“Secrecy is our business but it’s not
our only business. Does that help?”
“No,”
I said quietly, shaking my head slightly.
He
looked around then scooted closer to me.
I froze.
“Okay.” He seemed to be searching desperately for the
right words. I wished I could help him
find them because the tension was killing me.
“You’re
different,” were the words he chose and were no more helpful than silence. “I just don’t want….”
“What
is it?” I said suddenly and he blinked.
“The
same thing to happen to you,” he finished.
“And
what is that?”
His
confidence appeared to be dwindling with every word spoken.
“I
don’t know. That’s the thing. I want you to stick around.”
Confusion
was welling up inside me and I feared I might explode on him if he wasn’t
straight with me soon. “You have got to
be more clear,” I whispered. “What is it
you do there?”
He
nodded resolutely then said, “I, myself, am head of public relations. We are a growing organization, if you will.”
Was
he serious? “Why have a public relations
manager for a building with no name?”
This
guy could not make up his mind and he was starting to get on my nerves, his
beating around the bush. He looked
around and lowered his voice again.
“I
know you opened that box.”
My
eyes widened but I held my own. “Oh?”
“And
I know you’ve been asking around about us.
I know a lot and there’s a very good reason why you don’t and if you
knew any better you’d want it to stay that way.”
I
gulped. “And why’s that?”
“Plausible
deniability,”
I
waited.
“Sometimes
what you don’t know can’t hurt you even if you’re staring it right in the
face. That’s a very good thing in your
case.”
A
horrible thought crossed my mind and I hesitated to voice it. “And. . . this business, it is good, right?”
He
seemed to ponder this question and took a little too much time on it, in my
opinion.
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