Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Fifty-Four: Al, Friday

It was near the end of Al's work day. He was the last one in his department to leave, usually. Because his department had no dealings with the public and thus no desk schedule, the staff could make their own hours as long as they did the required number per day, and most of them chose to come in before eight in the morning and finish their day between three-thirty and four in the afternoon. He just couldn't get in that early even though he woke up around five in the morning to feed Samson, because he worked out in the morning now that he couldn't run home anymore, so he was still at his desk just before five o'clock when the workroom phone rang. He sighed in frustration, because he didn't want to answer a complicated question from a staff member in another department just before he was about to leave. But, to be a diligent staff member and not reflect the stereotype of the lazy municipal employee, he picked up.

"Good afternoon, Catalogue workroom."

"Hi, I'm looking for Alistair Mackenzie."

Al smiled in spite of himself. "This is Al. Is this HR?"

Lauren chuckled on the other end of the line. "Is this becoming our shtick?"

"At least until Rachel gives me my phone back."

"I guess the cops haven't given her hers back, yet?"

"No. I think some perv in the department is uploading the photos of you and Rachel to his Facebook page."

He was joking, but Lauren was silent on the other end of the line. Then she said, "That... would be despicable. I really hope that doesn't happen. You and Joe might know, now, but my family and Joe's family don't know, and that would be a really shitty way for them to find out."

"I really don't think that will happen. Wouldn't Facebook pull them for obscene content?"

"Al, please don't joke about this."

"I'm sorry. You're right. It's no joking matter."

"Thanks."

Silence for a moment. Al cleared his throat. "How are you doing?" he asked.

She sighed. "I don't know. Do you want me to talk about it, or are you just being polite?"

"Uh..."

"Oh, wait, are you still on work time?"

"Actually, I was just about to clock out."

"You probably want to go home."

"I'd always make the time to talk to you, Lauren. I'm really glad you called, actually."

"Oh, yeah?"

He liked hearing the hopefulness in her voice. "Yeah. I wanted to touch base with you, see how you're feeling about... what happened last night. Wait, where are you?"

"Out for a drive to get milk, trying to stay away as long as I can because Joe's home, and his mom is doting on him even though I requested specifically that she leave us alone today, and his dad is chasing the kids around; hopefully he doesn't break his neck going down the stairs."

Al chuckled and then realized that was a terrible thing to find funny. Lauren just had a way of stringing together sentences that were like a whiplash, just like Rachel had. "So... you can discuss... delicate matters? I'm happy Joe's home, by the way, that means he's out of the woods, even if he has a way to go."

"Yeah. I... I made love to him this afternoon, after I brought him home."

"Oh." He looked around, but there were no other staff working in Technical Services. He was all alone to whisper about illicit things. "Is that... good?"