HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO WITH HER.
The night before, Penn barely slept. Not that he ever did on a normal day (after working eight to five at the office, he worked for three extra hours at home), but this time it was the stress of Tido that kept him up.
Her push-and-pull tactic haunted him, her robbery nearly killed him and now her honest and vulnerable video buried him alive. Penn was at a loss of words.
He thought avoiding whatever was going on between him and Tido would suffice, but clearly it was leading to more problems. Problems that Penn was too old for! Problems that Penn had said no to ten years ago!
Brenda was rightfully furious when Penn told her what happened as soon as he got home the night before. He expected her lecture about Gabriel and how the old man should have retired long ago, but truthfully, Penn never saw the point in letting him go. Gabriel may have been stubborn, but he was also an undeniable hard worker.
By the morning, the news had spread like wildfire and the board of directors sent separate emails to find out what had happened. Locking his car parked opposite the Lingosphere building, Penn decided to send an official email to them after his meeting with the detective.
He was somewhat confused but relieved to find Fred's TCS van parked in front of the building. He was leaning against the hood and conversing with a male pedestrian wearing a black puffer jacket, dark jeans and navy boat shoes.
"Good morning, gentlemen," Penn greeted, approaching them.
They turned their heads to him and returned his greeting.
"Mr. Benson, nice to meet you, I'm Detective Naicker," The man introduced himself, holding out his hand.
"Nice to meet you, thank you for coming," Penn said, shaking his hand firmly.
"Shall we go inside?"
"I would like to have a quick word with Fred if you don't mind."
"Not at all," Detective Naicker reassured, then walked away. He stood at a distance he knew wouldn't allow him to hear their conversation.
"How are you doing today?" Fred asked.
"Okay."
"Sometimes okay is good enough."
"I suppose. I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?"
"Just checking in," Fred answered. "It's protocol. How are Tamara and Gabriel?"
"Hard to say. I gave them the day off."
"Good idea," Fred nodded in agreement. "They definitely need the rest, especially Gabriel."
Remembering Gabriel's breakdown last night stabbed Penn's heart. He prayed the old man wasn't banging his head against the wall right now over Tido's robbery. He truly wasn't to blame. Penn had re-watched the footage with them -- no one could have suspected bad intentions coming from a father-daughter duo. Their mission to fool everyone succeeded. It was now up to the police to do their job.
Suddenly, a light bulb lit up in Penn's head. "I know this is last minute, and you can say no if it inconveniences your shift until six this evening, but could you patrol here?"
Fred's brows rose in surprise. "Oh? Don't you have extra security?"
"Gabriel has never worked well with others, let's put it that way," Penn reasoned, realising that Tido's video threw him off so badly last night, he didn't have the mental space to figure out his adjustments for the day.
"He's got to be one dedicated employee, then," Fred praised.
Penn nodded. "That's correct."
Fred gave him a thoughtful look. "I'll let the head office know, I'm sure they won't have a problem with it. I was sent out for you yesterday, anyway."
An invisible weight lifted off of Penn's shoulders. "Perfect. We close at five p.m."
"Noted."
At reception with the detective, the weight crashed back down on Penn's shoulders when he spotted Tido's vacant seat. He hadn't thought this far, either. Settling on the fact that at least Fred was at the gate, they continued to the security room where Penn, from memory, pressed the exact options Gabriel had last night on his computer to find the footage.
Transferring it onto Detective Naicker's flash drive, Penn was told that the case number he'd received on his phone could be used as reference whenever he wanted to call in and get updates on the case. Before leaving, Detective Naicker assured him that they would catch the thief.
Penn chose to believe him. For Tido's sake.
"Morning, is it true?!" Jeremy exclaimed, hurrying into reception just as the detective walked past him.
Penn face-palmed himself in realisation. He'd forgotten to let the team know! He should have taken this day off as well; it wasn't looking good for him. "Morning Jeremy, yes, it is."
"How?" Jeremy asked, unable to let the robbery sink in. "We've never been robbed before. Gabriel is a beast in security, I don't understand, who outsmarted him?"
"A father and daughter duo."
Jeremy's jaw dropped in shock.
"I know."
"He had no way of knowing," Jeremy voiced in realisation. One that Penn was grateful for not being alone on. "Poor him. When did it happen? Was it five minutes after I left?"
"Ten minutes, according to the video footage," Penn answered. "I was right behind you."
"Oh no," Jeremy let out breathlessly, his heart sinking. "It could have been avoided. If I'd stayed a bit long--"
Penn waved the rest of his words away. "It already happened, Jeremy. Don't hold yourself accountable. I already have Gabriel doing that and I won't allow you to join in on him."
"Poor Tido," Jeremy pitied, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Well, did you speak to the cops?"
Penn nodded. "They took their statements and the man who walked past you just now was the detective. He took the footage with him, so an official investigation is underway."
"Okay, that's cute, but I don't think anything will come out of it," Jeremy said truthfully. "I'm begging for this detective to prove me wrong."
Before Penn could abstain his words, they flew out of his mouth quicker than he thought. "Why did your phone go to voicemail yesterday?"
"Excuse me?"
"Tamara phoned me after her robbery. She told me that she tried your number multiple times, but she never got through to you."
"I'm so lost, what are you talking about?" Jeremy asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.
Penn reflected his facial expression. "What do you mean?"
"Tido didn't call me yesterday."
"Not from her phone number, from the office number," Penn clarified.
"Yeah, that too. Nothing."
He froze. "Really?"
Jeremy swallowed the urge to respond sarcastically, so he nodded slowly.
"Who told you about it, then?" Penn asked, switching gears with the conversation, but not entirely. Even in her absence, Tido still managed to baffle him.
