“That’s an interesting bit of integrity.” Cheryl responded. “Because I’m pretty sure if you’d been the one who caused the problem they would have outed you in a heartbeat.” She smiled a little bit. “I tried to make them.”
Dar smiled faintly back. “It’s always better to stick to the truth.” She said. “Or nothing at all. “
They studied each other in silence for a bit. “So no, huh?” Cheryl finally said, with a sigh. “It’s frustrating for us, because we know there’s news here. You get a sense for that after you do what I do for a while.”
“There is.” Dar said, straightforwardly. “Unfortunately, it’s not my news to discuss. It’s their issue, it’s their customers.”
Cheryl eyed her thoughtfully. “We could make this off the record. I could make you an anonymous source. They don’t have to know.”
“I’d know.”
The producer lifted her hand up and let it drop down. “Okay, fair enough. Mind if I ask you one more question?”
“Nope.” Dar glanced at her Handspring, hoping Higgs wouldn’t pick now to call her back.
“How did ILS deal with your being gay?” Cheryl asked. “I assume they knew.”
“They knew.” Dar responded. “There were people who probably cared and were disgusted, but as a corporation ILS didn’t care. Even when Kerry and I became an item, they didn’t care. They put an exception in our employment records and we carried on.”
“Because you were important.”
Dar nodded, after a brief pause. “If I was working in the mailroom, probably would have been a different reaction. I was useful to them. They needed my skillset, and, in fact, they appreciated Kerry’s.”
“Practical.”
Dar stood up and stretched. “We did a good job for them. Now we ready to do this interview? My day’s about to end.” She pondered taking the following day off before the flight to Washington, the idea becoming rapidly very appealing.
“Sure.” Cheryl said. “The reason I asked about that is the guy we talked to over there inferred that you left because you felt you were being pressured to leave due to your lifestyle.”
Dar laughed.
“No, huh?”
Dar took a step back and leaned against the windowsill, folding her arms over her chest. “I’ve been out of the closet for a lot longer than I was being strategic for ILS. “ She said. “The only pressure I was feeling in terms of getting out of there was the pressure to be my own boss.”
“Hon?” Kerry poked her head in the office. “Can we get this show on the road? The kids are waiting for dinner.”
“We’re heading down.” Dar pushed off the sill and waved the producer ahead of her. “I was just being grilled on the nerve wracking consequences of our bedroom.”
Kerry stopped in mid motion and looked from Cheryl to her partner. “Uh what?”
“You have kids?” Cheryl went with the flow.
“Dogs.” Kerry held the door open. “Two Labrador Retrievers.. now what was that about our bedroom?”
**
“Think he’s going to call you back?” Kerry had the car seat pitched back and she was sprawled across it, eyes closed as the ferry rumbled it’s way across the channel. “At this point I sure hope not.”
“Don’t care.” Dar responded, eyes also closed. “We’re taking tomorrow off.”
“I love you.”
Dar smiled into the darkness of the interior of the trunk. “Did I do okay with that interview?” She turned her head and looked at Kerry. “I felt kind of dorky.”
“Actually, you came off as reserved yet mysterious.” Kerry rubbed her nose, pinching the bridge of it. “I liked when you started talking about BGP routing metrics after he kept asking you about what could cause stuff like that to go down.”
“Mm. Well, that is one reason it might stop working. Wrong metrics.” Dar said, stifling a yawn. “Maybe that is what that monkey did. Skewed the metrics. That would fit the symptoms.”
“Well great, Dardar. When that guy sees the CNN report maybe it’ll give him a brainwave and he’ll fix his problem.” Kerry patted her partner’s leg. “Tell you what though, I’m glad mom and dad are back.”
“Me too.”
Kerry smiled at the prompt, and immediate response. “I hope we get this contract all settled out in the next couple days. I don’t want that hanging over us when we head out to the Grand Canyon.” She said. “This is going to be so much fun, Dar.”
“I think I’m going to wear those new hiking boots to the gym tomorrow. Break them in a little.” Dar decided, as the ferry pulled up the dock and she moved her seat upright. “I don’t want to mess with blisters on the trip.”
“We can hike around the island too.” Kerry said, straightening up her own seat as they got ready to drive off the deck. “That’s a really good idea.”
Dar put the truck in gear and drove up the ramp, giving the man directing traffic a casual wave. They got up to the top of the slope and she was about to turn left onto the perimeter road when a figure in a security uniform trotted towards her, waving his arm. “Ah.”
“Oh please no drama.” Kerry moaned. “It’s too damn late, Dar.”
Dar pulled the truck to a halt and opened the window. “Hey Charles.”
“Ms. Roberts!” He leaned on the side of the vehicle. “Glad I caught you. Listen, have you heard from that guy, that Billy, since the other night?”
Dar shook her head. “Not a word. Why? He suing?”
“We don’t know.” Charles said. “We haven’t heard a peep from him and Clemente went over to do his cleaning service and there’s no sign of the guy. We were just wondering if you’d seen him, or if he’d contacted you.”
Dar looked at Kerry, who was leaning on the console. “Maybe he took off for a while?” She suggested. “Figured he’d let things cool off?”
“Maybe.” Charles said. “But we don’t have record of him going off island and he didn’t have a boat.”
“Could have gone on someone else's.” Kerry said. “Or he could have been in someone else's car going off the island. You all don’t check everyone in the back seat, do you?”
“That’s true enough ma’am, but it just seems strange, you know? He was around and about the island for weeks before that, kinda bothering everyone, now poof. He’s gone.”
“Well, in a week or so we’ll be gone so if we see him before that, we’ll let you know.” Dar said. “Ker and I and the dogs are going on vacation.”
Charles smiled. “We’ll keep an eye on the place for you, Ma’am. Don’t worry.” He tapped the door, and stepped back, giving them a wave as Dar rolled up the window and they proceeded on.
“That was weird.” Kerry said, as they pulled into the lower level parking, and Dar tucked the truck into the spot next to her SUV. “Dar did it sound to you like they thought we might know if something happened to that guy?”
Dar rested her hands on the wheel and considered. “No.” She said, after a moment. “I think they were just asking everyone they knew was involved with him.” She opened the door to the truck and slid out, shutting the door and heading for the steps up to their home.
As she reached the door her Handspring started ringing, and she pulled it out as Kerry reached around her to key the door open. “You know what?”
“What?” Kerry pushed the door inward and stepped in quickly to greet Chino and Mocha’s exited wigglings.
“Fuck him.” Dar hit the ignore button and shoved the phone back in her front pocket, sending the call to voice mail. “I gave him a chance. I’m done.” She followed Kerry inside and shut the door, reaching down to pick up the frantic Mocha puppy. “C’mere, squiglet.”