Standard Office Mistrust

The next few days included some of the best work experiences of Imogene's life. On Wednesday, she ventured to fix a network disconnection problem on sixth, which turned into a lively conversation with an employee about his experiences as a fighter pilot in World War II. On Thursday, she and Moss wiped out a virus that had overtaken the entire company. And on Friday, she managed to beat Jen at Guitar Hero—although Roy and Moss both stressed that this wasn't exactly an accomplishment.

However, even though things were going extremely well in Imogene's mind, Roy's skepticism from earlier soon returned. As he got to know Imogene more and more over the next two weeks, he began to notice a few holes in her story. On her second Friday at the office, he decided to slyly alert Moss of these when Imogene departed to use the restroom.

"Hey, Moss," he said.

"Quiet, Roy," his friend responded without looking away from his computer. "I'm busy."

"Oh, come on! I know you're just playing online Space Invaders."

Moss narrowed his eyes at him. "What is it?"

"I think I might have been right about Imogene."

"What about her?"

"Well—" Roy shifted his position in his seat. "She's supposedly the daughter of Weston Eklund, right? The CEO of Prophecy Electronics?"

"Yes."

"So, why isn't her first IT job at Prophecy Electronics? Why would she get shipped all the way overseas for it?"

"Hold on. Let me put on my slightly larger glasses." Moss pulled a pair out of his desk drawer and put them on. "Alright, now hit me up."

Roy leaned forward over his desk, almost whispering. "Well, it's good that we're getting all this increased funding. But why exactly are we receiving this increased funding? I mean, don't you think it's a bit peculiar that the CEO of a major electronics company sends his daughter—who is quite accomplished with computers, I might add, though she still has a lot to learn—all the way overseas for her first job, and pays our company to take her on? You'd think that it would be much wiser to keep her at Prophecy Electronics so that her father might teach her everything he knows. You really don't need to be shipped all the way to England to get a proper job in IT. I mean, we work in a basement. It's not exactly the opportunity of a lifetime."

Moss looked up at the ceiling to ponder this for a minute. "So you think that Imogene being here at all is a bit fishy?"

"Yes! That's what I'm getting at. I think there's some sort of scheme going on here. It's the only explanation for all these strange goings-on. I mean, she's fine with computers. She learns fast. If I were her father, and I ran that company, I'd think of her as a worthy successor. I definitely wouldn't send her to a foreign country to work in a dingy basement with guys like us. I think that Imogene's father paid us to get her out of his way."

"Why would he want to do that?"

"I don't know, but I'm very willing to find out."

"What are you two talking about?" Jen asked suddenly.

Moss and Roy both jumped.

"Nothing!" Roy said quickly. "Nothing at all! Just chatting."

"Roy thinks Imogene's father made us hire her because he's up to something," Moss blurted out.

Jen gasped. "What? Are you serious?"

Roy rolled his eyes. "Great, Moss. Real nice. Now we have Jen involved."

"Oh, so you two don't want me involved? Is this a little secret between the two of you, hm? Because as Head of IT, I think I deserve to know about it."

"I had to get it out, Roy," Moss stressed. "The way you were talking about it made it sound pretty illegal. You know I can't go to prison. They'll—"

"No one is sending you to jail! And take off those glasses. There's no need to get excited."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'it sounds illegal'?" Jen asked. "Is this another one of your conspiracy theories? It better not be another conspiracy theory. Imogene is a very nice girl. She doesn't need to be all wrapped up in your shenanigans."

"Well, Jen, don't you think it's all a bit weird? Don't you think this entire situation is a bit weird?"

Moss and Roy both watched as she opened her mouth and closed it again. "No, I don't think there's anything weird about it at all."

"Oh, there isn't?" Roy scoffed. "Nothing about the grant or Imogene being appointed here reeks of any kind of scandal?"

Jen shook her head. "No, nuh-uh. I think it's quite normal, really. I mean, we are one of the best companies in the world for producing...things. It makes perfect sense Mr. what's-his-name would send his daughter here."

"Weston Eklund," Moss corrected. Jen glared at him and he whispered, "Just stating the facts."

"Not when he owns the best company in the world for producing COMPUTERS, which is what his daughter just HAPPENS to be passionate about," Roy elaborated.

"Computers and fanfiction," Moss added. "And superheroes. And foreign films. And physics and maths."

"How do you know so much about her?" Jen asked.

"Who cares?" Roy almost yelled. "It doesn't matter whether or not she likes fanfiction. You know what? I bet she's some sort of hacker, or some sort of computer company spy. I bet she's trying to tear her father's company apart at the seams and this is all they could do to get rid of her!"

"Phew!"

Everyone looked up to see that Imogene had returned from the bathroom and was making her way to her desk.

"I don't know about you," she continued. "But I just had the time of my life in those toilets there. Usually office toilets are dirtier than a back alleyway, but MAN, the ones here are nice. Didn't you guys say that the cleaners won some award? Definitely well-deserved."

She looked at Moss and laughed. "Why are you wearing those big glasses?"

"No reason," he said quietly, quickly removing them. "I just got a little excited is all."

"You all look pretty shaken up. You gossiping about me or something?"

"Oh, no," said Jen. "Not at all. Roy was just getting into a very animated discussion about, um..."

"Death!" Moss cried.

Imogene frowned. "Oh. That's a bit, uh...dark."

"He's been having dark thoughts."

"Shut up, Moss!" Roy hissed.

"Hey, Im, how is that temporary computer of yours coming along?" Jen asked pointedly. "It's working well and everything, right? No, uh, connection difficulties or keyboard...?"

"Oh, no!" Imogene said, adjusting her position in her chair happily. "I like it just fine. I've already named it Gregory. I mean, he's no Jaggers, but we've grown very close these past few days. Hey, do any of you guys own a portable DVD player? I rented Two English Girls from the library yesterday, but my roommate is always hogging the TV. She likes to watch those game shows, you know? Like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, stuff like that. What's the one where they have to do the word unscramble?"

"Countdown?!" Moss exclaimed.

"Countdown! I love that one!"

"I was on Countdown!"

Her eyes widened. "You were? That's AMAZING! Did you get far?"

"I did. But I got lucky. They gave me an unscramble that was already unscrambled."

"What was it?"

"Tnetennba."

"Oh. Do you have your episode taped?"

Moss grinned. "I have it bookmarked."

"You could come and watch it at my place," Jen said quickly. "I don't have a portable DVD player, but, uh...Two English Girls? It sounds good. And then we could squeeze in a little Dirty Dancing afterwards, eh?"

Imogene winced. "I don't know. Are you into Truffaut?"

Jen scoffed. "Yes! Of course! I love Truffaut. Who isn't into Truffaut? If you don't like Truffaut then you can bugger off!"

"Oh, really? Which film of his is your favorite?"

Jen glanced at the poster behind Imogene. "The 400 Blows. Yeah. I like that one. Especially the actor who plays that one boy."

"Jean-Pierre Leaud?"

"Yeah, him. He's ruddy good-looking, ain't he?"

Imogene raised her eyebrows. "He's a kid."

"For a kid."

"What's it about?" Moss asked.

"Two English Girls? I'm not exactly sure," Imogene answered, leaning back in her chair. "I've heard it's about childhood. But it's French, and it's a lesser-known Truffaut work. I think it's more escapist than anything, which is good. I like escapist."

"Sounds boring."

"It might be. I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. Oh, look at that. I'm out of tea. I'm going to go make myself some more tea."

She took her coffee cup with her and went to the back kitchen. Moss and Jen both gave Roy looks as he scrolled through something on his computer. After a moment or two, he finally looked up at them. "What are you two looking at?"

"A 'computer company spy'?" Jen reiterated.

Roy gestured towards the kitchen. "You don't see it?"

"She has the attention span of a small dog. And she seems more interested in bizarre movies than ripping an enterprise apart at the seams."

"Oh, so now you're warming up to her? And for what, because she likes the same rom-coms as you?"

"I like the same rom-coms as you, Jen," said Moss. "And it took you forever to warm up to me like this."

"Well, you didn't exactly make it easy!" Jen snarled. "You told the entire office I was dead!"

"You know I can't lie under pressure! Quit attacking me! I feel attacked!"

Imogene poked her head out of the kitchen. "Does anyone else want tea or coffee or anything like that?"

"No," said Roy and Jen in unison.

"I would like a coffee, please!" Moss piped up.

She disappeared again and the others continued their conversation.

"I really think you need to settle down, Roy," Jen laughed. "Imogene is very naïve. Even if there is some scandal going on—"

"HA! So you admit it!"

"Sh! Even if there is something suspicious going on, I don't think she knows about it. She doesn't have the air of it about her, anyway. Take my word for it as a people person. I know people. I know suspicious people. And that girl in there is the exact opposite of suspicious."

"I like her," said Moss. "She's interesting. And she knows a lot more about computers than Jen. She and I debated about Microsoft vs. Apple for an hour yesterday. Of course, we were both on the same side."

Roy frowned. "Apple?"

Moss gave him a look of contempt. "Microsoft. Do you really think I'm that stupid, Roy? I'd rather die than give money to those flipping dockers at Apple."