better than to fill in what some subject was trying to say. Often the subject would parrot what the interviewer said, trying to please the interviewer.
”Gulliver,” Lenox said, ”he liked to talk to me.”
Romey nodded, knowing that wasn't what Lenox initially planned to say. ”When did he contact you last?”
”This morning.” Lenox swallowed hard. ”He-we-you're not going to tell, right?” ”Tell what?” Romey said.
”That he stays at my house. We could get fired.”
Interesting, Romey thought. ”You could get fired for what?”
”Fraternizing.” The word seemed too big for Lenox. But she spoke it bitterly. ”No one is supposed to socialize outside of work.”
”And you two socialized?” Romey understood what Lenox meant, but she wanted Lenox to tell her. Lenox's cheeks flushed a pale pink. It accented the gold beneath her skin.
”He's gonna marry me,” she said proudly.
”Doesn't that violate company policy?” Romey asked.
”One of us will quit. We don't know who yet. When we have enough money. He gave me a ring, but I can't wear it at work because people will ask.”
Romey nodded. ”But they don't ask about the time you spend together?”
”They don't know.” Lenox whispered this last. ”He comes to my house after midnight, leaves before dawn.”
”Do you go to his place?” Romey asked.
Lenox shook her head. ”He shares with some friends. We can't let anyone know.”
Something about this bothered Romey. It seemed too cautious even for employees who might lose their jobs if they ”fraternized.”
”Has anyone seen you together?” Romey asked.
Lenox kept shaking her head. ”We don't dare risk it.” ”The job is that important,” Romey said. ”Until we save up enough money.”
”Hmmm.” Romey wasn't sure how to ask this next part. But she decided to give it a try. ”Is your employer worried that you'd talk about work?”
”I don't know,” Lenox said. ”I don't see how it would matter.”
This felt like something Lennox had said many times before, probably to Gulliver.
”Why wouldn't it matter?” Romey asked.
”In our case, anyway,” Lenox said. ”I mean, I monitor his transmissions. I know what's going on with his case.”
”I see,” Romey said.
And she did-a little. She asked a few more questions about transmission procedure, things that held no surprises at all. She didn't want Lenox to know that the questions she'd asked about Gulliver and the questions she was about to ask were connected.
”I a.s.sume,” Romey said as she finished the basic transmission questions, ”that each member of the team is privy to what the other members of the team are doing?”
”They have a plan,” Lenox said. ”But the transmissions are separate.”
Romey nodded. Her heart was pounding. Finally something useful. ”So if one team member is monitoring, say, the subject's home, and another is monitoring, say, the subject's office, the team members don't communicate about what they see?”
”Through me they do,” Lenox said. ”They tell me if something is suspicious and I relay it to the other.” ”Why can't they do it directly?”
”I don't know,” Lenox said. ”Too much information, I guess.”
”Too much information?” Romey asked.
”It's like the employee motto. It's posted all over our break rooms. Too much information is dangerous in the wrong hands.”
”So information must be secured as well as the subject herself.”
”Yeah,” Lenox said. ”Everything has channels.”
”Do you think team members should talk to each other more?”
”Not me,” Lenox said.
”But Gulliver?”
Lenox looked down. ”He says it handicaps him, not knowing what the others are doing.” ”Have you ever told him what they're doing?”
Lenox swallowed hard again. Those thumbs were rubbing each other raw.
”It's okay, Medora,” Romey said. ”I'm not going to get you in trouble with your employer. All I care about are the things that might pertain to the death of Mr. Whitford.”
”How does this pertain?” Lenox asked softly.
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