Chapter 19: The So-Called Evidence
1065 Words
Joanna smiled and said, "If you want to search my desk, go ahead. But what will you do afterward, when my name has been cleared? Will you take responsibility for the mess that you'll have made, and the damage you've done to my self-esteem?"
Mike sneered. He was thinking - Molly will find the evidence in your office. Joanna, you are stalling in an attempt to stop us from searching your desk – but what he said was, "What do you want me to do?"
Joanna: "How about, if you don't find what you're looking for, you apologize to me and admit that you were wrong about me; how does this sound?"
When the onlookers heard this, they began to doubt their convictions. Maybe she's actually innocent – they thought. After all, would Joanna be talking like this if she was guilty? It seemed unlikely to them. Joanna's calm indifference did not cause Mike to panic, though. He believed that Joanna said what she had said in order to confuse and provoke him and make him think that he would not find the document in or on her desk. Thus, he refused to give up his search for the evidence.
Mike: "Sounds good to me. Now please get out of the way. Molly is going to search your desk now."
Joanna stepped away and said, "Of course. I have nothing to hide."
Molly grinned as she began to rifle through Natalie's things. She checked the pile of documents on the desk first, and almost immediately, some of the files fell to the ground. Never mind that - Molly thought - there's nothing up top anyway.
Everyone watched Molly nervously. They didn't want to miss the moment when she found the file - if she found the file.
Molly checked all the documents on the desk, and when she didn't find the file they were looking for, she began to look a bit nervous. Everyone was holding their breath and waiting to see what would happen next.
Molly started to check the drawers, and when she got to the second drawer, her eyes lit up from excitement. The drawer was empty except for one document in a yellow manilla envelope. Molly picked up the envelope and held it up in the air for everyone to see. She smiled and said, "Ah, ha! I found it!"
Kris had known that Molly would find it. After all, she was the one who had planted it there, and she had told Molly where to look. The only reason Molly had checked the other documents first and pretended to look nervous was to make the investigation look authentic.
When Mike saw the document, a proud look appeared on his face. He turned to Joanna and said, "Well, look what we have here. Joanna, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Joanna looked at Mike. She had a calm expression on her face. Even now, when the tables had turned on her, she didn't panic.
The people around them began to whisper amongst themselves. One person said, "It turns out that the general manager was right, and it was Joanna's mistake all along."
"The new vice general manager lost thirty million dollars of company money," someone else said. "And she's only been with us a few days! It's no wonder the general manager is so angry."
"I've always liked Ms. Devine," a third person said. "I thought that she was a hard worker. Now it seems that she is a coward—what a disappointment. I can't believe that she wouldn't even admit her mistake. I wonder what she'll say now?"
Joanna heard every word of their discussion, and she also noticed the pride in Mike's eyes, but her calm was not disturbed. She looked Mike in the eyes and said, "Mr. Devine, what do you think I will say? That I didn't do my job well? That I was lazy and did not review the documents? Well, if so, you are about to be sorely disappointed." "
Mike: "The evidence is there, in Molly's hands. Are you sure you want to deny it?"
"Evidence?" Joanna scoffed. She smiled, walked towards Molly, and grabbed the document.
Molly would not let it go, though. She held the document tightly. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Do you think that you can destroy the evidence?"
Joanna glared at Molly and said, "Let go!"
Molly was stupefied. She looked at Mike, and he nodded, so she let Joanna have the document.
Joanna opened the file, and when she saw the blue opaque folder, she laughed. She turned to Molly and said, "This is your so-called "evidence? This?!?!?!"
Mike looked worried for the first time since he'd accused Joanna of making a mistake. "Explain the meaning of this!" he shouted.
Joanna held the file in the air and read the title aloud for everyone to hear: "Cooperation Plan with Woo's Real Estate." It was not the contract for Arkan, and it had nothing to do with raw materials!
Molly began to panic. Didn't Kris say that she put it in that drawer? – she thought. There was only one file in that drawer, so she had assumed that it was what they were looking for. Thus, she hadn't read it before declaring victory.
Mike grabbed the file out of Joanna's hands. He reread the title and angrily threw the papers on the ground. Then he turned to Molly and began to shout at her for her incompetence.
Kris was puzzled and shocked. How could this have happened? – she wondered - Joanna must have seen the file earlier in the day and disposed of it in advance. What a fuckarow this has turned into! Joanna had a smug smile on her face, and Kris felt a sudden urge to slap her hard across the face. She clenched and unclenched her fists at the sides of her body in an attempt to contain her anger - it was hard, though.
Everyone was confused, and the room was so loud with speculation, that it sounded like a crowded subway station. When Joanna cleared her throat, though, the room went silent. Everyone turned to see what she had to say.
Joanna turned to Mike and held up a file for him to see. "What's this?" she asked. "Mr. Devine, is this the evidence that you were talking about?"
- Writer
