I should have guessed Linda was up to something when she made me an unprompted cup of lemon and ginger tea. I’ve worked with her for four years and this was a first.

“There you go.” She plonked it on top of January’s event reports, spilling some over the participation breakdown.

“Thanks?” It was impossible to keep the note of caution and question from my voice.

“What? It’s not poisoned.” She managed a half-offended look, eyebrows raised in all innocence.

Thanks for putting poison into my mind, I thought, moving the mug away from my precious reports and safely out of range of the computer’s keyboard.

She rounded the desk and took up her usual spot in the most comfortable chair. I sat on it once, back in my first month of w...

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