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she left the garage. In her rearview mirror, she saw Michael walking toward the security booth.
    The next morning, Steve the daytime security guard told Kate that George had been fired. Kate struggled with mixed feelings—guilt because she knew he’d been fired because of her comments and relief because he really was malicious. She was certain that whoever replaced George would be friendly but silent. Kate shook off her discomfort and continued to her department.
    She entered it and found Michael there. She walked up to him and said, “May I help you?”
    He smiled. “I’ve already seen everything I needed and heard all I wanted to.” He turned and left the department.
    Kate looked at Pete.
    Pete shrugged. “He was here when I got in at seven. He didn’t interfere, just watched while I organized the morning work. Then he wandered around for a while.”
    “What did he hear and see?” The work was never routine, there were always problems.
    Pete shrugged again. “Not much. Luckily it was quiet. He just asked a few questions.”
    She’d hired Pete as her assistant two months ago and he was still testing her. What was the something else that had just moved through his eyes? Triumph, she decided. Kate almost hadn’t hired Pete. He seemed to have a problem with the concept of working for a female.
    Kate understood his attitude. Many men felt the same. She still didn’t have a handle on him though. His work was good. He cared about the patients. At one level that’s all that concerned her. At other levels, she knew he was dangerous.
    He was after her job. Pete had asked for her help the other night but then he’d put her in the weaker position by sending her to work the emergency cases. He didn’t realize she loved trauma work. She loved the challenge of taking films on uncooperative patients. Sighing, she realized Pete read her love of a challenge as a weakness he could exploit. Kate wasn’t sure how to handle his mistaken reading of the situation. At some point, she and Pete would have a confrontation. Kate really wasn’t looking forward to it.
    “And you told him what?” Kate prompted Pete. She had a feeling he was hiding something.
    “The questions were mostly about you.”
    “Keep going.”
    “He asked how I felt about working for a woman.” Pete stood with his feet apart and arms crossed.
    That must have been an interesting conversation , Kate thought. She wondered if Pete knew about Michael’s collection. In Pete’s world, penises ruled so he’d probably get off on the male domination depicted by the statues. Kate debated whether to pursue her questioning but decided Pete would probably lie to her anyway. This conversation was going nowhere so she shrugged and went to her office.
    Two hours later Kate got a call from Eileen. Voice trembling, she asked, “Do you want to have lunch?”
    “Sure. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria in half an hour.”
    “No! No, let’s go somewhere outside the building.”
    “Okay,” said Kate. Obviously, Kate’s world wasn’t the only one being rocked by the new boss. At least Kate would get a chance to ask about the statuary.
    Eileen started lunch with a bang. “You’ve seen his artwork, haven’t you?”
    “Kind of hard to miss. How do you like it?”
    “Well it has certainly stimulated some very interesting…conversations…with my husband.” Eileen waved a hand. “But that’s not why I asked you to lunch…or it is…but not the way you think.” Her cheeks turned rosy and she started playing with her napkin.
    “Eileen, we’ve been friends for years, just spit it out. What’s going on?” Kate asked, knowing Eileen wanted to tell her something.
    Tears filled Eileen’s eyes. Her distress frightened Kate. She’d never seen her friend so upset. “Eileen…”
    “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m just so worried about you.”
    “What do you mean?” Kate had thought her tears were for herself. Eileen crying for Kate? What was going on?
    Eileen