The Return of Jonah Gray Read Online Free

Enigma?” I asked, before I could stop myself.
    Ricardo started to laugh.
    I was irked. “I have to get back to work,” I said. I made a show of standing up, walking to my table and pulling a folder from my stack of upcoming audits.
    â€œSweetie, I meant it as a compliment,” Ricardo said. “We both did. Didn’t we, Susan?”
    â€œSure,” Susan said, only less believably.
    I thought of Martina’s comment, about guys avoiding smart girls. Maybe she’d been wrong. Ricardo claimed to appreciate my magpie mind. Of course, I hadn’t realized that he’d been using it to earn money. And besides, Ricardo didn’t swing that way.
    I made a show of glancing inside the file I’d taken from the table.
    â€œI suppose we’ve all got work to do,” Susan said. I saw her glance at my stack of folders. “Some of us more than others.” They left me alone then.
    â€œResident warehouse,” I muttered.
    â€œYou say something, Sasha?” Cliff called through our mutual wall.
    â€œNothing,” I called back. I looked again at the file I’d pulled off the table, then closed it and dropped it back atop the pile. Every folder represented someone who had already been notified of his or her upcoming audit. They weren’t going to wait until my inertia was gone.
    But then my phone rang again. Maybe it was Kevin.
    â€œSasha Gardner,” I answered.
    â€œSasha Gardner,” a woman repeated back. Her voice was wavery, watery, but her words were determined. “I’m calling to say that I think you have some nerve.”
    â€œDo you?” I’d never considered myself particularly brave.
    She didn’t answer. She just kept barreling on. “You’re harassing one of the best people I’ve ever known. If you’d only take the time to know him, to talk to him, you’d see.”
    â€œWho are you talking about?” I asked, understanding at once the sort of nerve she’d meant. My cheeks started burning. “Who is this?”
    â€œBut no, you have to drop your poison into his life. Now, I don’t know what sort of a family you were raised in, Ms. Gardner, but I hope you take a good look at how you’re spending your time on God’s green earth and move on to better things. He’s had a hard enough year. Look at all he gave up. And for what? To have you bothering him? How about planting some happiness for a change and letting go that misery you sow?”
    â€œWho are you?” I asked again. “How did you get my name? Do you know Gordon?”
    â€œI’m a concerned citizen who felt an obligation to tell you that you work for the worst branch of our government.”
    â€œThe IRS isn’t its own branch,” I said. “We’re a part of the Treasury which is a part of…” She had hung up. “Never mind.”
    I replaced the handset. In my previous six years at the service, I hadn’t received even one complaint. Now two in one afternoon? I looked around my office for clues. I listened for Cliff’s voice, wondering whether he was receiving the same phone-line vitriol. How could I defend myself when I didn’t know what I’d done, or to whom I’d done it? Who was this “he” that both callers had referred to?
    I was so flustered that when my phone rang again, I barked into it. “I know—I’m awful. There, I beat you to it, didn’t I? Surprised?”
    â€œUh, this is Jody in reception. Your three o’clock appointment is here.”
    â€œOh. Sure, Jody. I’ll be right there.”
    I had to get it together. I took a deep breath and glanced at my watch. That made me smile and, at least briefly, forget the phone calls. It was three o’clock exactly. They were right on time.
    I had predicted by the way they prepaid their bills that the Ritters would be punctual. I had a clear-cut image of them in my mind: Donald Ritter, the