Sheila was in her normal spot, covered again in a blanket though this time with a light cotton fabric. She was the only resident out at that time.

“Ms. Lansing, the heat index is—” but the old woman cut off the attendant before he could finish his warning.

“If I like it, I like it,” she reasoned with a dismissive wave. “You’re back,” she said to me.

“Surprised to see me?”

“A little. Must be bad news,” she guessed. “What happened to her?”

“She hasn’t come home.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“And she’s a new mom.” I let those words sink in. She stared at me but didn’t give much up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“If you only recently found out yourself, then that means Carl didn’t tell you either. Did you ask him why he kept it a secret?”

“I did.”

“Did he give you an answer?”

“Nope.”

“But you want one from me. Okay, I will prove I am the better person. I like her and didn’t want to betray her confidence.”

“When’s the last time you spoke to her?”

“It’s been a while. Not since before you and I last met.”

“Have you tried to contact her?” I asked.

“Now that you tell me she has had the baby, I just might.”

“Do you happen to know where she is staying? Even if it’s just a town, that’d be helpful.”

“I don’t.”

Clearly she wasn’t in the frame of mind to give up much information. I asked her to let me know if she hears from Jeanette. And if she did talk to her, that she try to persuade the girl to return home. The old woman acknowledged the request but didn’t say outright whether she was going to agree to it.

“Whatever happened to that nurse, the angry one?”

“She hasn’t shown up for work this week. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

I leaned back and looked down at the empty rows of glide chairs.

“Not a lot of visitors today,” I commented. “Must be the heat.”

“There aren’t many on any day,” said Sheila. “You’re my first visitor in a while,” she felt the need to add and instantly gave herself away.

We chatted about nothing for a few minutes longer, mostly about the heat, then I got up to excuse myself. A few feet from the door, I turned back.

“Just so you know,” I told her, “I’m not working for Carl anymore. He dismissed me over an indiscretion that I didn’t commit. He knew I didn’t do it but he fired me anyway. If I had to guess, this outcome was inevitable all along and if I was smart I would just go home and mind my own business.

“But I’m not smart and I’m not ready to quit. I’ve never met this kid, I don’t have anything at stake in it, but somehow I still feel responsible for bringing her home. Maybe her family is screwed up but most families are. It’s still better than being out there all alone.”

I made it no more than three steps towards the door.

“Sit back down, please,” she instructed. Once I was back in the chair, she admitted that she had seen Jeanette earlier that morning. I assumed she had but didn’t tell her so. “She has a handsome little baby.”

“So it’s a boy?”

“Yes, Carl has his heir,” she spat. “You know I am childless?”

“You mentioned it before.”

“But you don’t know why.” I told her I didn’t. “Let’s just say it wasn’t because of a lack of desire and it wasn’t because of a lack of ability.”

“So what other reason is there?”

“Fear,” she answered. “Fear of Carl.”

“You’re going to have to elaborate, Ms. Lansing, because if I am understanding you correctly that is a pretty big accusation.”

“I didn’t make an accusation, I just described a feeling I had,” she parsed as if in fear of a libel suit. “I was scared of what he could do. He is, as you may guess, prone to abusive behavior.”

“That’s still a broad term. What kind of abuse are you referring to?” I probed.

“Well, I never had a child,” she replied. “That should answer it for you. And that’s why I don’t think Jeanette should go back to that household.”

“But she lives with her mother,” I reminded her. “And could even stay with her dad if she wanted to.”

She smiled at me.

“I’ve heard about those two from Jeanette. They will do anything to stay on Carl’s good side. There’s too much money in it,” she said and despite the ugliness in her words there was a vein of truth in them.

This time she volunteered to let me know if and when she was in contact with Jeanette. I lingered, but she quickly picked up on my discomfort in the heat and offered to walk me to the door. Or, I walked her as she clung to my arm with brittle fingers.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t question that decision,” she mused. “They say when you have a child, all of your concerns are thrown out the window because you have just one concern now. Then again,” she reasoned, “everyone in this home was placed here by their children, except me. I had to come here on my own.” She paused to reflect on that decision. “I don’t know which situation is sadder.”

On my way out, I once again stopped by the front desk and spoke to the attendant. She was trying to find order to a pile of paperwork and it looked like the paper was getting the best of her.

I interrupted her efforts. “Excuse me, is there a way I could leave a small gratuity for the staff for taking such great care of my aunt?” I asked.

“Why that is very thoughtful of you,” the woman beamed.

“I’d like to leave it for the attendant I asked about earlier.”

The beam got a little duller.

“Oh, okay. Well, you can leave it with me.”

I took some of the cash I had on me to bribe the gossip blogger and started to hand it to the woman, but then had second thoughts and awkwardly pulled the bills back.

“Maybe I should just write a check,” I said to the woman.

“However you prefer,” she said icily.

“Tala…” I said. “…what was her last name again?”

SOCIALIZATION

The coincidences were too numerous to justify using that word anymore. People and places were integrally linked in a knotted mess that I had little hope I could ever untangle. I decided to focus on the connection of the nurse at the convalescent home. The fact that she hadn’t shown up for work in days without an excuse was further proof that something was amiss. Still to be decided was whether she was coercing Jeanette or in collusion with her. Either way, I knew if I found Tala, I would find a path to Jeanette.

I gave the job to Badger. With my interview fast approaching, I couldn’t risk pulling a disappearing act at work. Presence was an important quality for senior leadership and an empty office was not the ideal way to foment an image of serious engagement in my work. And although the interviews would grant me ample time to meet and discuss my qualities and ideas with the decision-makers, there was a necessary pre-step I had to take if I had any chance of succeeding.

“Socialization” was the new buzzword at the office. With so many new ideas and initiatives being pitched at once and so little mental “bandwidth” (and will) to process them all, leadership demanded they hear about each pitch on an individual basis before the actual meeting. The reason was clear: no one liked to be taken by surprise. This resulted in a mini-campaign of sorts, often off the calendar, where you were expected to make the rounds to the various offices of the decision-makers for a quick “drop in” chat. You’d float the idea, get some initial feedback, and then agree that it would be good to discuss in the larger group. In the military world, this was known as “softening up the hill.” In the corporate world, it was how people filled up their calendars. One meeting with ten people quickly became eleven meetings when you added in all of the individual ones.