78 - (Just Like) Starting Over

“I hate you,” Henry muttered folding himself into the chair next to Petey and pulling at his tie.  He was behaving like a churlish little boy, right down to the defiant way he planted his elbows on the table.

“Get over it,” she ordered, crossing her legs delicately.  “I’m not enjoying this any more than you are, and at least you got to dress yourself.”  A secret smile lifted the corner of her mouth when the beautifully patterned, silver stiletto peeped out from under the hem of her dress.  Her mother hadn’t realized the pattern was made of skulls or Petey never would have gotten away with wearing them.

Henry, however, clearly saw them for what they were.  He grabbed her foot with a smirk.  “Yes, I’m sure our dear mother chose these slippers for you, Cinderella.”

Her smile dissolved.  Cinderella reminded her of Tinkerella, which then reminded her of Tinkerhell.  The chain of thoughts connected together until she arrived at the fact she kept getting stuck on – she missed them.  All of them.  In a short time, all of the assorted Bon Jovi family had made their spots in her heart.  Even Jon’s sons, with the way they were so enamored by the little modification she’d made to their toy cars. 

“Hey.”

Petey lifted her God-given blue eyes to Henry’s dark ones.

“Where did you go?” he asked softly.

One bare shoulder lifted.  “I kind of miss my life in New York.”

“Then go back to it.”

Henry still didn’t know the real reason she’d turned up on his doorsteps four days ago.  He’d just seen she was hurting and held his arms out to comfort the sister who didn't ask for comfort.   Later, he had tried to gently prod her for answers, but she only told him that the Bon Jovi job hadn’t worked out, and she needed a place to lick her wounds in peace.  He agreed and, unlike Jon, had bought the story about the bathroom stall and her busted lip. 

For two days, she had mulled her situation over from every possible angle, seeking any potential loophole or means to sideswipe Daniel.  She’d even come up with a logical list of facts regarding the problem.

Fact:      Daniel possessed highly personal, and potentially incriminating pictures of her and Jon.  The pictures stood to do Jon more harm than her, whether that was what Daniel intended or not.

Fact:      The pictures were in a digital format on Daniel’s iPhone.  Daniel had no patience with consumer electronics.  There was a possibility that he didn’t know how to get them from his phone to a computer.  Of course, there was always the option of emailing them to himself one at a time.

Fact:      He hated email, and, last she knew, he held only the University issued email address.

Fact:      Also, last she knew, the only computer that Daniel had was the one in his office that belonged to the University.

Could there be a chance that the pictures only existed on his phone, and maybe that lone computer?  If so, that was manageable.  However, if he’d downloaded copies of the images onto flash drives or other small electronic storage devices…  Well, the rabbit trail could go on forever.

The end result had left her feeling as though she were in a tight corner with no way out.  It was either play along or splash herself and Jon across the media in a most unflattering way.  With her tail figuratively tucked between her legs, on Tuesday, Petey had made herself go and check with the University.

“Hello, Dr. Heinz,” Dorothy had greeted her in the Engineering Department.  “I understand you’re coming back to us this semester.  We’ve missed you.”

“Thank you, Dorothy.”  Petey wondered what the conservative secretary thought of her pink-tipped hair and psycho bunny t-shirt, but knew the woman would never voice an opinion.  It was irrelevant that the last time Petey was in this office she’d been wearing a fitted, navy pinstripe suit, with no makeup, horn-rimmed glasses, conservative pumps and a severe pageboy haircut. 

The difference between then and now was night and day, but in the world of stuffy academia, it would be impolite to be shocked.  Dorothy may look down her nose at Petey later, after she’d gone, but never to her face.

“Oh, Dr. Heinz,” Dorothy called as she continued down the hallway to the Department Chair’s office.  “Dr. Lewis said you would be stopping by and left this for you.”

“He did?”  Petey reluctantly stepped forward to accept the small, key-size manila envelope that Dorothy held out to her. 

“Yes.  He said it was very important that I not let it out of my sight until I handed it to you personally.”

“Thank you, Dorothy,” she mumbled, tucking the envelope into the lower, right pocket of her cargo pants and continuing on to her destination.

Knocking on the door of Max Feldmann’s office made Petey a little sick inside.  They hadn’t parted on the best of terms and, considering that, she wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to resume working for him.

“Come in.”

She inhaled and turned the knob, admitting herself into the small, cluttered office.  “Hello, Max.”

He peered at her over his glasses with surprise and lowered the pen he was writing with.  “Patience.”  Curious eyes skimmed over the bunny shirt, her overly made up face and designer hair.  “It’s been a long time.  Please.  Have a seat.”

“Will you walk into my parlor?" said the Spider to the Fly,

    "'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy;…”

She perched herself on the edge of the institutional, plastic chair with a heavy heart.

“Daniel said you had agreed to rejoin the faculty.”  Max leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers over the rounded paunch of his stomach.  “I had to admit I was skeptical after the way you blew out of here three years ago.”

“Visiting faculty,” she clarified.  “I’m not resuming a full-time position just yet.  I’d rather pick up a couple of special topics or intro classes for this semester as visiting faculty, if that’s okay.”

His steely eyes narrowed and he ran a lazy hand over what was left of his matching steely gray hair.  “I’ll be honest, Patience.  You’re one of the best we’ve ever had in the department, but after your… episode, I’m a little hesitant to bring you back on staff.”

That suited Petey just fine.  She rose with a palpable relief.

“But,” Max continued, causing her heart to resume its heaviness even as she stood poised to flee.  “Daniel is a respected and tenured professor, and he carries a lot of pull around here.  That includes string pulling.”  He frowned briefly.  “Which is why I’m welcoming you back - on a conditional basis.  I would, however, like reassurance that my department will be drama-free from your histrionics.”

Petey itched to push him back in his chair so that his pompous ass hit the floor.  “You have no idea what happened when I left here, Doctor Feldmann.  My histrionics were a valid and proportional emotional response to a devastating environmental stimulus.  In layman’s terms, I’m not fucking crazy, and I would appreciate it if you could remember that.”

The steely eyes grew as hard as their color.  “Doctor Heinz, if you ever speak to me that way again, I’ll have you summarily dismissed for insubordination.”

“That would be a tragedy,” she sarcastically mourned, reaching for the doorknob.  “Am I in the same office, or have you moved me?”

They engaged in a silent visual standoff, neither giving an inch until Feldmann ultimately relented.  After all, he was the one with something to lose here.  

“The same office.  I trust you don’t need a reminder on appropriate work attire?” he grumbled with a pointed look at her appearance.

“Of course not.  I know exactly what will piss you off.”  With that, she escaped amid the sounds of his blustering. With a growling sound of frustration rumbling in her chest, Petey stalked down the short corridor to the other end of the Engineering Department. 

So much for playing by Daniel’s rules.  I might as well post the damn pictures online myself at this rate.

The key to her small office was taped to the door, in an envelope bearing Patience's name.  She unceremoniously ripped it free and unlocked the door, quickly closing herself inside. 

A single glance enabled her to see that the small, non-descript office hadn’t changed, except that the off-white walls had a fairly new coat of paint, and the small bookshelf was empty, awaiting her tomes of knowledge.

Petey sniffed with derision.

The wooden desk with its two drawers and aged rolling chair looked to be the same ones she’d had three years ago.  Add in an institutional plastic guest chair, computer and telephone, and you had Dr. Patience Heinz’s office, jammed to its six by eight foot capacity.  She had fallen into the desk chair, when the crinkling in her pocket brought the small envelope from Dorothy to mind. 

Petey ripped open the flap with a mild interest and poured the contents on the desk’s surface. 

Lovely.  Just lovely. 

There was her old engagement ring, in its round, half-carat glory.  “Any more would be pretentious,” according to Daniel.  There was also a flash drive and a note.  Unfolding the lined, yellow paper, she saw his bold scribble.  “Wear this and play nice.  I’ve included the pictures as an enticement.”

Her stomach flipped, and the coffee she’d had earlier in the day reared its dark head.  She really hated him.  If he had faded into the woodwork and left her alone, eventually it would have dulled to a mere loathing.  This evil stunt of his ensured there was nothing left but hatred in her heart. 

With that hatred shining brightly, she crammed the little ring on her left hand and picked up the flash drive.  Had he really included a copy of the pictures?  Petey’s hands reached for the computer keyboard.  And did she still have access to log onto the network computer to find out?

Typing in her old username and password, she saw that she did, indeed, still have access.  Petey silently thanked the powers that had never instilled a password expiration policy.  The computer was now unlocked and displaying that the generic ‘Remote Session Has Been Disconnected’ splash screen from University Computing Services.  They’d evidently been doing some cleanup in preparation for her return.

Wait a minute.  Remote session. 

That sparked an avenue of thought she hadn’t previously considered.   Picking up the phone, Petey had placed a quick call to a former student who now held a fairly prominent position on the University staff.

"Reese, it's Dr. Heinz," she greeted the young man.  He had been a gifted pupil and had sought out extra office hour tutoring during the course of his education with the school.  Petey had gladly given Reese Stewart a fair amount of her free time, encouraged by his interest in the subject matter she was teaching.  As a consequence, they shared more than the passing student/teacher relationship.

"Dr. H!  I hear you're back on staff.  We sure have missed you around here."

The nondescript, metallic flash drive twirled aimlessly in her fingers while her mind raced past the required pleasantries.  Reese had ultimately chosen to go into Information Systems and her recommendation, along with some opportune timing, had landed him the position of Network Systems Administrator upon his graduation four years ago.  She had read that he was now the Director of Networks.

"Yes, thank you, I'm back at least temporarily.  I was just logging onto my office computer and noticed that UCS had recently terminated a remote session.  I was wondering... You can remote into any networked University computer, right?"

"Sure," he confirmed with the arrogant confidence possessed by the young.  "Just like sitting in front of the actual machine."

"Excellent," she murmured.  "And Windows will register the connection of an external storage device in its event log?  And do you still know how to access deleted information on the hard drive?"

"Yeahhhh... What's up Dr. H?"

He was starting to find her line of questioning a little odd, but Reese had never been a fan of Daniel's.  Petey didn't think it would be a hard-sell to gain his cooperation.

"Dr. Lewis has hijacked some... sensitive research material from me.  I need to find out if he's uploaded it to his hard drive, and if so, if he's replicated and downloaded it to external storage or emailed it.  This data would have first hit his system on or after December twentieth.  Would you be willing to help me find it?"

"Absolutely!  You gave me so much of your time and knowledge during my undergrad years, that it would be the least I could do to return the favor."

"Thank you.  But Reese..." she cautioned, knowing she was pushing the boundaries.  "This is very personal information.  VERY personal.  No offense intended, but I don't want anyone to see it.  If I come over to your office, would it be possible to allow me to do the remote access myself?"

His indecision lasted no more than a second.  "If we're going to violate UCS policy, we may as well do it up right," he acquiesced with a grin in his voice.  "Come on over."

"One more thing," she added, thinking of the on-screen notification that had prompted this particular brainstorm.  "Will he be able to tell we've been in?"

"Nah.  I'll log the machine off.  If he happens to typically leave it connected to the network, he'll just think Windows restarted it after installing updates.  It will all be good."

“So why is it you can’t go back?”  Henry was pressing, and reached for her left hand.  “Because of this?”  He was less than impressed with Daniel, and always had been.  The sudden rekindling of her engagement had left a bitter and suspicious taste in his mouth.  No matter how many times Petey assured him that she had recovered from her mid-life crisis and was merely returning to resume her regularly scheduled life, he wasn’t buying it.

Her brother knew her a little too well.  To Petey's surprise, her mother was even questioning it.  She'd thought for sure that Teresa would be thrilled at the return trip to Mundane.

There’s nothing you can do but play it the best way you know how.  At least until something else works itself out.

“I’m thirty-eight years old.  I may miss it a little, but I’ve gotten a little too old to pull off pink hair and touring with a rock band, don’t you think?”

“The way I see it, you never had an adolescence.  That’s nine teenage years you missed out on, and you’ve only been gone three.  By my count, you still have six years to be a wild child.  Don’t settle for the job that smothered you and the man that is boring as all hell.  No disrespect Patience, but he probably just wants to ride on the political coattails of the family.”

No, he wants more than that.

“I’m not arguing about it,” she told him flatly, placing her silver skull heels firmly on the floor and rising regally.  Petey offered him a hand, ordering, “Dance with me.”

“I don’t want to dance,” her handsome big brother pouted with an unbecoming scowl. 

“You can dance with me, or you can dance with people you have to actually be nice to.”

Henry's moans were those of a dying or wounded man, but he pushed himself to his feet.  “Since you put it that way…”