“Joni Gilstein is coming here?” Nadirah Haddad stopped dead in her tracks. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“Nope. I’m not kidding. That’s the name they gave me,” said Gifford, checking his paperwork once again. “She’s coming in from out-of-state real soon. Tomorrow, I think, and she’ll be assigned to our area.”
“Oh, my God,” Nadirah said in a shocked and dismayed tone of voice. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it! Of all the luck in the world.”
Gifford looked at Nadirah with confusion. “What’s wrong? She someone you know?”
Nadirah nodded. “Yeah, I knew her, alright. Very briefly, but I knew her. I just haven’t seen her in something like twenty years or so. Nineteen to be exact. She was twenty at the time and I was twenty-nine.”
“I take it whatever your experience was with this person wasn’t very good.”
Nadirah snorted, pushing her short brown hair out of her face. “You’re a perceptive one, Giffy.”
Gifford waited a moment for his coworker to go on. When she didn’t, he prompted her with, “So what happened? Or is it a secret?”
“Well,” Nadirah said hesitantly, “is it too late to stop her arrival and get her replaced?”
“I’m afraid it is.”
Nadirah contemplated another moment or two, then said, “Can you keep a secret? I mean, really keep a secret?”
Gifford nodded.
“Seriously, this has to stay between us, Giff. Especially if there’s no chance of stopping her from coming here.”
“My lips are sealed. But remember, she’ll only be here in Connecticut for a month or so, then it’s back out west to sunny California.”
“Oh, is that where she’s been living these days?”
Gifford nodded, gazing into his coworker’s dark brown eyes. “That’s what I was told. So what happened? She rob you or something?”
Nadirah chuckled and said, “No, she just made a ton of prank phone calls to me.”
Gifford laughed. “All this animosity over pranks from two decades ago? Must have been some prank. But hey, she was young. So tell me about it. What happened?”
“Well, she went to court and all that, but nothing happened. I guess she had other legal troubles going on and the state wanted her ass more for that than for the calls she made to me.”
“Why’d she call you?”
“We only met once and then we spoke on the phone two or three times before she started harassing me. To this day, I’m still not sure what the bitch’s problem was, not that I ever cared. Listen, Giffy.”
“Yeah?”
“I was going by the nickname of Freckles back then, so please, please don’t mention that name to her. She never knew me as Nadirah.”
“Okay.”
“And given all the time that’s passed, I doubt she’d recognize me.”
“I would think not after seeing you just once,” he said, even though he suspected there was more to the story than his coworker was letting him in on.
“Thanks, Giff, you’re the best.”
Nadirah smiled, if only for a second. It was something Gifford didn’t see her do much of. The petite woman was a very serious and sometimes even unpleasant person to deal with. But he liked her because she was a good worker. She was reliable. And for one who worked in a forensics lab, that was important. She was dependable and competent, and she got the job done. That was what he valued most about the woman.
“So she’s a computer wizard these days, huh?” said Nadirah, pretending not to be curious.
“She must be somewhat if they’re sending her in all the way from Cali to train us to use the new software program they want us to use, plus whatever else they may have her do.”
“Why all the way from Cali? There are other people with her skills right here in this area.”
“Because that’s where the software company is located. She works for them or is at least somehow connected to them in some way or another, and so that’s why they’re sending her in. Where did you guys live when you last saw each other?”
“Here in the Niantic area. Where in Cali is she coming from?”
“Somewhere in NorCal, I think.”
“Hmm. I grew up in Southern Cal.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Nadirah nodded, then looked up at the clock. Their break was over. It was back to business as usual.
At five-thirty that afternoon, Nadirah arrived at her tiny secluded cottage-like home deep in the woods of southern Connecticut. She threw her messenger bag down on a small round table in her combination living room and bedroom before stepping into the kitchen. She then grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and popped the top off the bottle.
The cap fell to the floor.
Nadirah sighed and looked down at her cat. “I need a wife to clean up after me, Booty.”
The black cat gazed up at his master and meowed.
“An old-fashioned kind of gal who loves to cook and clean. I wouldn’t give a care if she worked or not. I’d just care that she cleaned up after me and took care of me a few nights a week.”
The cat meowed again.
“Then again, I take that back. Forget the wife. They’re too much trouble.”
Ignoring the fallen cap, she took the beer into the other room and sat down at the table. After a few swallows, she began to read the mail she’d picked up on the way in. Nothing interesting. Just bills and junk.
Nadirah sat back in her chair and did some thinking. A moment later, she shook her head slightly. “Joni Gilstein. What are the odds of that?” she said to the cat which now lay curled up by her feet.
In her mind’s eye, she could see the girl, swaying on the dance floor many, many years ago, long hair moving with each step. She had been very feminine, and although she had smiled politely, been friendly and seemed to want to enjoy herself, she could sense that something was wrong. Something had been troubling the girl.
She hated to admit it, but she had wondered about her at times throughout the years and was curious to see what she looked like these days.
She showered the day’s stress away and had just pulled on a pair of clean panties when her phone rang. She glanced at the Caller ID display and saw it was Gifford.
“Hello?” she said into the phone.
“Your little friend is a language guru, so I’ve learned,” Gifford said.
“So?”
“So I just thought you might want to know.”
“Why would I want to know that and who cares?”
“They want her not only to teach people how to use the new software for data input and all that fun stuff, but also for those in the foreign language department.”
“What foreign language department?”
“Meaning for those involved in any cases that may require an interpreter.”
“But isn’t that what we have regular interpreters around for?”
“Yes, but I guess there’s some programming that needs to be done in other languages as well and this way they pay one person to do it all, rather than a programmer along with people who speak all the languages.”
“All the languages?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“How many languages does the bitch know?” asked Nadirah.
“I don’t know, but I think she might do mostly Romance Languages because I overheard some of the hotshots talking about Arabic language speakers and Asian language speakers – that sort of thing. Slavic, Indic, and whatever else they may need, so I guess she won’t literally be the only one they send in.”
“They must be expanding other departments.”
“Think so?”
“Well, why else would they be bringing in all these people?”
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Looking forward to meeting your old buddy tomorrow?”
“Oh, I’m just thrilled at the idea of it, Gifford.”
Gifford laughed. “Okay, see you tomorrow when you’re not out in the field. I owe you lunch anyway for covering for me when I had to run out and deal with Joe’s latest stunt with totaling his car and all that. Sometimes I wonder if we’re going to last much longer.”
“Yeah, I know what it’s like. I’ll be counting on lunch, though,” Nadirah said, smiling into the phone before they hung up.
She fell onto her bed in thoughtful silence.
“So the bitch speaks the language of love, huh?” she said aloud a few minutes later.
The cat, who had joined her in bed, meowed in response.
She tried to get herself to focus on what she disliked about the girl and not her curiosity about her present life. Then she got back up to microwave herself some dinner, determined to keep her hatred alive.
Nadirah entered the laboratory the next morning and patiently waited until Gifford and another colleague finished discussing the fingerprint samples they’d just analyzed.
The colleague turned to Nadirah on his way out of the room. “Blood, semen, piss, spit… what gore we surround ourselves in day after day, huh?”
Nadirah nodded. “And even more so when you’re one of the ones that have to be out there in the midst of some of these more than grisly crime scenes.”
After the guy left the room, Nadirah wanted to ask Gifford about Joni but didn’t want to appear curious either. Instead, she hoped he would bring up the subject on his own. She got her wish when Gifford said, “Your little bud has arrived, just so you know.”
Nadirah shrugged indifferently.
“I even met her.”
“Yeah?”
Gifford nodded. “You didn’t tell me she was gorgeous.”
“I guess that’s just a matter of opinion, isn’t it?”
“What was she like when you last saw her?”
Nadirah gazed up at the tall, slender man. Gifford was a good friend as well as a fellow colleague. She didn’t want to lie to him. There’d be no point in it anyway. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say she was gorgeous, but she was cute enough.”
“Cute enough?”
“Kind of. The big bad boss wants to see me right about now,” Nadirah said, changing the subject, “so I better check in before she has a coronary. It’s probably about when I get to have the luxury of having this crazy prankster train me on the new software.”
“Okay. See you around lunchtime.”
Nadirah headed to her boss’s office and rapped on the open door. The older woman glanced up from her desk.
“Oh, Nadirah! There you are. Do come in, Miss Haddad.”
Nadirah stepped into the room and waited patiently, hands clasped behind her back, until her boss straightened some of the many stacks of papers on her desk. When she was done, she looked up at her and said, “How are things going?”
“Okay.”
“Good. Ready for a crash course in the supposed newer, better and more sophisticated information management system?”
“Sure,” Nadirah said flatly.
Catching her lack of enthusiasm, her boss asked if everything was alright.
“Yes, it’s fine,” Nadirah said, managing a tight smile.
“Okay, then. As you’ll see, there will be some new faces milling about. Sometime today, I’ll assign one of them to assist you with the new program.”
“Sounds good. But I thought you had just one lady who was to be training everyone with the new program?”
“Oh, yes. Joni. Not many people are familiar with half a dozen languages, so we need her for other things as well. Therefore, someone else may be assigned to you.”
“Half a dozen languages?” asked Nadirah, unable to hide her surprise.
“Well, along with English and sign language, that is.”
Oh, yeah, that’s right. The bitch had mentioned the sign language way back when. Even she herself had been into that.
“I don’t know that she’s necessarily fluent in all these languages. Just familiar with them,” her boss added.
“How long will she and the others be here?”
“Since it’s just a special assignment and most of the people aren’t even directly affiliated with the lab or the programming company, I doubt it will be long. Don’t worry, though. They promised not to get in the way.”
“Okay. Will that be all, Mrs. Everly?”
“Sure will. Could you please close the door on your way out?”
Nadirah nodded and pulled the door closed as she left the office. Several voices caught her attention further down the corridor. She spotted Gifford talking to a black woman and a preppy-looking guy and strode over to join them.
“Hiya, Nadirah,” said Gifford. “Thomas here was just telling me about the woman who is to be training you later on.”
“Oh, yeah?”
The black woman laughed and then turned to look at Thomas as he began to speak. “She’s an interesting one, alright.”
“Good? Bad?” asked Gifford.
“Both.”
“Both?” he asked.
Thomas nodded. “The bad part is that she’s both rude and crazy. The good is that she seems rather intelligent and is definitely a looker. If my wife knew I was working with someone so damn good-looking, temporarily or not, she’d probably make me quit.”
Everyone but Nadirah laughed.
“How is she rude and crazy?” asked the woman.
“She’s just boldly blunt, you could say. It seems she’s got a sarcastic answer for just about everything. It’s kind of funny in a way, but some people might take offense to it.”
“Well, let’s just hope the new program makes it worth it,” the woman added.
The others continued talking as Nadirah turned to see a group of people exit a room down the corridor in the opposite direction. Most of the people looked pretty ordinary from where she stood.
But one clearly stood out.
A petite woman with long auburn hair dressed in a business outfit that consisted of a red skirt and matching jacket with a black blouse underneath. Red high-heeled pumps completed the attire. The woman looked so good that she really hoped to hell it wasn’t Joni.
But it was.
Her features were clearly recognizable even after all the years and just one meeting. The group approached and Nadirah turned away, even though she knew she couldn’t dodge her forever. When the group passed her by, she studied Joni from behind. Damn, her hair was long! She knew it was dyed as her own hair was, and that she had once been a brunette like herself. Only she had decided to dye her own hair her natural color as it began to gray with age.
Remember what the bitch put you through, she reminded herself firmly.
She turned back to face the others and found Gifford smiling impishly at her.
If she could have, she would have slapped him.
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