An Afternoon Lost

The Kinch Building was a massive structure, so tall in fact, that one could easily strain their neck trying to see the spire at the top of the building. The spire was a design based on a combination of both land and sea; waves crashing into the shoreline that then grew into a replica of the building design. The lobby held both pictures of the spire during its construction as well as a scale replica for those interested in a closer view.

Home to nearly three dozen different businesses, some of which occupied multiple floors, the building offered a wide range of professional solutions. It felt like one-stop-shopping for all of an individual’s professional needs. Nearly half of the ground floor was occupied by a Mom and Pop shop and deli, owned by two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, Rebecca and Wayne. Other floors held the offices of doctors, dentists, insurance agents, financial institutions and the like. For all its occupants though, like many commercial buildings, when the weekend came around, the building was the very definition of the proverbial ghost town.

Blaine, the sole contracts manager for Integrity Solutions Inc., was a creature of habit. The sun was bright in the early morning sky as he exited his car. More of a morning person, he was always one of the first to arrive in the office, rain or shine, weekday or weekend. Due in part to his early arrivals, he was always able to park in the same spot. Grabbing his bag from the passenger seat and his favorite coffee mug, one that his brother had sent him from Germany, from the console, he headed towards the front entrance of the Kinch Building.

Raising his hand and nodding his head in a silent greeting to the security guard, he strode over to the bank of elevators that serviced the many floors in the building. Scanning his badge, he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 27^th floor. He didn’t mind working on the weekend, it was always quiet. And, since things in the office had picked up recently, he didn’t mind when his boss asked him to work Saturday.

Silence was one of the main reasons that he enjoyed working on a Saturday. He was able to accomplish a lot more work when no one was around. Especially Simone. What a distraction she was, and not in a bad way either. Just over five feet tall, she had chestnut brown hair that curled at the ends which reached the ample swells of her chest. Her brown eyes, when they were focused on you, made you feel like you were helplessly caught in a tractor beam. She was out of his league though, and he knew it.

The office was empty when Blaine entered and punched in the alarm code. The silence would amplify his concentration and with any luck, maybe he wouldn’t be here all day. He tolerated background noise when necessary but if given the option, complete silence would be his choice. He often wondered, did people ever consider how many errors they made by being distracted by music or conversations? He considered multitasking a myth, either something had your attention or it didn’t. There was no middle ground, no gray area.

Several large contracts had been received during the week that needed to be processed into the system so that work could begin. Looking at the stack of papers on his desk, Blaine knew that he’d be here all day after all. Apparently a few more orders had arrived after he had left yesterday and someone had been kind enough to print them out and add them to the large stack already on his desk.

The entry process itself wasn’t difficult. Tedious, yes. Time-consuming, yes. Not difficult though, especially when you were surrounded by silence. Absorbed in his work, Blaine was surprised to see that it was almost noon already. Time to make a trip to Rebecca and Wayne’s deli to pick up some lunch.

“Hi Blaine” Rebecca said as he walked in. “I haven’t seen you in here on a Saturday for a little while.”

“Hi Rebecca. Yeah, it’s been a couple of months but things started to pick up this week. Where is Wayne today?”

“He dropped me off this morning. He’ll be back later. I have him running a few errands for me” she said with a mischievous grin.

“That’s exactly why I am staying single and not falling for that long-term relationship or marriage trap. Too many hidden dangers in there for me” he said laughing. “Please extend my sympathies to Wayne when he gets back.”

“I will. Would you like your usual?”

“Yes, please.”

Rebecca turned around and began making his egg salad on sourdough sandwich. While she made his sandwich, they continued their back-and-forth banter discussing the traffic, weather and some gossip about a few of the other tenants in the building.

Returning to his office, lunch in hand, Blaine was a little annoyed to hear music playing when he opened the door to the office suite. There goes my peace and quiet, he thought, wondering who else had decided to forego a bright, sunny, crisp afternoon. A soft, audible sigh escaped his lips as he wound his way back to his corner desk.

Finishing his lunch, he mentally began preparing himself for an afternoon push to finish entering the remaining contracts. Reaching towards the diminished stack to grab the next one, he stopped midway when he heard the soft voice with the southern accent.

“Hi Blaine” Simone said.

“Hi Simone” he stammered. Her greeting had sounded like a breathless whisper caressing his ear causing his stammered response. Clearing his throat, he said “I’m surprised to see you here on a Saturday; what brought you in?”

He knew there was no reason for the sales manager to be working on the weekend. He was glad that she worked for them though, because in his mind, he could not fathom buyers not falling all over themselves in an effort to purchase whatever she was selling, as if a large order might impress her. The fact that it didn’t was far from their collective brains.

“Actually, I’m here to see you” she said. “I knew that with the influx of orders this past week, Darryl had asked you to come in today and get them entered. I wanted to personally thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It’s really not a problem. I didn’t have anything scheduled this weekend anyway.”

“Well, I also wanted to talk to you when there weren’t so many eyes and ears around too.” Hesitating a few moments, she continued “I also have a confession to make. I’ve had a crush on you for a while and I wanted to talk to you about it when no one else was around. I think you have one on me too, I’ve seen the looks you sneak my way when I’m passing your desk or during meetings in the conference room.”

He could feel the heat rising up his cheeks and was sure that steam would soon be pouring out of his ears.

“I…..I…..”

“I thought so” she whispered.

Taking his hand, she helped pull him up from his chair and into her arms. That first embrace was like putting a match to month dry kindling, the flames were instant. Lips hungrily sought each other as hands moved and roamed each other, making the previously unknown now known. Clothes abandoned along the way left a haphazard trail from Blaine’s desk all the way to the conference room.

Pleasure satiated for the time being, Simone said “I really should let you finish the rest of the work you came in for.” Retracing their steps and gathering their clothes along the way, they made plans for dinner later that evening. “Here is my address, pick me up when you leave. Make sure you call me when you get close” she instructed.

Taking time to collect himself before even attempting to try and refocus on what he had been doing, he heard the office doorbell ring. Hoping that Simone had forgotten her keys, purse or an article of clothing, he opened the door with a smile on his face.

“Come with us,” two burly men in gray suits said grabbing his arms and handcuffing him. “You know what you did” said the shorter of the two. Blaine had no idea who they were or what they were talking about.

Blaine briefly considered protesting and trying to convince them that they had the wrong man. Another look at these two men, built like tugboats, told him that his efforts would only waste his breath. He was sure they were just following orders but whose orders those were, he did not know.

In her car and on the phone, Simone saw the men leading a handcuffed and bruised Blaine towards a dark sedan in the corner of the parking lot. She spoke rapidly for a few more seconds then, ending the call, she stepped out of her car. Striding with purpose and a face set with a mix of anger and determination, she quickly covered the distance between them.

“What are you doing with him?” she demanded.

Ignoring her, they hurried their pace, practically dragging Blaine to the car.

“Excuse me, I asked you WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM?”

The two burly men glanced at each other, the taller mans face a look of questioning while the shorter man’s face showed exasperation. “Miss, this is none of your concern. This is a Federal matter” he said.

“Show me your identification then” she said.

Both men paused, trying to determine the best way out of the situation that had quickly spiraled out of their control. The shorter man on her left, beginning to reach inside his suit jacket, suddenly stopped. Such was the usual reaction when someone found themselves staring at the business end of Simone’s 9mm Glock.

“Is someone going to tell me what is happening here” Blaine said, his voice cracked and stressed.

“You’ll have to wait a few minutes Blaine” Simone said, her eyes laser-focused on the two behemoths.

A half dozen cars screeched to a halt near the quartet as agents jumped from the cars as they slid to a stop. “Stand down Agent Newsome” said a large man, standing a good head above the two burly men, quickly assuming control of the situation.

“Will someone PLEASE tell me what is going on and take these damn handcuffs off me.”

“Calm down Blaine. Here, let me get those cuffs off you” Simone said.

“What in the world happened? What is this all about? I’m just a contracts manager, nothing more”

“We know that Blaine” Simone said. “Look, I can’t tell you all of the details yet since this is still an active case, but I can tell you this much. Darryl had given you some bogus contracts worth a few million dollars. He was skimming money from the government and that isn’t exactly smiled upon.”

Stunned by what he had just been told, Blaine’s mind flooded with questions and asked the first that came to mind. “Then what were you doing here today Simone?”

“Actually, my name is Special Agent Tina Newsome. I’m a Special Investigator with the IRS.”

His jaw dropped and an ache in his chest told him that he had been right, she was out of his league. The fresh memory of their encounter in the office and conference room was still too fresh to provide any consolation to him.

“I have a few hours of paperwork ahead of me so please, excuse me” she said.

“Yeah, sure. I’m sure you know how to get in touch with me if you need to.” Blaine turned, shoulders drooping, and slowly began what felt like a walk of shame towards his own car. Reaching his car, he took a last look at the mass of agents now gathered, search warrants in hand, and sighed.

He started his car and sat staring into space for a few minutes, trying to collect himself before driving home. A knock on his window startled him.

“Hey, I meant what I said upstairs” Simone/Tina said. “I really meant what I said upstairs” she said. “I don’t know if that helps or makes things worse. I probably won’t be able to make it to dinner tonight, but maybe I can bring some pizza or Chinese over after I’m finished.”

Blaine felt the flush return to his face and said “sure, I’d like that.”