The Creepshow: A Novel Read online

  Tricia leaned closer. “Can you keep a secret?”

  “Of course!” Wanda, usually indifferent to gossip, suddenly found herself yearning to pull the words from Tricia’s mouth.

  “I fucked my way to lower management level, where I am now, with someone you know very well. Louis, your fearless Parisian leader.”

  Should I be surprised? Wanda thought as her eyes widened. After Louis’ behavior, probably not.

  “It got me out of that shitty analyst job. And at least Louis is pretty hot. Not a bad deal.” She grinned and took a sip of her drink. Wanda noticed the assortment of rocks on her fingers. Tricia might have a small apartment, but she was living the high life in other ways.

  “Tricia, you’re smart enough to get far with your skills! Why resort to that?” The words sounded dull and naïve, but Wanda couldn’t stop herself from saying them. Wanda didn’t know if she was angry with Tricia or disappointed with her. Perhaps a bit of both.

  Tricia sighed. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. But that isn’t how Whilt operates. And it’s how so many others do business too. This isn’t about Whilt alone. What’s a girl to do?”

  “But Tricia, don’t you realize what your actions mean for the rest of us women?” Wanda couldn’t hold back the exasperation in her voice.

  Tricia shook her head and reached across the table for Wanda’s hand. “Listen, I know… I do feel guilty sometimes. I’m not proud of this. But dammit, Wanda, do you see anyone else who will look out for me and help me move up the corporate ladder? I’d like to be able to afford something better than a teeny-tiny walkup some day! It’s the same everywhere. I’m simply working with the system instead of fighting it. Not everyone has the courage to fight.”

  Wanda glimpsed a hint of sadness in Tricia’s eyes and softened. Tricia’s decisions weren’t any of her business. And who knows how any of us would react in a given situation?

  Wanda didn’t dare ask Tricia if she was still using her strategy to make it to upper management. She just wanted to get on the next plane out of this city. But that wish would have to wait.

  “So do you hate me?” Tricia asked, trying—but failing—to be flippant.

  “I don’t agree with you, but no, I don’t hate you. I do think you’re selling yourself short, though.”

  Tricia smiled wistfully, then shook her head, and the fragility was gone.

  “So how are things in Paris?” she asked.

  “Fine.”

  “And my ex hasn’t tried to jump you?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Hmm, so he is up to his old tricks—”

  “No, no, I just didn’t get why you were asking me. I’m back from maternity leave after all. It’s not like I’m the best candidate for dating. Most people would assume I’m with someone anyway.”

  “Ha! That wouldn’t bother Louis. As long as you’ve got a nice ass, Louis is interested.”

  “Well thanks for the compliment,” Wanda said, irony in her voice.

  Tricia laughed.

  “As long as he’s treating you well, and things are going OK, I’m happy, Wanda. I learned a lot from you back in the Paris office. You deserve to be successful. And that’s damn difficult for women at this company. It doesn’t help if you’re a mother and making what they consider the big bucks. It also doesn’t help if you refuse to drink the Kool-Aid.” At this, she smirked and downed the rest of her drink.

  Wanda’s mind raced as she thought of her own situation: An over-thirty mother making one of the highest salaries in the Paris office. She hadn’t told Tricia of her troubles, hadn’t dared to pronounce the words aloud, hadn’t dared to consider herself a victim. She didn’t want to be a victim, but facing this situation, how could she be anything else?

  She took another sip—this time a gulp—of her drink, steeled herself and leaned closer to Tricia. Wanda knew what she had to do on this trip. She had to gather as much information, as much insight as she possibly could. She had a feeling it would serve her well.

  “What really happened with Jim today? That singing in the planters thing. He’s one of the top guys, right under Raymond.”

  “Raymond’s hated him from the start.” Tricia rolled her eyes as if she’d told the story every day of her life. “For years, Raymond’s put on a show of solidarity for the outside world, but behind the scenes, he’s made Jim’s life hell. Jim hadn’t been in the office for a few days, and then he showed up as Gene Kelly! That’ll be the ‘underground’ talk of the office for the next few days. Management will brush it under the rug though. Remember: It never happened.”

  “Is it always like this around here? It’s overwhelming.”

  Tricia laughed and shook her head. “It is pretty dysfunctional, isn’t it?”

  “So I’m not overreacting, not being overly serious? I can be overly serious.”

  “I know. We worked together, remember?” Tricia grinned, and so did Wanda.

  But as Wanda laughed and meandered into more pleasant subjects, the knot in her stomach remained.

  Chapter 7

  Galina hugged Wanda, who was already cradling Nelly in her arms. Nelly had smiled and giggled as soon as she saw her mother and then grasped the buttons of Wanda’s shirt with eager fingers. A joyous reunion that made Wanda’s hear soar.

  Wanda followed her friend’s tall willowy silhouette into the living room, where she’d prepared tea. Everyone admired Galina for her beauty—a combination of Russian and Nigerian genes that resulted in cocoa-colored skin and golden eyes—and her brain—a list of degrees and awards that resulted in a position at a top law firm. But Wanda admired Galina for her loyalty. Friends since freshman year of college, together they’d been through failed exams and failed relationships, lost and seized opportunities, and even an international move. In college, they’d set their sights on Paris and managed to land jobs within six months of each other.

  Wanda held Nelly against her chest, feeling the baby’s heart beating against her own. Its rapid rhythm seemed to pound right through Wanda’s body. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, but she brushed it away. She was being too emotional, as usual. She’d only been away for three days, yet it had felt more like three weeks. Nelly snuggled against her neck, drooling into her hair.

  “Here,” Galina said, laughing as she handed her a burp cloth. “I think she’s working on a tooth.”

  “Already? It seems kind of soon!”

  “Anya had her first at four months,” Galina said, referring to her four-year-old daughter.

  Wanda sank onto the cool leather couch and gazed out the window. The Eiffel Tower by day, and her apartment in the distance.

  “I sometimes feel like I can wave to you,” she said to Galina.

  “You always say that.” Galina grinned, set cups on the table and poured fragrant Earl Grey. “So much so, that I can’t look out the window without thinking of you. So… how did things go? Not all rosy, huh?”

  Galina sat cross legged in one corner of the couch, her elegant beige tunic fanning out around her.

  Wanda felt her face go red. She still didn’t want to share the turmoil of the past few weeks with Galina. This was unlike her and unlike what usually happened in their friendship. Maybe it was because she knew what Galina would say, those words Wanda herself had whispered, then tried to bury in the depths of her mind. Words like sexual harassment, discrimination and lawsuit. Galina was all about taking action. Wanda was all about avoiding it.

  “It’s just the workload,” Wanda said vaguely. “They gave me some Asian funds to manage, and I have to leave for Shanghai next week. For a week. Can you watch Nelly again?” Her words ran together in an attempt to sound blasé, but in her own ears, she sounded more distraught than anything else.

  Galina took a sip of tea as Wanda placed a fussing Nelly in the baby lounger and started bouncing it with her foot. Wanda drowned her gaze in her cup of tea, a sad attempt at ignoring Galina’s quizzical and knowing eye.

  “Of cours
e we can watch Nelly. That’s never a problem. But Wanda, this fund story… Did they offer you a promotion or a raise? A new contract?”

  “No.”

  “So you’ve got the funds you’re already managing, plus the new ones, and nothing official to document the change.”

  “That’s about right.”

  “Well, the problem is that isn’t right.”

  Wanda rolled her eyes and sipped her tea as if it were a drug, easing her discomfort. She glanced down at Nelly, who chewed on the ear of her elephant toy. It is a tooth, she thought as she watched Nelly smile through the drool. Then she snapped back to attention at the sound of her friend’s voice.

  “This is serious, Wanda. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a yard. Believe me.”

  Wanda could trust her friend, whose legal specialty was defending companies involved in labor disputes.

  “I know their tricks, their motivations,” Galina continued.

  This would be the perfect time to tell Galina everything, from the day Wanda returned to the office from maternity leave to now. But she couldn’t. The words remained trapped in her throat.

  “Don’t tell me it’s already time to send little Nelly home?” Charles’ voice echoed from the vestibule. His first stop was Galina, naturally. He dropped to his knees at her side and drew her into his arms, then kissed her gently on the forehead.

  They had been married for five years, but they were still in honeymoon mode. On a physical level, the opposites-attract magnetism hadn’t waned. Charles was a freckly, light-skinned, green-eyed Frenchman from a family that traced its way back—accurately or not was still to be determined—to aristocracy. A contrast to Galina’s dark beauty. And on an intellectual level, their similarities were what kept the fire ignited. Attorneys at the same firm, they had worked on a case together, and in the process, fallen in love.

  Charles approached Wanda and kissed her on both cheeks. He was a brotherly figure for her, and she was convinced he felt sorry for her much of the time. When Galina could be a little too straightforward, he would temper his wife’s words and pat Wanda on the back. She didn’t know if she was grateful for his kindness or embarrassed about being pathetic enough to need it.

  Galina poured Charles a cup of tea even though it was cocktail hour rather than teatime and told him about Wanda’s new assignments. But this wasn’t an exercise in casual chitchat. Wanda knew her too well. Galina was hoping to gain an ally, someone to help her convince Wanda that she had to speak out at work.

  “I know Galina considers it her business,” he said with a grin, “but I realize it isn’t any of mine, Wanda. Your decisions have to be your own. And you haven’t asked for my advice, so I feel uncomfortable giving it.”

  “Charles! We can’t let her head straight into a disaster.” Galina shook her head. “We know better. It’s our responsibility to—”

  “Galina, don’t worry, OK?” Wanda said. “Please stop talking about me as if I weren’t here.”

  “You expect me not to worry just because you tell me not to worry? That’s not logical, Wanda.”

  Wanda sighed. Of course it wasn’t logical.

  Charles set a hand on Wanda’s wrist and spoke in his usual calm manner. “If you were to ask for advice, I would agree with Galina. The law is the law. But when you insist the law be followed, that action comes with consequences.”

  “I’m not ready for the consequences.”

  “That’s what they’re betting on,” Galina muttered.

  And Wanda knew her friend was right. She thought of all she hadn’t told Galina and Charles. Whilt was truly counting on the fact that Wanda and her colleagues would accept anything—anything to avoid conflict.

  Chapter 8

  Wanda had been to Shanghai once before for Whilt business, meeting with fund managers Rita Morelle and Xavier Laval, who had originally worked in Paris and handed off the European funds to her. That had been several years ago, in the middle of summer when the air was steamy, and ladies walked around in flip flops and short dresses.

  This time, it was winter, darker and cooler. Wanda stayed at an elegant, modern hotel, with dozens of stories piercing through the sky. It was a calm, quiet place, perfect after long, intense days at the conference. She interviewed chief executive after chief executive, grilled financial officers with questions, met with analysts and yawned her way through formal presentations that never brought forth the real dirt. With each meeting, she emerged with a boost of energy that buoyed her confidence. I can do this, she thought. She could apply much of her experience from the European market, then integrate the new elements unique to Asia.

  That is why she agreed to dinner with Rita and Xavier rather than holing up in her room with a bowl of noodles and the television. Wanda, for the first time in weeks, felt as if maybe, just maybe, everything would be all right. She would build up these funds and prove to management that they couldn’t keep her down.

  Wanda met Rita and Xavier in the lobby lounge, near the pianist playing Gershwin’s best.

  “Very New York, tonight,” Xavier said with a grin as he kissed Wanda on both cheeks. Rita arrived in a flourish of red, her silk dress flying around her.

  “Our arrival was almost simultaneous,” she said, glancing at Xavier. The two were a discreet item, with no one in the office officially aware of the situation. They were in their early fifties, but looked a decade younger in that breezy French sort of way.

  “How’s the conference going?” Xavier asked. “You’ve been like a gust of wind, in and out of the office before anyone can say more than ‘hello.’”

  Wanda pressed her hands to her temples and shook her head.

  “Overwhelming. But good.”

  “I can’t believe they’re giving you the Asian funds too,” Rita said, rubbing Wanda’s arm. “That’s insane. Are you sure you’re up for this, Wanda? I know you can do a fabulous job, but with this, your other funds and your home life, how are you going to balance everything? You know Whilt will eat you up and doesn’t care if your personal life suffers.”

  Rita was direct, but her words were always kind, meant to help, not hurt.

  “I still haven’t figured that out yet,” Wanda said. “I’m at the stage of plowing ahead like a good little Whilt soldier.”

  “They love that,” Xavier said, then signaled the waiter. “What would everyone like for dinner?”

  They settled on tea and various rolls and noodles.

  “So, what have you been working on?” Wanda asked.

  Xavier and Rita exchanged glances. Wanda raised an eyebrow and leaned closer.

  “C’mon, guys, we’ve known each other long enough.”

  Rita nodded at Xavier, and he sighed.

  “OK, I think we both realize we have to tell you this, especially since you’re building a fund of Asian companies. As you can probably guess, Rita and I have many contacts throughout the region after our years over here. One of them recently leaked some information to us, and as it turns out, it’s true.”

  “What is it?” Wanda asked.

  The waiter arrived with tea, and Wanda grudgingly thanked him. She was too eager to hear what Xavier had to reveal.

  “You know I split my time between the Shanghai and Tokyo offices. Well, my source told me about a Japanese company that is illegally betting on bitcoins,” Xavier said.

  “What does that have to do with our business?” Wanda asked. “Unless your funds have been investing in that company.”

  “Oh, it’s worse than that,” Xavier said with a smirk. “One of Whilt’s biggest private clients is that company’s CEO.”

  “What?” Wanda almost choked on a sip of tea. “Oh no.”

  “Oh yes,” Rita said, nodding.

  “So we’re investing illegal money?”

  “More or less,” Xavier said with a grin. “Or at least, I am. I manage his money out of the Tokyo office. A certain Mr. Ito pours all his money into my Eastern Development fund, upon my suggestion of course.”

/>   “What are you going to do?” Wanda managed to cobble a few words together. “Have you told anyone? Management, I mean.”

  “I told the higher ups in New York, and as I suspected, they want me to pretend I’ve never heard a thing. To keep on investing Ito’s money. They don’t want a scandal, and they certainly don’t want to lose Ito. Remember: Never piss off a client. Especially a major client like this one.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  The waiter arrived, setting a selection of steaming plates on the table in one quick swoop. Xavier grabbed a shrimp roll, dunked it into a tangerine-colored sauce and looked at Wanda. His expression had gone from whimsical to grim.

  “I’m afraid not,” he replied.

  “We’re telling you for one reason,” Rita said. “If Ito approaches you, or if they try to hand him over to you, think of this before you decide to invest his money.”

  “But why would that happen? If he’s Xavier’s client…”

  And then she understood. She looked from Xavier to Rita. Their eyes were opaque, hiding the distress that must have been percolating beneath the surface.

  Xavier knew too much. Xavier wouldn’t bend to pressure. Xavier was going to lose his job.

  ~~~~

  Xavier and Rita turned the conversation to other subjects, but the night was ruined for Wanda. It sickened her that Xavier would be fired for doing the right—the legal—thing, and Whilt would cover it up. Wanda cut the evening short, blaming fatigue, but she tossed and turned most of the night in that oversized bed with heavy down pillows.

  In the morning, she felt drugged as she dragged herself out of her room and into the frigid air, a messily packed suitcase at her side. She handed the taxi driver a small card with the address of Whilt written in Mandarin, then settled against the seat as the car drove the short distance.

  The small office, as usual, was buzzing with activity as Wanda entered, filled up on coffee in the kitchen, and slouched behind the guest desk. In exactly five hours, she would be heading to the airport and back to Paris. Normally, she would be jumping out of her skin with excitement at the thought of returning home, holding Nelly, seeing Galina. But a strange sense of foreboding—one that had begun in the Paris office and had been growing since—had reached colossal proportions after her conversation with Xavier and Rita.