Handling Things (working title) by CE Dalton

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Chapter 8

Beth reported to the director's office the next morning. "Sir, anything I need to be aware of today?"

"We've done a building sweep. There's no more snakes." He put down his pen to look at her. "I've heard rumors you turned someone in for infractions to your overseeing body?"

"No, I asked the FIE about new uniform rules since I had caught pictures of Bilanda Jacobson wearing inappropriate whites during a match. I stated that I used the rules stated in one set of rule books and wanted to know if they had been changed, citing those pictures as evidence of a possible change. I did not rat her out or anything. It was not meant in that spirit."

"That's good." He smiled. "How far off were they?"

"She violated the advertising policy on how big the ad patches can be, and the publicity code." He winced because that last one could get someone banned for a few years at the worst. "I only noted the uniform one to see if rules had changed. Whites are expensive and then you have to have them embroidered with your country and name." She shifted her stance. "You should also probably hear that they didn't yellow card her during her last match at Nationals. She had two yellow card violations. I rewatched the tape last night."

He grimaced. "That level of politics sucks when it's in gymnastics and ice skating." She nodded. "You wouldn't expect that of fencing."

"We're newer than the European Union's clubs. A lot of us are seen as upstart little pricks by the FIE."

He nodded. "I've seen that said." She smiled slightly. "Will that get you into trouble?"

"No. I can post my email to them on my livejournal page. They can all see that I did not tattle on her. It wasn't meant that way."

"That's good. It's not very sportsmanlike behavior."

"I know, sir. Though they'd do it to me in a heartbeat."

"I know. Bill would expect better of you."

"He asked me last night, Director." She smiled. "Let me get to my office to go over the trip booking sites I use so Amanda can register her own account with them." She nodded and left. She ran into Al in the hallway. "Hey." She smiled. "Aren't you supposed to be at home?"

"I am home." He smiled. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good, Al. They made sure there's no more snakes." He hugged her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, kiddo." He grinned at her. "I'm going to hide from Major Bill. He's the one that grounded me for two days for the fighting." He winked and walked off.

She went to her office, finding Amanda waiting at the doorway. Which was open. "Did you...."

"Security was sweeping it when I got here." She smiled. "I saw Al."

"He's a nice, sweet guy when he wants to be." She walked in and checked her office then waved her in. "C'mon, we'll go over trip sites. There's a few that are better for certain regions. Then we can go over how to manage press relations for a team. Monitoring their online presence can be a full time job with some teams or single athletes. Fortunately our joint team is pretty cool with that." She and Amanda got into the current trip being planned. Amanda posted that travel itinerary in the women's changing room so the team could look it over to make sure it was all right before they finalized it. She showed her the whole bookmark file she had for necessary work matters. Amanda copied the bookmarks file down so she could put it onto her computer, making notes on what each one was best at. By lunch, they were both hungry and went to get something and then check on their various trainees.

Beth ran into Cecily coming in and got glared at. "What?"

"You ratted her out?"

"No, I asked if the rules had changed." She pulled up that email to show her. "See?"

"I do." She grimaced. "She's mad that she's now under investigation."

"She's the one who posted the wrong things. I wanted to make sure I didn't need a new jacket, and I do."

"So do I by that rule set." She grimaced.

"Remember to bring your old one just in case."

"I know. Any idea if there's anywhere cheap this time?"

"No. I've been ordering through one of the foil clubs." That got a nod. "There's a good shop in England. You might try there. Just watch the shipping fees."

"I can try that. I was ordering through the New York Fencing Club but they're restricting that to members only."

Beth found that shop's site and let her see it. "That's the shop in England."

"I can look that over. Thanks, Beth. You might want to post that."

"I will on my way to check on Celia." She smiled, doing that to her own online journal on her way to the ice rink. She walked in and found Celia laying on the ice. "Celia!" She slid over to check on her. "Did you fall?" she asked when the other woman blinked at her.

"I got dizzy."

"Okay. We can get you to medical." She tapped her earpiece. "Medical to the ice rink," she ordered. She hung up and helped her to the seats for coaches. One of their facility's docs came rushing in. "I found her passed out on the ice. She said she was dizzy."

"That happens sometimes." He checked her eyes. "Let's get you to the infirmary just in case, ma'am." Beth took off the skates for her and put them into the locking case. "Thank you, Beth." She smiled and nodded, helping him walk her down there. She took the skates to her office to safely store for her. She sent a text message to Al so he could check on her. Those two were very good friends and there had been hints of them dating in the past. Beth checked her page, answering a rant from that one fencer about that. She pointed out that she needed to know if the uniform rules had changed, which was all she had asked about.

She had used that as an example since it was notably posted in a few places. She also noted if she had wanted to turn her in for problems, she had some other videos that were showing them, including two non-noted violations at Nationals. She sent that one privately so it wasn't open to anyone else. She wasn't going to be accused of being a sore loser or anything like it. She got back a response that was a terse 'thank you' and shrugged it off. Beth found her next jacket and ordered it, plus a new pair of gloves. Hers had a worn spot. She looked over the new grips for the epee but she didn't like the gun grip style that was becoming popular.

***

Celia knocked on Beth's office door about five. "Are my skates in here?"

"There," she said with a smile and a point. "I know you didn't want to leave them down there and I'd never have security breach your locker without an excellent reason."

"Thank you." She sat down in her guest chair. "My ear's infected."

"Is that easily cured?" Celia nodded. "That's great. Should I tell PR not to schedule you anything? And does that cancel you going to that regional ice show?"

"I'm going to try to make it to that. They said a week to two weeks. That's in three." She relaxed. "Al is fussing hard."

"That's what friends do."

"True." She smiled. "Are you all right? I heard you had a brush with bad sportsmanship."

"I asked a simple question and cited pictures from one of the top two as a reason for asking. They did change jacket rules." Celia winced. "At least mine aren't as expensive as some of your costumes."

"True. I have to decide if I want to go to a designer to make my next one."

"It seems to pay off but that's up to you. I'd save the really expensive ones for special matches."

"Good point." She stood up and wobbled. Beth helped her sit back down. "That will take some getting used to."

"Want walked down to a cab?"

"Please." Beth walked her down there, carrying the skate case for her. They ran into Richard and his wife. "Good evening."

"What did you do?" Richard asked her.

"Ear infection."

He grimaced, looking at his wife. "You're heading home?"

"I live out near the middle of nowhere on Long Island," Celia said. "It's out of everyone's way, but thank you for offering."

Al walked in and took the skate case. "C'mon, I'll drive you home and spend the night on your couch. You can drive me in tomorrow, Celia. Nice save, Beth." He grinned. "Meow."

She shrugged. "I only asked about uniforms because that meant I had to get a new one."

He grimaced. "I'm so glad I don't need uniforms. Hers are extreme and yours are pricey too."

"Being able to just wear a t-shirt with our name on it is nice," Richard agreed. "And jeans."

"Definitely." He walked Celia out, smiling at her. "You better?"

"It's a simple ear infection started off by an ingrown ear hair."

"They happen," he agreed.

Beth smiled at Richard's wife. "Hi, I'm Beth, his handler here." She shook her hand and handed over a card. "In case you need to get in touch with me for something like he left stuff here." She patted Richard on the arm. "I think two of the women are up in the firing pen. Both are skeet shooters though."

"I can check. I know I'm not in my scheduled range."

"That's really only a suggestion unless you're in one of the big gyms." She walked off, going back to work. She had a few things to finish up, including a report for the judge on when and where Elba would be traveling with the team. She sent that over then packed it in for the night, going up to her apartment. Fortunately she had almost nothing of value in there since her door was open. She glanced in while calling security up to check. They found stuff poured on her bed and couch. She looked at the guards, who all shrugged. "Let me know?" They nodded. "Then let me do laundry." She walked in to strip all the covers off things so it could be washed. She'd flip the mattress once it dried, and the couch cushions might be able to be washed. Thankfully, most detergents took urine out of things. She did squeeze out a sample for the lab. That got a nice report started. They wouldn't pass a drug screen. Interesting.

***

Beth reported to the lab in the morning. "I need a drug screen for official reasons." They nodded, handing her the cup. She peed and let them sign off on it, she signed where she needed to, and she went to work after washing her hands. That would prove it wasn't hers. The Reed Center did run on gossip at times. Bill had already asked her who had peed on her things at six that morning. This proved she didn't. By that night, everyone knew it was someone else attacking her. She shrugged it off but she needed to find all the petty people before they escalated things to a dangerous level.

Six hours later she had to report to the director's office. "Sir, you rang?"

"I know why you took the test, Beth, and it was a very wise thing. It did let us find out who was tampering in the lab." She frowned. "Your test came up...very wrong. Not even subtly wrong, but very wrong."

"What did I pop positive for, Director?"

"By the test, your urine was twenty percent heroin."

She snorted, shaking her head. "I've never touched the stuff and wouldn't that be impossible?"

"Yes. Even for hard core addicts overdosing they couldn't get their samples up this high. We're going to retest you for formality's sake." She nodded, taking the cup and using his bathroom with his assistant watching her pee into the cup just in case. They all signed off on it and it got taken by special courier to a different lab. They'd have results back in the morning. "We need to stop these people," the director told her.

"I'd be glad if they would stop. It's petty and I don't even know what started it. I've heard guesses at it being jealousy but that's still too much work for that."

He nodded. "It is." He leaned on the desk. "Are you going to that one event?"

"No. I don't need to put on a show. Plus I had to talk to Bilanda Jacobson about not intentionally getting her under investigation."

"I heard." She shrugged. "It's a good question to ask, and by what I had Cecily tell me about on her webpage, she's in trouble."

"Possibly."

"She had linked one that had multiple red card violations that weren't called." Beth winced, shaking her head. "I'm not sure why but Cecily winced and said it was way too bad and they might ban her for life for it."

"I haven't heard that we did that to anyone in recent history."

"I don't think they have." He shrugged. "Go rest. We'll have the results in the morning." She nodded and went upstairs.

***

Beth showed up the next morning as the Director was coming off the elevator. "Results, sir?"

He smirked. "Bill get you up again?"

"I get up at six every morning, sir. Then I go to the gym. Just like he taught me to."

"Figures. He gets up at five to do the same thing."

"The gym is very quiet at that time of the morning." She followed him into his office. He found the results sealed on his desk. He examined the seals and opened it, smiling as he held it up. "How did they get the results?"

"The tape's wrong. It's not signed off on either." He called that lab. They were with a courier on their way. He went down to grab it before the guys in security could. The courier shouldn't let them sign off to grab it but you never knew about some of them since they were always in a hurry. The courier walked in. "For the director?"

"Yes, sir. I need ID?" He pulled out his center ID. "Thank you, sir." He signed for it and the courier handed over the manilla envelope. "We had another six that had to come here, sir." He nodded at the security guys, handing over the two they could handle and getting them to sign for them before he left.

Director Bell opened the envelope there, subtly watching how they handled it. One was a problem. The head of security wasn't in today apparently. He cleared his throat. "You do not open other people's mail unless they ask," he stated quietly. The guard flinched. "No matter who else asks you to." He stared at them. "Who was in my office before I got in?"

"No idea, sir," one reported, going into the security office to look that up. "It looks like DeSandra was there before you were."

"She met me at the elevator. Who was in my actual office?" The security guy waved him in. He came in to look. "That's not Beth DeSandra. She's the one that met me at the elevator. The guy winced and looked at that image, pointing. Bell nodded. "Yes, that's DeSandra."

"Oh, dear." He sighed and called in someone. "You misidentified someone." He hung up and let him see the whole night's film from his office. Only two people. One was a janitor, and wasn't a janitor any of them recognized but he hadn't touched the stuff on the desk. This morning, a guard had brought up an envelope to put on the desk. The guard called his boss. "Sir, we have a problem. We need you here. I'm sorry about your morning off, sir." He hung up. "He's swearing but he'll be here in about an hour, sir. He's got a commute."

"That's fine. Make me a hard copy of that." The guard taped it for him. "Thank you." He took it and walked off. "Beth, the security guy on the desk thought you were Sabine."

She looked at him, frowning. "Sabine left three years ago."

"I know." He looked at her. "Who called? I was in the camera room."

"Your wife. You forgot your wallet at home. She'll drop it on her way to work." She pointed at the note she had made. He nodded, grimacing at the rest of it. "Sorry, sir, but your assistant isn't in yet."

"That's fine. She wouldn't have left a message. She would've tried every five minutes until I got back."

"She tried three times before I answered it. I figured anything that frequent had to be a problem."

"It probably is." He sat down to look over the results. "They were a bit backed up." He put hers in front of her.

She looked. "Poppy seed...." She snapped her fingers. "Marinade at the steak place after Nationals. I had already done my mandatory test before then."

"Good. Make sure you don't test positive." She nodded. He shrugged. "I can tell you weren't the one destroying Center property, Beth. You could go back to work."

She looked at her phone then held it up. "Bill set up security cameras for me." He glared at the picture. "I'm not going near my office, sir. I may not be really terrified of spiders but at that level, hell no."

"I don't blame you. Who?"

"I can't run it back. But the guy with the mask seems to keep coming back with more boxes with spiders in them." She let him see him dumping more on her desk.

"Crap." He got up and she followed. They came off the elevator, finding the guy in the mask running for the stairs. "Think he's got some sort of tracker on you?"

"Possibly on my phone. Bill has me keep the GPS on."

"Hmm."

"There's a number of tracking software available." She opened her office door and looked then got out of the way, calling Bill. He was down in the gym and he had caught the running guy with Toby. "Toby and Bill caught him running past the gym, sir."

"Good! I like that." He went to look at them. "I'll get someone to clean all that up, Beth. Go take the day off to train, okay?" He smiled. She smirked back and walked off to go to the gym herself. The director came off the elevator on the main level, going to the training gym. "Bill, Toby, you caught our mad spider setter?"

"He did what?" Bill demanded of the former security guard.

"He put a crapload of spiders in your daughter's office," Director Bell said in a chipper voice. "She's got the day off to train." He nodded, going to find her to check on her.

"She's not a good handler anyway," the guard complained, trying to wiggle out of Toby's grip.

"Sure, because she doesn't handle some very tough athletes," Toby said dryly. "Move some more. Watch me break things." The guy stopped wiggling. "Sir, with all due respect, I think we have a problem."

"I know we have a problem and I've been trying to weed it out, Toby. How many more problems are there?"

"I know of at least three that are sticking up for the bimbos. I agree with Dala, they've got to be bimbos since they don't think."

"We'll all get rewarded if she quits," the guard said, trying to stand up. Toby made him scream with a new grab to stop him. "She'll fulfill her destiny."

She walked in to look at him. "My destiny is to be a US national fencing champion, and possibly go to the olympics for it. My destiny does not lie in any other country's fencing squads." She stared down at him. "How much were they going to pay you to get me out of the Center?"

"Sixty grand," he sneered. "You're not even worth the big money."

She shrugged. "I'm more fantastic than that anyway. They were cheap." She walked off. "You have a great life. I'm sure it was worth going to jail for attempted murder by poisonous animal. Twice." She waved back at him as she walked out the door.

"That's true, he's able to be arrested for that," Toby agreed.

"No one would charge me," the guard huffed.

The director looked at him. "Yes they would. The planting of those snakes is an open case. They're going to prosecute whoever did that." The guard stared at him, mouth open. "You tried to kill her, not drive her off. Beyond that, even if she quit here, she's got offers from another six centers to help them. Everyone wants Beth to be a handler. Even that doctored drug test wouldn't matter. Especially since you overplayed your hand there. That much drugs in someone's piss would have killed them a few times over." He looked at the officers stomping in. "Boys, did we call or did Miss DeSandra call?"

"A Major Bill Gulip called, sir," one said. "Something about the open investigation being solved?"

"We caught him putting masses of spiders into her office this morning," the director said. "I'm not sure how many are poisonous. We're hopefully sure he did the snakes?"

"Yes. We tested the fingerprints we found against his just now," Bill said as he walked in. "The head of the security groups showed up, Director. He's not amused to be taken from our sister center's cushy office job." He looked at the quietly swearing young man. "One of the security team told him about this morning's problems, which led to a discussion of the snakes. He had the authority to search their records better and he found the match." He handed the officers that paperwork. "He's in the security team office chewing everyone a new one if you wanted to talk to him. We're trying to figure out how to kill all the spiders he put in today."

"We'll need to at least get picture evidence," the other officer said. "Let me call in our scene people, sir." He made that request and fortunately they were only up the road by a few miles. They showed up with collection boxes, some cans that sprayed a solution cold enough to kill spiders on contact, and cameras. They were not amused by the dozens of spiders. Beth came down to tell them if they got near anything sensitive or classified. Bill helped her with that while the better security guards got to sweep everywhere else. They found another office with spiders but not as many. The scene team got to gather them too. They weren't pleased about it.

Bill looked at Beth while they were in the hallway, shoulder-to-shoulder, arms crossed over their chests while they watched them remove the spiders. "How about I find you a nice sex club to break that at?" She looked at him. "That way the family from the UAE who wants you gets shoved off better."

"They think me dating meant I was ready to settle down. Me being in a notable relationship might help. Or I could turn into a slut I guess. Then they'd leave me alone."

"Perhaps." He patted her on the hand. "We'll figure it out."

"Celia knows someone who runs a husband finding service."

"I've heard about that. That's where Jeral's husband came from."

"Liz Jeral at the Wood Blind?"

"Yes."

"Huh. He's polite."

"He is." He looked at her.

"I'd still have to make him sleep in the closet since my bed's only a full."

He smirked a tiny bit. "Immigration might mind that but I have no idea." She grinned back. The scene team people were staring at them. "She's got olympic hopes in a sport that the UAE could see a wife doing. We're not sure if it's all related to them."

They nodded and got back to work.

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