With a chuckle, he spared her the discomfort. “Really though, I wouldn’t expect you to be in the office for the graveyard shift like me. I’d be out in the field nearly every night, anyway. You can make this a 9 to 5 kind of arrangement, if you like—you’ll find I’m not a stickler about daytime hours, just as long as my messages get to me.”
“Your messages?” she repeated.
“Well yes,” he said. “As my administrator, you’ll be in charge of sorting through my various incoming messages and files. I’ll warn you,” he said as they reached the top floor and the doors opened. “The messages won’t mean much to you, but leave that to me. Having them organized, along with my case files, will make a world of difference for me.” He made his way across the floor to a door without a handle, and he put his thumb on a sensor nearby to open it.
Inside was what Joe regarded as a rather modest office, but Rose seemed stunned by the look of the place. Joe was by no means a minimalist. The sleek white tile flooring was pristine, and there was a single desk with a computer up against the far wall. Around the whole office space, the black walls were decorated with art, mostly bright and vibrant cubist pieces. Planters lined the space below them, all making up for the lack of windows in the front of the office. A single door led to the back, where Joe’s private office was.
“This will be your workspace,” he said, smiling. “I’ll take that expression to assume you’re pleased with it?”
“I’ve never worked anywhere private, much less as refined as this,” she admitted.
“My taste may be a little lavish for my line of work,” he confessed, not guilty in the slightest, “but I’m a man who enjoys creature comforts.”
“So let me guess,” she said, taking a breath as she set her purse down at the desk and took a seat, “I’m about to face years and years of organized chaos in backlogs, right?”
Joe laughed quietly as he typed a few things into the computer, looming over her as she sat down. “Lucky for you, I’ve only been in this city a year or so. Here,” he said, and before she could react, he took her hand in his. Color came to her face again, and her eyes moved up to him. He gave her a smile, but nodded down to the screen that read “Ready for new User thumbprint recognition.”
“Oh, right,” she said, flustered, and Joe guided her thumb to a pad that scanned her print in a moment.
“There, the system should recognize you now,” he said, standing up. “You now have access to my files with almost as much free reign as I would. Certainly enough to do your job, at least. Besides answering phone calls, I’d appreciate having these case files organized by client, then by date. That should give you a grasp of what kind of information you’re going to be dealing with.”
She nodded absently, but Joe could tell her eyes were becoming transfixed on the files she was moving through, giving everything a once-over.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at her increasingly perturbed expression.
“Yes, sir, it’s just—”
“Please, just ‘Joe.’ ”
“Joe. It’s just that, this client list—I recognize some of the names here. I… didn’t realize you had such a high-profile operation.” She seemed put off by something, and Joe wasn’t certain what.
“Is that going to be a problem for you, Rose?”
“Well, no, not at all,” she said, scratching her head before looking up to meet his eyes. A mistake for any human trying to speak clearly to him, Joe knew, but to his surprise, she was able to keep a rather steady tone while talking to him.
“I don’t mean to insult what you’re offering me here, I’m more than grateful, but… More than a few of your clients are high profile names and organizations. You just met me yesterday, and I never even got a formal interview. You could have admins with years more experience clawing at each other’s throats to get where I am. Why me? How do you know you can trust me?”
“I can’t,” Joe said simply, and that answer alone seemed to put Rose a little on edge. Exactly the way he wanted it. Joe took a seat on the desk, looming over Rose with a smile as he spoke in his soft, deep voice. “Rose, in this line of work, you trust your instincts. And me, I’m the best at this line of work this city has seen in a long, long time, and I can damn well assure you my instincts are correct. When you helped me out of that alley—very possibly saved my life—I knew I saw in you something unique, just as I continue to see it now,” he added, his gaze roving up and down her body. “Whether I can trust you is, I suppose you’re right, yet to be seen, but what can I say?” He smiled. “I have a good feeling about you at heart, and that has yet to fail me.
“That said,” he added on a more serious note as he stood up, heading for the door to his private office, “my clients expect the utmost confidentiality. The information you’re going to be handling is highly sensitive, as the nature of my work should tell you. I expect you to treat it as delicately as the job demands. Is that clear?”
Rose nodded, staring at Joe with awe in her eyes before giving her head a little shake and saying, “Absolutely—yes.”
“You understand that there will be consequences if you do otherwise?” he added, and this time his eyes were deadly serious. Rose seemed to hesitate a moment, looking into his eyes and starting to lose her nerve for just an instant before she marshaled her will.
“I understand,” she said resolutely. Joe looked at her long and hard before he allowed a smile to crack through his stony gaze.
“I’m sure you’ll flourish. I look forward to watching your progress, Rose. I will have you sign some employment paperwork and a confidentiality release in a little while. I’ll be in my office if you need anything..”
She gave him a final smile before he disappeared into his office.
***
As Joe settled into his office, the next hour or so passed about as he imagined. Always one to keep an eye on his business, Joe had taken the liberty of establishing a connection between a side-monitor and Rose’s new computer. He could monitor everything she did—every file she moved or so much as looked at. He thought it better that he didn’t mention it to his new hire; as much as he fully intended to keep her around, he always liked to see what people did when they thought themselves alone.
He went about his daily routine, sending emails and studying a few of his case files before thinking about heading home. He’d planned to hang around until about lunchtime—he couldn’t let himself get too drowsy on the job, after all.
Admittedly, Joe felt guilty for turning Rose loose as early as he did. Most of his files were heavily encrypted. They had to be—they were all far too sensitive to leave unprotected. Without much introduction to any of the work she’d be organizing, she’d be flying relatively blind as far as organizing them all went.