The Enclave by Karen Hancock

Author:Karen Hancock [Hancock, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 0100-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

“He’s played you perfectly, Ms. McHenry. . . .”

Reinhardt’s words echoed through Lacey’s mind as she watched him walk away, her irritation swelling into outrage. How dare he say such a thing! It was not only ridiculous, it was insulting. Both to her and to Dr. Swain. Did he think she was an idiot? Did he have that low an opinion of his employer? Played me perfectly, indeed!

“Was Dr. Reinhardt harassing you again, my dear?”

She startled at Dr. Viascola’s voice sounding directly behind her and turned. Her supervisor had apparently just left the coffee bar’s cash register and now stood before her, cup in hand. Slattery was paying for his own coffee in Viascola’s wake. They must have come from the same meeting Reinhardt had.

“Harassing me?” Lacey asked.

“You looked angry speaking to him,” said Viascola. “You look angry now.”

“Oh.” Lacey shrugged and smoothed the irritation from her expression. “We just had a difference of opinion.”

“I heard about how he tried to persuade you to go alone with him to Tucson last week,” Viascola added, “even though you didn’t have leave.”

“That was just a misunderstanding on my part,” Lacey assured her. “Besides, I stopped to talk to him just now.”

Slattery came up behind Viascola and stood at her elbow sipping coffee from his cardboard cup, watching Lacey with his electric blue eyes.

“You don’t need to cover for him, dear,” said Viascola. “I outrank him by several degrees.”

“I know, ma’am. I’m not covering.”

Viascola regarded her speculatively. “Well, if he bothers you again, you let me know and we will deal with it.”

“Of course I will, ma’am.”

“Enjoy the rest of your day, then, dear.”

They walked off with their coffee, leaving her more out of sorts than ever. She didn’t like it that they’d been watching her so closely they’d seen she was angry. Nor that Viascola had offered to deal with Reinhardt. Nor that Reinhardt’s paranoia seemed to be rubbing off on Lacey herself.

She continued to the basement elevators and finally reached the sanctity of her small dorm room, where she dropped her gym bag onto her bed. As she started toward the bathroom, her eye caught on the manila envelope she’ d left on her desk earlier: the one with Reinhardt’s disk full of articles. Anger washed through her again, and she turned away from it, determined to shred it as soon as she finished in the bathroom.

But his words continued to surface, niggling her conscience: “Did you happen to notice which way that telescope in his office was pointing . . .”

Which of course she had: positioned at the western window wall, the scope was precisely where it would need to be for Swain to have watched her and Reinhardt on the path.

It burned her that he’d been right about the telescope, and even more that he’ d predicted correctly Swain’s interest in their conversation. The director had pounced the moment she’d stepped through his door, wanting to know all about it and why she was talking to Reinhardt at all.

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