Ask Jake (Book One of the Whisper Series)

Sixteen: Call in HR

Roxy sits next to me in the small, stark conference room in the Human Recourses office. There is nothing interesting about this room, grey walls, grey floor, grey desk. It's not remotely soothing; my anger is still heightened, making it difficult to keep my composure.

"Can you tell me when all of this began?" asks Stacy, the friendly but extremely professional HR lady.

"Well, pretty soon after I started working here, over three years ago. He asked me out the first week, and more times than I can count since. Lately, like in the last two to three weeks things have gotten worse. He got on my project and he continuously calls meetings with me. We've had eight over the last few weeks. He's my IT Lead, so I have to go to his meetings but he always asks the same questions and he gets a kick out it."

The balled up note is in my hand, and I throw it on the desk, causing Stacy to jump in her seat. "Somehow, he got my address at home and he left this note on my door. It was the day we were off because of the snow."

She picks up the note, flattens it out and examines it. "How do you know it's from him? Its not opened."

"He left me a work related note on my desk earlier that week and I recognized the handwriting," I say, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I didn't open it because I did not want to read it."

She nods an understanding. "Do you mind opening it now and reading it in front of me? We'll need to record you doing that on camera though, okay?"

"Um, no. I didn't want to read it before and now I have to read it on camera? That doesn't make sense to me." I look at Stacy and then to Roxy for a brief moment.

Stacy shifts in her seat, thinking. "Well, this is a personal letter, delivered to your home, not the office, but you are making a claim against an employee and using the letter as possible proof. It could be good to have record of you reading it for the first time because of this incident. If you had personal interest in him then you would have read it already, but you didn't. Hopefully, no one will ever have to see it, but if you have to go to court the recording could help your case." She pauses and waits for me to respond. "You don't have to record it, but I can't think of how it could hurt you."

Roxy grabs my hand. I turn to Stacy and say, "Can you give me a minute?"

"Sure, I'll get the camera in case you want to record." She stands and leaves the room.

"I have to read it on camera?" I ask Roxy.

"Well, Stacy is right. How can it hurt you? "

My finger twists around a string on my shirt, helping me think. "Okay. I'll do it. Do you have your phone? I want Adam."

"Adam? Why?" she asks.

"He was there," I say, looking at her, "and he makes me feel better."

"Oh, he was there?" she says before she starts texting. "Why was he there?"

A moment later, I see Adam through the glass wall. Jumping to my feet, I wave for him to come in the room with us. He is checking his phone as he opens the door and he looks at Roxy. His face is red and blotchy. Wasting no time, I blurt out, "They want me to read the note, on camera, and I wanted you here. Thanks for coming so fast."

"Gillian, I'm here because I just punched Phil in the face." His wide eyes examine me.

"Adam!" I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand. "You didn't. Tell me you did not hit him."

"I can't, because I did. After you left, I told him that if he didn't leave you alone that he was going to be very sorry, and he said...something... that made me punch him right there in the conference room. I knocked him down. I might have broken his nose. There was a lot of blood," he said.