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her blouse.
    Gwen checked her watch. She estimated she had a couple of minutes before Tarbell would get suspicious. She handed the evaluations to Deborah. Tarbell couldn’t see her returning with them.
    Deborah escorted Gwen to the door. “Tell no one about this. Confidentiality is paramount. You’ll be protected, but the program only works when no one knows of its presence.”
    Gwen nodded and left the office. What program? She knew the company’s employment policy and its dismissal procedure. It was pretty much boilerplate stuff.
    Someone passed her in the corridor and asked if she was OK. She forced a smile, horrified to realize that she was wearing her troubled emotions on the outside. It was going to be hard work maintaining a happy public face. She did her best to shake her harried look. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Just thinking.”
    She passed by Tarbell’s cubicle on the way to her office. She expected a smug smile or a wink, but he had his head down, business as usual.
    She dropped into her seat behind her desk. Her body tingled as if every nerve ending was exposed to the air. She willed her body to calm itself and took a few deep breaths.
    She picked up the phone and called Paul.
    “How’s it going?” he asked.
    “Tough.”
    “I wish you’d let me be there.”
    “I wish I could.”
    “Has he said anything?”
    She thought about Tarbell’s closed-door visit. He was sending a message to her, but it was a message she couldn’t use against him. He made no verbal or physicalthreat. That was the genius of intimidation. It was so damn hard to prove.
    “No, he hasn’t said anything.”
    “Maybe the son of a bitch is laying low because he’s frightened by what you can do to him.”
    She doubted that but humored Paul. “Yeah, maybe.”
    “Crap. I’ve gotta go. The headhunter is on the other line. Call anytime. I’m here for you.”
    “OK. I will. Love you.”
    “You too. Hang in there. I hope they fire this asshole today,” he said and hung up.
    An unnerving thought punctured her mind. Pace could fire Tarbell, but that wouldn’t protect her from retaliation. If he intended on following through with his threat, there was nothing stopping him from doing it. Paul was right. She should have gone to the police last night in spite of her misgivings. She’d let her emotions overrule her common sense. If Deborah didn’t bring up police action, she would.
    The day dragged after Paul’s call. She lived on her nerves, unsure if Tarbell would pull another stunt and who’d protect her if he did.
    She kept to herself, just getting on with her work, but her senses were on high alert. It was impossible to make sure she had someone in her office at all times, but she did her best, calling in her other employees for impromptu meetings. A witness was as good as a weapon with Tarbell around. The tension receded when Tarbell left for an off-site meeting.
    She was exhausted by the time five o’clock came around. After a day of pretending, she wanted to go home, but her day was far from over. She still had her clandestine meeting with Ingram. She left with the main glut of her coworkers. She didn’t want to leave alone. She’d learned that lesson.
    It looked to be an unnecessary precaution. Tarbell had yet to return from his meeting, but that didn’t mean anything. He’d pretended to leave yesterdayand hadn’t. She wasn’t taking any chances this time.
    She slipped behind the wheel of her Subaru without incident and joined the conga line of vehicles heading for the exit. She saw no sign of Tarbell. She picked up the freeway and headed toward San Francisco. So far so good , she thought, but she couldn’t shake the paranoia that Tarbell was monitoring her. She switched lanes, watching for any vehicle matching her moves, but saw nothing. She had no idea if her maneuvers helped any, but she was pretty sure Tarbell wasn’t following her and settled into her seat for the slow rush-hour drive into the