Green Table

TWELVE

"Has Ricky finished making data of the consumers we should be receiving?" Dottie questioned Phineas, he was sat in a chair across from Dottie. They were in her office, having a meeting about the progression, things had been slow and tension was high due to Renae getting close to the detective. Dottie was growing wary of every single move she made, even going as far as as having Phineas break into her car and steal passwords to her old work at the university; in hopes that somewhere in her old papers they could find the answers they needed if she left them. The passcode changed before Joy could download the files to a computer. This left them with no plan B.                                                                                                                                                                                        "He is close and should have it done sooner than expected since Renae is now working in a lab instead of the computer room." Dottie grinned ear to ear, she was glad to hear that at least that part of her plans were being taken care of. "And Joy? Is the website almost up and running, with complete protection?"                                                                                                                                                       "Joy is skilled at her craft, but she said she has a site and all of it programed but would like to request more time to perfect it." Dottie nodded at Phineas' words as she pursed her lips together tightly in thought. Just before the silence grew deadly, her small cellar device ringed. Pulling it out she answered. Phineas watched as her eyes grew dark and her lips curled into a frown her eyebrows turned downwards, wrinkles began to appear. The call didn't take long and her face stayed the same even after she hung up. She looked straight at Phineas, "I had the Johnson's boy make a trip over to Colorado Springs to take out the detective." Phineas' eyes grew wide at her admission of a hit, he noted how causal she was about it. It made him wonder if she would be so willing to kill him off too, shaking his head he answered her back. "And?" He didn't want to speak more in fear he would give himself away.                                                                                                    "He failed, Day wasn't home and when he went into his bedroom he found Renae." Dottie paused, "she shot him, got him in the leg. He's in the hospital now, he said he would be here soon." Phineas was even more shocked by this, he didn't take Renae for the type to own a firearm. Maybe the detective decided it was best for her to have one. And now Phineas would say he agreed, he liked Renae he thought she as charming and kind. Already feeling guilt for dragging her into this. "Hunter is coming here?" He questioned.                                                                    "Judging by how you have already failed to gain her trust, I brought in someone who can distract her from that no good detective better then you could." Dottie spit at him, she was obviously mad about his failures. "I see," was all he could manage to get out. Dottie had always intimidated him, even when they first met many years ago. And even after coming out of jail she promised him riches and fame once again, but that didn't matter to him she did. He would follow her blindly, he was in love with her and always had been. He knew he would do anything to make her happy. Tom knew her feelings weren't the same, she had left him before but he didn't seem to mind as long as he could be around her. He just hopped one day she would see all he had done for her, all the times he had been there for her and realize that she felt the same. "And where is Renae regarding the cloning?" Dottie resumed her work meeting.                                     "I don't know." Phineas chest panged with anxiety scared of what she was going to say.                    "How and why don't we know?" Her words angered.                                                                                            "She hasn't been putting anything into the computer system." Realizing he needed to make it sound better he quickly added to his statement, "I have watched her put it on paper trackers, she has a small file filled with them. She stores them in a large brown leather bag she brings that home with her." Tom flinched ready for Dottie's meltdown.                                                                              "So she doesn't trust any of us but the damn cop?" she yelled, shaking the desk in her wake.          A new found wave of confidence surged over the Dr. as he yelled back, "well would you blame her? She already had her information stolen once, so I bet she doesn't want that to happen again!" His tone only made her more infuriated, "and whose side are you on exactly Dr.?" she questioned him with a raised eyebrow. Phineas bowed down, and let go of his anger. "That's what I thought." She won again.            

Pulling out her phone she dialed the top number, she spoke loud enough Tom could hear every word. "Hunter, I have one more assignment for you to do since it seems like someone else isn't capable of doing it." Her eyes shot daggers at the defeated Tom.                                                                  "I need a leather work bag, it contains work files in it. I need photographs of all the contents. It's in Renae's possession.                                                                                                                                                        No, make sure neither can tell its been looked at." 

With that the Dr. felt humiliated and conflicted, was what they were doing right? 

Word Count: 903