Mr. Cowall returns (Susceptible branch)

Kate's fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Grr..." she grumbled. Her finger repeatedly pounded the delete key. She was exhausted. Mistakes were appearing more and more frequently. At this rate, she'd be lucky to finish the Bergeron account by midnight. Her eyes burned. They were bleary and tired. She still couldn't understand how she let the day get away from her like that, but...

Luckily, Jake had been really understanding about her staying late. When she called him, he almost sounded relieved or excited to have an evening alone. Kate resolved not to take it too personally. She knew that Jake enjoyed his alone time and she figured he probably had a new video game to grind. They'd still be able to go out for dinner that week, probably Wednesday...

As long as she was able to wrap up the Bergeron account that night. It was necessary to get it done that night. She could do it, but it just felt so daunting.

She groaned and looked at the little kitchenette nestled in the corner of the office and at the lonely dusty coffee machine on its counter. She didn't normally drink coffee and Mr. Cowall usually bought his from a nearby coffee shop, but she could really use a pick-me-up. A little break would be good too, just to ease her frustrations and cool her head. Hopefully there were still some coffee pods left in the drawer.

She stood from her desk and grabbed her phone, but before she could start walking to the kitchenette, she heard a rattling noise that stopped her dead in her tracks. The front door of their office led directly outside and onto the city street. While they weren't in a particularly seedy neighborhood, Kate still felt uneasy walking alone in the dark, so she had locked the door soon after Mr. Cowall had left. The fact that it rattled because someone had pulled on it sent Kate's imagination wild, worried that someone was trying to get in to do who knows what. She could only imagine their ill intentions.

Before she could call out to the would-be-intruder, the sound of keys jangling and the deadbolt turning set her mind at ease. It had to be Mr. Cowall, but Kate had no idea why he'd be returning to the office so late.

The door opened and she saw him walk in, his phone was nestled between his shoulder and his face and he was obviously talking to someone on the other end. Relieved that it wasn't actually someone with ill intent, Kate gave him a curt wave and walked over to the kitchenette. The thought crossed her mind that he might have a problem with her taking a break, but at that point she didn't really care. She wasn't being paid by the hour. She was still there well after she should have gone home. She needed to take a moment.

As she looked through the kitchenette, found a coffee pod (French Vanilla!), and began filling the water reservoir, Mr. Cowall continued his conversation on the phone. "Yea, I understand completely. I've gone back in, and I'll make sure it's done right."

Kate couldn't help think m that it sounded like he was talking to a boss of his own. She chuckled briefly at the irony, but it was probably just an annoyed client. He finished up his phone call as he approached his desk, and Kate turned from the kitchenette to greet him, "Who's upset about what now?" It probably sounded more grumpy than she had meant, but she felt so fried that being pleasant seemed like a chore.

If he cared about her tone, however, he didn't show it. In fact, he seemed startled by her voice and stumped by her question, as if it didn't make sense given the situation. He stood there momentarily with a daft expression on his face, his cold blue eyes were wide and appeared to be looking past Kate.

"The phone call?" she clarified. Was he really too dumb to realize that she could hear his conversation?

"Oh!" he said and he snapped back into motion, moving things here and there across his desk. "It's, umm, nothing really. Just my mom!"

Kate couldn't shake the feeling that he was acting really strangely. Was he trying to hide something? "A call with your mom brought you back to the office?" she asked incredulously. It really was hard to act pleasant, hopefully he wouldn't mind too much. She heard the coffee machine start to pour her deliciously caffeinated brew into the mug behind her.

He looked up from his desk with yet another stupefied expression. "Oh no, nothing like that," he said and went back to inanenly rearranging the crap on his desk.

Kate quickly decided that she didn't have the emotional capacity to try to figure out what he was doing, so she turned back to her coffee. When it finished pouring, she took the mug and slowly walked back to her desk while scrolling through social media. She needed something to get her mind off the Bergeron file. Mr. Cowall was still shuffling stuff around on his desk, but Kate made it a point to just ignore his presence. She needed a break. She deserved a break.

"Actually, Katie..."

Kate hadn't spent more than five seconds in her chair before his grating voice demanded her attention. She stifled the urge to roll her eyes and looked up from her phone, at his awful, icy eyes. Something about them just made her feel uneasy, like he was a predator and she his prey, but for some reason she felt like she couldn't look away.

Without waiting for her to verbally respond, Mr. Cowall asked his question. "I think now would be a good time to go over your employee review, don't you think?"