He had already heard me talk about Oscar Reilly, so now I simply related what had happened today. As an afterthought, I included the incident in the parking lot. I wouldn’t put it past Oscar to try to blame me for it.
Sean listened without comment until I finished. Then he shook his head. “Wonder what his game is?” He thought for a moment. “Until he produces his proof of allergy to cats, I think it’s probably best that you don’t take Diesel with you. Or simply don’t go to work at all.”
“That’s my plan,” I said. “I don’t want to deal with him. In fact, I put in for a leave of absence. I figured I could take time off until the college finds a new library director.” I sighed. “The only problem is, Oscar has to approve the leave.”
Sean drained his bottle and set it on the table. “You think he will?”
“I don’t know. He might, but I think it’s more likely he’ll refuse.”
“If he does turn out to be allergic to cats, and he won’t approve your leave request, what will you do?”
“I’ll quit,” I said. “I don’t want to, because I love what I do there. But I’m not going to leave Diesel at home. It’s not fair to him after all this time.”
Sean suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. “We’ve never talked about this, Dad, and it’s not really my business, but will you be okay financially if you quit?”
I had never told either of my children the full extent of my aunt’s legacy, beyond the fact that she left me her house and some money to keep it up. In truth, she left me quite a considerable inheritance that, combined with my pension from the city of Houston, made it unnecessary for me to work.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Aunt Dottie left me pretty comfortably well-off, and I don’t really have to work. I do it because I like to keep busy and I like to think I’m providing a useful service to my alma mater.”
“What do you know?” Sean grinned. “Had no idea my old, doddering father was a rich man. You’d better watch your coffee from now on.”
“Ha ha.” I had never fully discussed my financial status with either of my children. They knew I was comfortably off, but this was the first time I had admitted to one of them that I didn’t have to work to make ends meet.
“Seriously, though, I’m glad for your sake. I don’t like to see you treated this way, and if necessary, I’ll act on your behalf, of course. But for now, I think we have to wait to get the doctor’s report.”
“If it ever shows up,” I said. Diesel warbled loudly, and both Sean and I laughed. “Diesel agrees with me. Neither of us thinks that Oscar is really allergic to him. The man seems to be a born troublemaker.”
The front doorbell chimed and startled me. I rose from the table.
“While you see who that is,” Sean said, “because it’s bound to be for you, I’m going to run upstairs and pick up a couple of things from my room.”
Diesel accompanied me to the door while Sean climbed the stairs two at a time.
I opened the door to find a distraught Melba standing there.
“You’re not going to believe this,” she said as she entered the house. She paused for a moment to scratch Diesel’s head while I shut the door.
Melba looked at me, her expression stormy. “That man is now saying I vandalized his car with lipstick. Can you believe it? I would never do anything so stupid.”
I glanced at her lips. Their pink hue looked uncomfortably like the color of the lipstick on Oscar’s windshield. I said that to her as tactfully as I could.
“I know that, Charlie,” she said. “The thing is, it probably is my lipstick. But I didn’t do it.”
SIX
“Wait a minute,” Melba said with a puzzled expression. “How did you know about Oscar’s car?”
“Come on in the kitchen, and I’ll tell you.” I motioned for her to precede me, and Diesel escorted her, meowing every few steps. That was how he expressed concern for his friend.
Before I got involved in a long conversation with Melba, I figured I’d better turn the heat down on the oven, or my dinner would get completely dried out.
That done, I continued with my story once she was seated. Diesel leaned against one of her legs. “Diesel and I happened to walk by the parking lot not long after Oscar discovered the vandalism. He summoned me over and demanded to know what I knew about it.”
“So he was trying to blame you first,” Melba said in a tone laden with disgust. “Figures.”
“How about something to drink?”
“Got a bottle of bourbon?” She gave me a wry grin. “Water will do, thanks.”
I started to remark on the coincidence of her asking for bourbon the way Lisa had, but I caught myself in time. I couldn’t betray Lisa’s confidence, just as I hadn’t told Lisa about Melba’s issue with Oscar. I had to watch what I said to Melba carefully.
Once Melba had a couple of sips of water, I posed a question. “You said that it probably was your lipstick that was used to do this. Did somebody steal it out of your purse?”
“Out of my top desk drawer,” Melba said. “I put the day’s lipstick there so I don’t have to dig in my purse.” She brandished the large, bulging handbag, then set it down again. “Some creep went into my desk and took it.”
“Did the creep put it back after he or she was done with it?”
“No, they didn’t.” Melba scowled. “Not that I’d want it back anyway after the way it was used, but it wasn’t cheap, let me tell you. Oscar made a stupid joke about all my pink earlier in the day.” She indicated the pink pants and jacket she wore with a white top. “So I knew he’d noticed my lip color.”
Diesel rubbed against Melba’s leg. He knew she was still upset. For his sake and hers, I hoped Melba would calm down a bit, and soon.
“Did you tell him someone stole the lipstick out of your desk?”
“At first, when he accused me, I didn’t know it was stolen,” Melba said. “Then when I was going to whip mine out and show him it was practically a new tube, it wasn’t there.”
“I’ll bet he took that as proof.” I shook my head at the man’s hardheaded obtuseness and lack of judgment.
“He sure did.” Melba downed the remaining water. She set the empty glass on the table and leaned back in her chair. One hand stroked Diesel’s head while the fingers of the other beat a tattoo on the table.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Charlie,” she finally said. “I can’t work for that man one more day. He might fly off the handle any minute and accuse me of the good Lord knows what. But I don’t have much vacation time at the moment, after I took that month off at Christmas to go visit my cousin in Orlando.”
“I suppose you could try what I’m trying,” I said, though I realized now it wouldn’t work for either of us.
Melba perked up. “What’s that?”
“Ask for a leave of absence. I submitted my request form a little while ago.”
She slumped back in her chair again. “Fat chance of him agreeing to that.” She shot me a curious glance. “Why are you wanting a leave of absence all of a sudden? What has he done to you?”
“Complained to HR about me bringing Diesel to work with me. He’s claiming he’s allergic to cats.” I snorted in derision. “Have you seen any signs of him having allergies? I haven’t.”
“Not a one,” Melba said. “I swear, if someone doesn’t get rid of that jerk, I may do it myself. Imagine picking on this sweet, darling boy.” She looked down at Diesel. “We don’t like that nasty man, do we, boy? You knew right away he was a stinker.”
Diesel warbled in response, as if he had understood every word. Frankly, I often thought he did. Or if not all the words, the sense of them and the emotion with which they were spoken.
“Let’s talk about the stolen lipstick,” I said, “and see if we can figure out who had the opportunity to take it. When was the last time you remember seeing it or using it today?”