Tote Bags and Toe Tags Read Online Free Page B

different levels of clearances required for different positions here at Dempsey Rowland, so the time necessary to complete the background investigation will vary from person to person. Weeks, sometimes. Months, occasionally,” Violet said. “We move as quickly as possible.”
    I started to get a weird feeling.
    â€œHow far back does your investigation go?” the same man asked.
    My weird feeling got weirder.
    â€œYears, decades. Back to childhood,” Violet said. “After all, we’re handling sensitive work for the government of the United States. We can’t have anyone working here whose past is questionable.”
    â€œWhat exactly do you mean by questionable?” I asked. Violet smiled kindly at me. “No need to worry, Miss Randolph. I can see you’re a nice young lady. It’s not as if you’ve ever been in trouble with the law, have you?”
    Did being a suspect in multiple murder investigations count?
    â€œOr been involved in any organized criminal activity?” she asked.
    Jeez, did that include the guy from the Russian Mafia who owed me a favor?
    â€œYou’ve never been let go from a job under a cloud of suspicion, have you?” Violet asked.
    Well, there was that whole administrative-leave-investigation-pending thing from last fall. Would that be a problem?
    â€œAnd everything you stated on your résumé is true, isn’t it?” she asked.
    Kind of. Sort of. Well, except for that part about the University of Michigan. And, well, maybe a few other things.
    What could I say? Confess to everything? Now? Before I even got my first paycheck? No way. How would I explain it to Ty? And what would happen when Sarah Covington found out I got the boot because I couldn’t get the security clearance? I’d never live it down.
    â€œHaley?” Violet asked. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
    What could I say but, “No, of course not.”
    â€œThen you have nothing to worry about,” Violet declared.
    Oh, crap.

C HAPTER 3
    W as I going to get fired today? Before I’d really even gotten to work here?
    The notion had plagued me all last night—I hadn’t even gone shopping—and this morning, and had taken all the fun out of imagining how I’d blow my first paycheck on clothes and handbags. I hadn’t even told Marcie about the whole security clearance thing— that’s how upset I was about it.
    I left my Honda in the parking garage, took the elevator down to the Dempsey Rowland lobby, and flashed the I.D. card I’d been issued yesterday at one of the guards at the reception desk while the other guard gave me serious stink-eye. I hoisted my Burberry satchel higher, then took the elevator up to five. I was early—I wanted to get my desk chair warm before they booted my butt out on the street—but so were other people. They looked happy and secure, as if they’d actually still have their jobs at the end of the day.
    Jeez, I really hope I still have my job at the end of the day.
    Yesterday, after several grueling hours of orientation and having us complete our background information forms, Violet Hamilton had given the three other new hires and me a tour of the office complex, then let us leave for the day. She’d left instructions for us to report to H.R. this morning so Adela could escort us to meet our new supervisor, where we’d be given blah, blah, blah . I don’t know what she said. I’d drifted off.
    I moved along the corridors with the other employees who’d reported early. Wow, a lot of people were already here. Some of them had a coffee cup in their hands, others were already seated at their desks working. Wow, what was that all about?
    I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of really good-looking men worked here. Not that I was interested, of course. After all, I had an official boyfriend who was fabulous—at least, he was the last time I