Daniel heaved the box full of trash out to Betty's desk. He sat it underneath her desk where she would find it once
she returned from lunch. He posted a note on top for her to have it sent out to the recycling bin as soon as she could.
He'd hidden the envelope with the pictures inside, hoping that if she did go through the box, she would realize that
he was trying to get rid of the insulting pictures for her. He slid his phone out of his suit jacket pocket as he dialed
up his favorite restaurant for lunch.
Betty picked up her lunch tray and followed Christina to the garbage can. As she dumped the remains of her lunch, Christina asked her.
"Are the plans for the Christmas party going well?"
"So far, so good." Betty said as she placed her empty tray on the rack next to the garbage can. The two women walked out of the cafeteria towards their workstations. As they walked down the hallway to separate, Betty saw Henry coming from the opposite direction. Betty gasped as she hid behind Christina.
"Betty...what in the world..." Christina said as she finally saw Henry walking down the hall. "Ah..." Henry saw Christina and Betty? walking...or maybe skulking was the better word for Betty towards him.
"Christina." Henry said, playing along.
"Hello Henry. How are you doing today?" Christina asked.
"Um...fine." Said Henry. He tried to hold in a smile.
"If you happen to see Betty, could you tell her I said "Hi"." Henry said as he walked past the two. Christina couldn't hold back her laugh as Henry strolled away.
"Christina!" Betty said, "That wasn't funny!"
"That was hilarious!" Christina said, "I like how Henry didn't even see you." Christina laughed again as she waved good-bye to Betty. Betty scowled at Christina's back as she turned towards her desk. As she approached the desk, she saw two pairs of legs underneath her desk. She approached quietly as she heard the whispered voices:
"What the hell is Daniel doing?" Betty heard Marc's voice.
"Looks like he's cleaning out the black hole that he calls his desk." Amanda answered.
"Phone numbers...layouts...hello what's this?" Marc said. Betty saw a manila envelope appear out of the box. Trust these two to dig through the trash for dirt.
"OH...MY...GOD!!!" Amanda squealed as Marc displayed the contents. Betty stifled a gasp as THOSE pictures appeared from under the desk. Those god-awful, humiliating photos from the photo shoot that Daniel had made Betty pose in so she would quit. They seemed like such a long time ago until they showed up in Marc's hot little hands. They hadn't noticed Betty standing there, so she crept quietly around to the edge of the desk.
"These are some juicy pictures, we need to put these in a safe place." Marc said. He replaced them in the manila envelope as Betty watched. His hand crept up and laid them just above his head right in front of Betty.
"So where's the little charity model?" Marc asked. Betty could almost see Amanda's smirk from under the desk.
"She's still at lunch, probably trying to play hide and seek with her little accountant geek." Amanda said.
Betty quickly snatched the envelope as she cleared her throat.
"Actually, I'm right here and I've got the pictures!" Betty said loudly. Amanda and Marc scrambled quickly from their snooping as Betty glowered at them.
"Betty...we didn't realize you were there." Marc said, smiling nastily.
"I'll bet." Betty said. Amanda slowly sauntered over to Betty.
"You DO realize those pictures are still the property of MODE right?" Amanda said. Betty swallowed nervously. Amanda looked over at Marc.
"Let's get her." Amanda hissed. Betty took off, sprinting through the MODE hallways, darting from one end to the other. She rounded one corner to find Amanda blocking the way down to the Closet and safety with Christina. She turned and sprinted the other way, bumping into irate, starving looking models as she past Wilhelmina's office. She thought about ducking in there, but nothing on earth would incite her to enter the Queen's chambers. She darted past the copy room, considering... But no, there was no way out of there. She turned and walked quickly back to Daniel's office, hoping she could get in there and lock the door. But Marc was blocking her hope there. She was trapped!!! Betty really only had one way out.
She ran to the elevator and pushed the DOWN button. As she entered the elevator, she saw Marc and Amanda walking quickly towards her. She pressed the button for the third floor as the doors closed on them.
Betty rushed into Accounting and headed for Henry's desk. He was the LAST one she wanted to see those pictures, but she needed some help dodging Marc and Amanda. She didn't think they would come down here looking for her, but she wasn't sure. As she turned the corner into Accounting, she ran right into the one person she hoped and dreaded seeing.
"OH, I'm sorry I wasn't watching...Betty!" Henry said, looking at her. Henry took in her out of breath stance and flushed face and steered her towards his cubicle.
"Betty, you look like you've been running a marathon and you've got a pack of wolves chasing you. What's going on?" Henry asked.
Betty sat down in the chair Henry offered her to catch her breath. After a few minutes, her breathing returned to something more normal (as normal as could be expected around Henry) and she looked at him.
"It's worse than that. Marc and Amanda are looking for me. I"ve got something that they want and I'm trying to keep it from them and even though Amanda said that they belong to MODE I don't think so because they're pretty bad and Daniel was being really nice and getting rid of them because he knows how bad they would look and so I've been chased around the MODE offices earlier trying to keep them from those two because I just know what they would do with them if they got their hands on them and..." Henry held up a hand to stop Betty's ramblings. He smiled down at her and Betty felt her heart start to race again.
"What exactly are Marc and Amanda chasing you for?" Henry asked. Betty waved the manila envelope at him.
"For what's in here." Betty said. She shifted in the chair nervously.
"There's some...private...documents in here." Betty said, "Things that would seriously hurt...someone at MODE if the wrong person saw it."
"Well, why don't you let me take a look and I'll see what I can do to help." Henry said as he reached for the envelope.
Betty clutched the envelope tighter to her chest as she looked horrified at Henry.
"NO!" Betty said, "I mean...not that I don't trust you Henry. I just...these documents are really sensitive and I wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea about..."
"People?" Henry interrupted. Betty looked down at the envelope then back up at Henry.
"You Henry. I don't think the...person...would want you to get the wrong idea about them." Betty said.
"Betty, is there something in there that has to do with you?" Henry asked, "Because there is nothing that would..." Betty stood up as Henry looked at her puzzled.
"You know what Henry; I'm sorry I interrupted you. Just do me a favor. If Amanda or Marc comes by, you haven't seen me. Can you do that for me?" Betty asked. Henry nodded at her. She smiled her full-on, braces laden smile at him as she turned and hurried out of his cubicle. Henry sat down at the chair Betty had just vacated and shook his head. He decided to call his mom tonight and let her know he wasn't coming back to Tucson for Christmas after all. He had a bigger mystery to figure out.
What was in that envelope that was so bad that Betty didn't want him to see, and how could he get his hands on it to find out?
TBC...