Maybe mid-life was a turning point for something new.
Thinking these thoughts, I’m startled when Jude enters my office and asks me to meet him in his.
Stepping into his domain, Bethany is also seated before Jude’s desk. He doesn’t take a seat behind the imposing wood furniture rumored to have been his great-grandfather’s desk but leans on the front of it and points at the chair next to Bethany.
“Miss Cooper has insisted on being present for this conversation.”
Instantly, the baby hairs on the back of my neck rise. This cannot be good. While most businesses fire people before Christmas in order to skip out on giving bonuses, Ashford’s lets employees go after the season. However, I’ve worked here for eight years as a full-time employee. I’m not seasonal help.
“We’d like to discuss with you something we saw on the surveillance cameras back on December thirteenth.”
I wrack my brain but instantly land on my birthday and what might be on a security camera.
“You were seen with a non-employee after hours in the store,” Jude says, lifting up a piece of paper.
“We didn’t have sex in a fitting room,” I blurt.
Jude’s mouth falls open.
Bethany shifts in the chair beside me. Her hands clutch the arm. “Eva, I suggest you stop talking.”
“You had sex in a fitting room?” Jude asks, his expression aghast.
I blink. “We didn’t have sex. We just—”
“Stop.” Bethany holds up a hand. “We are not hearing this.”
“Oh no, I’d like to hear this. I’d very much like to hear this.” Jude’s lips slowly curl, but he doesn’t look half as angry as curious.Pervert.
“Eva,” Bethany begins. “You were called in here because there was a discrepancy in the toy department register on that night. You were the person logged in on the register when it happened. However, there have been two other nights of discrepancy in the same department, each with a different manager’s login. We wanted to offer you the benefit of the doubt to explain yourself.”
“The toy department?” I think back, and then I remember that I’d been closing out the register when Zebb entered the department. I’d been side-tracked by his presence, and we left the area. Had I gone back to log myself off the computer? I couldn’t remember.
I didn’t want to unfairly accuse a fellow worker, but the inconsistency of managers didn’t add up. Jude needed to be looking at which salesclerk was working on those nights.
Then something occurs to me. “Are you suggesting I stole from Ashford’s?” I glance from Bethany to Jude.
“Miss Cooper believes we should let you explain yourself, but I’d like more of an explanation for your fitting room shenanigans.”
“Shenanigans?” Bethany laughs. “Are you eighty?”
I swear only she can talk to this man like that.
“Miss Cooper,” Jude warns.
“We aren’t suggesting you stole the money,” Bethany says. “And certainly, being in a fitting room at the time of the theft gives you an alibi.”
My brain runs rampant. “Did you think the person with me did the stealing?”
“We couldn’t be certain. But if the man was in the fitting room with you, then it rules him out as well.”
“He was with me,” I admit as well, defending him. Zebb wouldn’t steal any more than I would.
“And now, we have something new to investigate with you,” Jude says.
I’ve worked long, tedious hours for this company. I’ve been a faithful employee for eight long years, and he wants to investigate me. First accusing me of theft and now this . . . this other thing . . .
“As you know, having relations in a fitting room is against—”