**
It didn’t take long for CJ to call Hugo and give him a street address. He took the bus and met her a couple blocks from the guy’s apartment.
“So what now?” CJ asked cheerfully.
Hugo put out his preparing-for-a-stupid-plan cigarette, “Conducting an exit interview.”
CJ tilted her head, “A what?”
“We talk about why he got fired and if he plans on taking any action against the company.”
She scrunched her nose at him, “Hmmm. Did Mr. Hansen ask you to do this?”
Hugo chewed on his lip, “Not exactly…”
“Ok, it’s a secret then. I can keep secrets, don’t worry,” CJ’s smile relaxed him; to her this was a game. He could do this. No one at Gideon Enterprises even needed to find out. Mr. Gideon had technically conducted an informal exit interview anyway so it might not even come up when the person with the severance package info showed up.
Soon Hugo found himself at the buzzer to Sam’s apartment complex. His hand hovered by it for several seconds before CJ let out an exasperated sigh and pushed it for him.
“Hello?”
“Um…”Hugo started, his hands squeezing together, “We’re…uh…representatives from Human Resources. We’re here to conduct the exit interview.”
There was a long pause, and then in a tiny, staticy voice full of disappointment, Sam replied, “Ok. Come on up.”
The door buzzed and CJ pushed her way in. The apartment building was old but had been refurnished and was bright and beautiful. It was probably incredibly expensive. The two of them wound their way up the stairs to the third floor to Sam’s door.
This time Hugo didn’t hesitate. He knocked and the man answered, dark eyes sullen.
“That was quick,” Sam said as he motioned them into the apartment.
Hugo laughed a little. Hopefully it didn’t sound too nervous. “Well, it’s best to take care of these things as soon as possible. The severance package is still being put together however, so I’m afraid you’ll be getting two visits from us.”
The technician nodded slowly, “Alright. Please, have a seat.”
It was peculiar. Sam was much calmer than he’d been when talking to Dr. McFadden. Perhaps he was just in shock, or maybe it was something Mr. Gideon had said to him.
Everyone sat down and for a moment Hugo just stared down at the several sheets of blank paper on his clipboard. Perhaps he should have written some questions down to make it look more official. He’d only brought the thing for appearances anyway.
Hugo took a deep breath, “I’m sorry, this is the first interview I’ve conducted, forgive me.” Sam just nodded, staring at them calmly. Somehow that was creepier; it was a reaction he wasn’t expecting. “Alright. Um…in your words, please describe the circumstances of your confrontation with Dr. McFadden.” Oh god, was that too vague?
“Ted was starting to get agitated, we could tell because the temperature in his room was rising, so the doctor asked me to put a little benzo, sedative, in his food. I picked it up from the pharmacy, put it in the chili and gave it to him. Instead of calming down he became even more agitated and we had to use the coolant system on him to keep him from going critical. Since the last thing he’d done was eat, the doctor tested the food and vile and found traces of gasoline. She accused me of putting it in there, which is bullshit, because I just got it from the pharmacist.”
Hugo nodded understandingly as he furiously made several squiggly lines on the piece of paper. The man’s voice was calm, and he was looking Hugo in the eye. At the very least the guy thought he was telling the truth. “And who prepared the chili?”
“Gustav, like usual.”
“Mr. Gideon’s personal chef?”
The guy snorted like Hugo had asked a dumb question, but decided to just chalk it up to him being new, “Yeah.”
“Did Dr. McFadden test the batch of chili Ted’s portion came from?”
“She said she did, and she didn’t find anything. But she wouldn’t show me her results because at that point she’d already made up her mind about me.”
“I see.” Hugo flipped to the next blank page on his clipboard and stared at it for a few seconds. “Which pharmacist was on duty at the time?”
Sam blinked. Looked at the ceiling, looked past Hugo and CJ (who was starting to fidget) and finally looked back to Hugo, eyebrows raised, “You know, I don’t remember. Probably Mike? He’s usually there at that time.”
Hugo made a frowny face on the paper. “But you’re not certain?” The technician shook his head. “Do you recall speaking to the pharmacist?”
“No. But I mean, I must have, because I had to request the sedative and sign the paperwork.”
“Thank you, Sam,” Hugo turned to a new page. That seemed like a good stopping point. Not too many more questions to ask. “My next question is, how has this affected your impression of Gideon Enterprises?”
“Well, I don’t particularly like Dr. McFadden, but this isn’t Mr. Gideon’s fault, and there are a lot of good people at Gideon Enterprises, so I wouldn’t say my opinion’s changed much.”
Hugo nodded, “Thank you. If there was one thing you could change about the company, what would your suggestion be?”
Sam considered this very carefully. CJ’s eyes roved the room and she started kicking her legs against the chair. They’d have to finish up soon. Which was fine, Hugo had already asked the important questions. He needed to look at the security footage, see if anyone besides Sam had been in the pharmacy during that time. It seemed unlikely, but Sam genuinely couldn’t remember talking to anyone, and that was very peculiar.
“Maybe better security? Someone snuck gasoline into the pharmacy and it wasn’t me.”
“Thank you Sam, we will take that into consideration.” Hugo squiggled a few meaningless notes on the sheet of paper and then tucked the clipboard under his arm. “Thank you for your time.”
Everyone stood on cue and Hugo offered the technician his hand. Sam was walking into the street right in front of a bus. He didn’t look distraught or even distracted, just as if he didn’t acknowledge that the bus existed. He made a terrible mess. Hugo tried not to gag as he thanked Sam a second time and they quickly left the apartment. Outside the building complex Hugo immediately started smoking.
“Did you get what you wanted?” CJ asked, head tilted towards him.
Hugo gulped the cold air, trying to keep his lunch down, “Yeah.”
“So what’s wrong then?”
Hugo’s eyes widened a little. She already knew he could see things, he could tell her. He could share, “I saw something when I shook his hand. It…looked like he was going to work or a job interview or something, and he uh, stepped in front of a bus.”
CJ’s eyes widened, “What?”
Hugo sucked on his cigarette and looked down the street, “Not like he was trying to commit suicide, but like he didn’t even see it coming.”
The lightning girl frowned, “Like, it was careening out of control around a corner while he was crossing the street?”
Hugo chewed on his thumb for a moment, reviewing the details. “No. Just like he couldn’t tell that it was there. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s what I saw.”
CJ nodded, completely unfazed by the lack of sense, “Alright. So how do we fix it?”
Hugo shrugged, raising his eyebrows, “I honestly don’t know. I don’t really know when it happens, other than it seems to be in the morning, so it’s not today. Maybe tomorrow? I usually can’t see more than a few days ahead.”
“Ok. So, do you know where it is at least?”
“Yeah. I saw street signs, and at the very least I can see who else will be around at that time. So if we go to the corner every morning, I’ll know which day it is right away. If we go at the right time anyway.”
“So what time’s the right time?” CJ shifted in place, her head swaying a little bit.
“I dunno, it was overcast. So sometime b
etween 6 am and 10 am, probably?”
“Ok, so, stake out? We go to the spot around uh, 5 or something and um… when he shows up bump him or something so that he misses the bus?”
Hugo’s heart was racing. Could they actually save someone? Nearly everything else he’d seen had seemed inevitable or had happened already. But they had a plan. It was simple, but it should work. They might be able to save this guy. “That sounds like a great plan CJ, let’s try it.”
“Yes! We’re gonna save some dude from a bus! This is gonna be awesome!”
The Sound of Wind Page 17
