Blind Lake

Sebastian introduced her to Elaine Coster, a ski

Sue was surprised by the animosity in the woman’s voice, almost a sneer, and by Sebastian’s obvious indifference to it.

Lunch was soup and sandwiches, the post-lockdown inevitable. Sue made gracious noises but mostly listened to the others talk. They talked Blind Lake politics, including some speculation about Ray Scutter, and they worried over the pere

Finally there was a piece of gossip to which she felt co

Elaine gave her a long, u

“I run his office for him.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re his secretary?”

“Executive assistant. Well, yeah, secretary, basically.”

“Pretty and talented,” Elaine said to Sebastian, who merely smiled his inscrutable smile. She refocused on Sue, who resisted the urge to shrink away from the woman’s laser stare. “How much do you actually know about Ray Scutter?”

“His private life, nothing. His work, pretty much everything.”

“He talks to you about it?”

“God, no. Ray plays his cards close to his chest, mainly because he’s holding the ace of incompetency. You know how people who are out of their depth like to do all kinds of busy-work, make themselves at least look useful? That’s Ray. He doesn’t tell me anything, but half the time I have to explain his job to him.”

“You know,” Elaine said, “there are rumors about Ray.”

Or maybe, Sue thought, I’m out of my depth. “What kind of rumors?”

“That Ray wants to break into the executive servers and read people’s mail.”

“Oh. Well, that’s—”

There was a buzzing. Chris Carmody took his phone out of his pocket, turned away and whispered into it. Elaine gave him a poisonous look.

When he turned back to the table he said, “Sorry, people. Marguerite needs me to look after her daughter.”

“Jesus,” Elaine said, “is everybody setting up housekeeping in this fucking place? What are you now, a baby-sitter?”

“Some kind of emergency, Marguerite says.” He stood up.

“Go, go.” She rolled her eyes. Sebastian nodded amiably.

“Pleasure meeting you,” Chris said to Sue.

“You, too.” He seemed nice enough, if a little distracted. He was certainly better company than Elaine with the X-ray vision.

Which Elaine focused on her as soon as Chris walked away from the table. “So it’s true? Ray’s doing some illicit hacking?”

“I don’t know about illicit. He’s pla

“If some kind of message went out before the lockdown, how come Ray didn’t get one?”

“He was low man on the management totem pole before everybody left for the Cancun conference. Plus he’s new here. He had contacts at Crossbank, but not what you’d call friends. Ray doesn’t make friends.”

“This gives him the right to break into secure servers?”

“He thinks so.”

“He thinks so, but has he actually done anything about it?”

Sue considered her position. Talking to the press would be a great way to get herself fired. No doubt Elaine would promise total anonymity. (Or money, if she asked for it. Or the moon.) But promises were like bad checks, easy to write and hard to cash. I may be stupid, Sue thought, but I’m not nearly as stupid as this woman seems to think.

She considered Sebastian. Did Sebastian want her to talk about this?

She gave him a questioning look. Sebastian sat back in his chair with his hands clasped over his stomach, a spot of mustard adorning his beard. Enigmatic as a stuffed owl. But he nodded at her.

Okay.

Okay. She’d do it for him, not this Elaine.

She licked her lips. “Shulgin was in the building yesterday with a computer guy.”

“Cracking servers?”

“What do you think? But it’s not like I caught them in the act.”

“What kind of results did they get?”

“None, as far as I know. They were still there after I went home Friday.” They might still be there, Sue thought. Sifting silicon for gold.

“If they find something interesting, will that information pass over your desk?”

“No.” She smiled. “But it’ll pass over Ray’s.”

Sebastian looked suddenly troubled. “This is all very interesting,” he said, “but don’t let Elaine talk you into anything dangerous.” His hand was on her thigh again, communicating some message she couldn’t decipher. “Elaine has her own best interests at heart.”

“Fuck off, Sebastian,” Elaine said.

Sue was mildly scandalized. More so because Sebastian just nodded and put that Buddha-like smile back on his face.

“I might see something like that,” Sue said. “Or I might not.”

“If you do—”

“Elaine, Elaine,” Sebastian said. “Don’t push your luck.”

“I’ll think about it,” Sue said. “Okay? Good enough? Can we talk about something else now?”

They had drained their carafe of coffee and the waitress hadn’t come around with more. Elaine began shrugging her shoulders into her jacket. Sebastian said, “By the way, I was asked to give a little presentation at the community center for one of Ari’s social nights.”

“Hawking your book?” Elaine asked.

“In a way. Ari’s having a hard time filling up those Saturday slots. He’ll probably ask you next.”

Sue enjoyed seeing Elaine flinch from this proposition. “Thanks, but I have better things to do.”

“I’ll let you tell Ari that yourself.”

“I’ll put it in writing if he likes.”

Sebastian excused himself and wandered off to the men’s room. After an awkward silence Sue, still miffed, said, “Maybe you don’t like Sebastian’s writing, but he deserves a little respect.”

“Have you read his book?”

“Yes.”

“Have you really? What’s it about?”

Sue found herself blushing. “It’s about the quantum vacuum. The quantum vacuum as a medium for, uh, a kind of intelligence…” And how what we call human consciousness is actually our ability to tap a little tiny bit of that universal mind. But she couldn’t begin to say that to Elaine. She already felt painfully foolish.

“No,” Elaine said. “Sorry, wrong. It’s about telling people something simplistic and reassuring, dressed up in pseudoscientific bullshit. It’s about a semiretired academic making pots of money and doing it in the most cynical way possible. Oh—”

Sebastian had crept up behind her, and judging by his expression he had heard every word. “Honestly, Elaine, that’s too much.”

“Don’t get all huffy, Sebastian. Have your publishers tapped you for a sequel yet? What are you calling it? The Quantum Vacuum Twelve-Step Program? Financial Security the Quantum Vacuum Way?”

Sebastian opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. He didn’t look angry, Sue thought. He looked hurt.

“Honestly,” he repeated.

Elaine stood up, buttoning her jacket. “You kids have fun.” She hesitated, then turned back and put a hand on Sue’s shoulder. “Okay, I know I’m an awful bitch. I’m sorry. Thank you for putting up with me. I do appreciate what you said about Ray.”

Sue shrugged — she couldn’t think of an answer.

Sebastian was quiet during the drive back. Almost sulking. She couldn’t wait to get home and roll him a joint.