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technically, no one except a handful of people in the accounting department is supposed to see that stuff.”
    Well that was strange. 
    “It was in his inbox?” she asked, barely able to mask her disbelief.
    “Yeah, it was.”
    “Mark’s always been kind of underhanded if you ask me,” Mina offered.  “One time I’m pretty sure I caught him cheating off me during an exam.  And there was a rumor floating around that he hacked into the college’s server and changed his grade after he bombed an exam,” she added.  “It was just a rumor but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was true.”
    “Huh.”  I’d always assumed Mark was spending all that time online playing video games, but maybe he was up to more than that.  Maybe the video games were just a cover for more devious activities.   “I wonder why he’d have that information.”
    “I dunno .  Is it this year’s budget?” she asked curiously.  “Is it a draft or the final one?”
    “ I’m not sure.  To me it’s just a bunch of numbers and columns with a few labels.  But then I don’t even do my own taxes,” I laughed.  “Hey Mina, I have a favor to ask but it’s totally okay if you say no.  I’m sure you’re really busy…”
    “I’m not!” she interjected.  “My days consist of scraping spaghetti off the walls and listening to the kiddo screech.  Please, ask me to do something grownup!  You have no idea how nice it is to just talk to an adult!  Whatever it is, yes, I’ll do it!”
    I chuckled.  I hadn’t realized how much I missed Mina until she was no longer a part of my day-to-day life.  She’d been a good friend to me during our college years, and not just because she proofread my papers for me.  It was a little sad to think our lives had taken such completely different directions, but I was glad to have an excuse to maintain contact with her.
    “Can I email you the budget stuff I came across?” I asked hopefully as I picked up the wad of paper and stuck it in my scanner.  I knew I could trust Mina to be discreet and if anyone could help me make sense of the financial information I’d come across, it was her.  “I’m mostly just curious to know what it is and why Mark would have it.” 
    “Ooh, revenge of the ex,” she giggled.  “ Ugh, I still can’t believe you ever dated Mark, Daniella!  I’m not letting you live that down any time soon, ha-ha.  And yes, by all means send it to me!  I’m happy to help!”
    After I hung up I couldn’t help it:  I checked to see if I had any more voicemails from Hayden.  I expected there to be multiple messages, but to my surprise there were none.  Huh.  A small part of me couldn’t help but be disappointed.  But I tried to remind myself it was for the best. 
    Hayden Slate, it seemed, was nothing but bad news and the fewer toxic people I had in my life, the better.
     

Chapter 05
    That Friday was an eventful one. 
    Mina called me bright and early as I was getting ready for work.  She sounded breathless.  “Hi!  I’m sorry to phone you so early but I wanted to catch you before you were busy teaching or something,” she said.  Then in a singsong voice she trilled, “Peek-a-boo!  I see you, sweetie!”   I could hear the baby gurgling in the background and smiled to myself, amused that for a moment I’d thought Mina was talking to me.
    “It’s alright, I was already awake,” I assured her.  “What’s up?”
    “I finally had a chance to read your email.  Sorry it took so long but the kiddo knocked my drink onto my laptop and I had to keep it shut off until the keyboard dried out,” she explained.  “Anyway, I looked at the documents you forwarded to me and something is really off.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well I recognize those graphs,” Mina explained.  “They’re the same ones my boss had me do up so she could spend all day watching soap operas in her office.  But they don’t look anything like they should.  The numbers are