The Coworker

by Freida McFadden

I can check your calendar and cross-reference it with my own, and come up with six potential appointment times in the next 48 hours when it would be convenient for both of us to meet, and you can highlight two of those times that work best for you, and we can agree on a final time that is mutually convenient.

That's a bit specific. Hmm...

Part I

Ohh shit, there's parts lol .

“No. I’m not pregnant.

“Do you think this dress makes me look fat?”

Iol she automatically thought the dress made her look fat

Dawn sent me an odd email asking if I could talk to her at the end of the workday about a “matter of great importance.”

Hmm, so she sent the email to Natalie and Seth..

I wonder if that was about… No. Probably not.

About what?..

she does like turtles more than any fully grown adult rightfully should.

Something to know

It’s a turtle figurine.

What?..

there’s a stain on my fingers. Something dark red rubbed off on my hand when I picked up the turtle. I stare down at my palm, trying to figure out what I just touched. It can’t be paint, since the turtle is green. Ketchup?

Oh shit...blood? Omg

It smells almost… metallic.

two words are spoken in a tortured female voice that send an icy chill down my spine:

“Help me.”

OMFG. WTF. Oh shit.

Hey Dawn, everything okay?

Wait, I actually love seeing text blips lol

Seth Hoffman has been the manager of the Dorchester branch of Vixed since before I started working here.

I notice the wedding band he always wears on his left fourth finger is gone. Recently gone—there’s a visible tan line.

the photograph he always keeps on his desk of him and his wife Melinda, but that’s gone too.

I shift my weight between my bright red Louboutins. I always wear heels, and red is my favorite color for shoes, but these are pinching my toes like crazy. I should’ve gotten a size eight.

NINE MONTHS EARLIER

Mia Hodge

Like blood.

Also, we’ve been dating for nearly two months.

And my last relationship was a complete disaster that made me seriously worry for my safety.

Screw it. I’m getting out of the car.

Omg

The back door is unlocked.

Oh... Goodness

There’s a bottle of wine on the counter. Red wine, filled about halfway, still uncorked. There’s also a wine glass on the counter, with a residue of red liquid at the bottom of the glass. And then there’s a second glass. Except this one is shattered on the floor.

And I scream.

I’ll be reliving what I saw in that living room until the day I die. All that blood…

I wasn’t with Caleb all night. We were together for part of the night, then he left my house. I

“That’s right,”

“I was with Caleb the whole night.”

As I pass it to the detective, I notice he takes it only with the tip of his fingers. It strikes me as a little odd, but I try not to get too paranoid.

He probably is going to do DNA testing.

“I need you to tell the police we were together all night last night.”

On goodness.. Making herself look guilty

But given everything, it’s better to have an alibi.

Hmmm.... 1 don't like how he came out with that. '

And when I get married, they’ll help me.”

“If you get married,” I corrected her.

That’s when I realize:

The door isn’t locked.

Oh shit........

There’s a blocked number on the screen, just like earlier at work. I swipe to answer.

I used to get calls like that all the time, sometimes with just silence, but sometimes with a string of threats on the other line.

But I haven’t gotten a call like that since… well, it’s been several months. I doubt it’s that same person—they have no reason to hate me anymore.

Someone used to stalk her or something?...

The first thing I see on my desk is that turtle figurine that appeared yesterday morning.

I distinctly remember that I took that turtle figurine and shoved it to the far corner of my desk,

Yet somehow it’s made its way to the center of my desk. Right in front of my keyboard.

“Actually, he specifically asked me if you would be there and said he needed to talk to you.”

Why is she being suspicious

“I guess I’ll stay then.”

“And every single one of them was internal.”

She's in the building somewhere

My fingerprints were on that wine glass in the kitchen? How could that be?

WTH..?

“We’re done. For now.”

Oh god. I feel like its trying to get pinned on her...

He can’t possibly know about…

when we said we were going to meet, you said you had to do something else that night. Remember?”

Hmm, so she didn't go straight home after being with him...