Sarah whispers in her ear, "Don't forget the card Martha gave me. It's under that board I told you about, just in case I can't get it for you."

"OK, I'll remember," Adrienne whispers back. "I don't know what I'll do if I find out nothing," she thinks to herself. "That social club thing really doesn't sound very helpful!"

As soon as they enter, Veronica starts yelling at them and slashing the air with her whip. "Where have you two been?" she screeches at them. "I'm starving and you've probably been wasting time and babbling nonsense to each other all the way to and from the store!  Now I can't even have a cold drink because the fridge isn't working. I'm upset now and someone is going to pay!"

"If this is her 'upset' mood, I hate to see 'really pissed off'," Adrienne thinks. She glances toward the kitchen and sees two men poking halfheartedly at the fridge. "Must be repairmen... hmm, they don't look like they know much about appliances. Oh God, I wonder if those are the guys Sarah was talking about?"  She tries to get Sarah's attention but she's too busy carefully examining a bug on the floor and avoiding Veronica's glare.

"What's the matter with you, idiot?" Veronica snarls at Adrienne.  "Quit making those weird faces!  If you're being impudent toward me, I'll whip your behind raw!" 

Adrienne hastily improvises, "Oh no, Madame! It's just this pretty new outfit, it itches a bit!"

Veronica seems to accept this. "Alright, get changed back into that cheap dress you came in and be careful with that beautiful costume; it's definitely worth more than you are and you'll need it on Wednesday night for my annual Halloween party. Then get in the kitchen and make me some coffee and an omelette.  When that's done, get out of here. I'd love to tie you up and teach you some respect for me but unfortunately, you have to be back at the office tomorrow. Now get moving; Sarah and I are going to have a little meeting in private, aren't we dear?" She grins wickedly at Sarah, who turns white and lets a tear slide down her cheek.

Adrienne hurries upstairs to change, her feelings switching between joy at finally getting away from Veronica and worry about Sarah. "I hope Sarah will be alright.  If Veronica suspects that we're  planning anything, I'm afraid our secrets won't last long!"

She wiggles back into her black dress, then quickly searches around until she finds Sarah's little room. She soon locates the business card and hurries back down to the kitchen. Trying to ignore the leers from the incompetent repairmen, she quickly gets a meal put together. After setting out the food in the dining room, she meets Veronica by the front door.

"I've just had an interesting discussion with Sarah," Veronica says, smiling sweetly.  Adrienne must have shown worry because Veronica chuckles and continues. "She admitted to delaying her return here from her so-called visit and being slow  on your shopping trip. I was thinking that you surely would be responsible for that but she took all the blame."

Veronica moves to the door and opens it. "So Sarah is going to spend the rest of the day and night in solitude, contemplating her mistakes.  I've gagged and bound her to the chair in my lovely guest suite downstairs!" She slyly grins, "Oh, and I've also blindfolded her so she will be in total darkness. I do hope you cleaned up the rat problem or she could have an interesting night! Hahaha!"

Adrienne, who knew of at least one surviving rodent, felt she could strangle Veronica on the spot.  Only the thought of those suspected goons in the back and Sarah's sacrifice stopped her. She hoped she wasn't being a coward by leaving Sarah behind but she desperately needed to follow up on their single slim bit of information.

Veronica carries on, clearly enjoying the moment. "You should have been down there with her but unfortunately you have responsibilities elsewhere.  For how long I haven't decided yet. Now get out and don't you dare show up at work tomorrow in a sexy outfit! I can't have you looking better than me!"

Adrienne steps out and the door slams behind her. She decides to walk since she has a lot to think about.  "I'm convinced that poor dear Sarah took all the supposed blame to make sure I got away  without trouble. She's a lot braver than I first thought. Now I've just got to find out something useful, and in a hurry!"

Adrienne finally reaches her apartment just as it's getting dark. "I can't believe I've only been gone twenty four hours! It seems like a lifetime! I think I'll just rest on the couch and watch TV for a few minutes. I'm definitely going to bed early tonight!" She turns on her little TV and sits down.

"OK, I've got to come up with a plan," she muses. "Veronica must want me to keep working for a day or so at least. That office is still a mess and she certainly won't do any cleaning up herself!"

She takes the card from the TG club and tries the number but there's no answer. "At least the phone is still hooked up so that's something. I'll just have to try again tomorrow."

"Lord, I'm tired," she mutters. "But now I find out that bitch wants me back on Wednesday night for yet another party, plus work my regular job. I don't know when I'll get... some... ressss...." Adrienne slowly topples over on the couch and soon all we hear is some very unladylike snoring.

Adrienne is awakened by the sound of car horns and crashing noises from garbage trucks. "Ugh, did I sleep on the couch all night? I sure don't need an alarm clock in this fine neighbourhood!"

She grabs a stale doughnut and some instant coffee and gets ready for work. "I must remember to wear something dowdy looking to please the she devil. Fortunately, that's not a problem with my wardrobe!" Selecting an anonymous grey frock, she's soon on her way to the publishing house.

She arrives at the office on time and begins to sort out papers and files while waiting for Veronica to show up.

She soon comes stomping in, appearing to be in a half distracted mood. "Hmm, there you are," she mumbles. "Alright, I have to attend a board meeting about some big project so get this office back in order. That should keep you busy until I come back. I don't care what you do with most of that junk but get those files back where they belong in the records room, they're important."

"Yes Mistr... er, Ms. Deville," Adrienne says. She desperately wants to know about Sarah but doesn't dare bring up the subject. It might enrage Veronica and Adrienne certainly doesn't want to deal with that right now.

As soon as Veronica sweeps out of the room, Adrienne continues to sort out the stacks of paperwork, setting the files aside and dumping anything else in a pile for later.

She locates a cart and takes off with her load of files, in search of the elusive records room. With a little help from the other staff, she soon finds it. "My God," she murmurs in awe as she looks at the rows of huge cabinets. "This is a bit bigger than the three filing cabinets in the branch office! I hope they use the same system here, just on a grander scale!"

After some confusion and a bit of wasted time, she gets the stack of files properly back in their place, at least she hopes so.

Arriving back at the office, she realizes a couple of hours have passed and still no sign of Veronica. "Well, it's not like I really miss her," she giggles and turns to her next task, the pile of loose papers and assorted trash.

Most of it is junk as Veronica stated and it's quickly disposed of in a couple of large waste baskets Adrienne found.

Suddenly she comes across something that catches her eye. "Now what's this?" she wonders. "It looks like a city tax notice for a place called Dominion Taxi. Hmm, never heard of th... wow! The owner is listed as V. Deville! It would seem our lovely Mistress has other hobbies besides tormenting a few naive trannies!"

She hears some approaching foot steps in the hall and on intuition, quickly sticks the paper into the middle of the little pile she has been saving. "I don't know if it really means anything but it seems like a strange business for a woman like Veronica to be involved in. I'd better not mention that I know about it!"

At that moment, Veronica storms back into the office, clearly upset. "Of all the idiotic things I have to do around this place, this has got to be the worst, and just before my party! The company is releasing another childrens book series and they need illustrations immediately. Those fools in the design department are short staffed and say they can't handle another project. So they have dumped the whole problem in my lap and I have to find a solution right now!"

"Oh, that is terrible," Adrienne states, not really caring about Veronica's problem. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she automatically asks without thinking.

"Hey!" Veronica blurts out, "Maybe you can do something!"

"Oh oh," Adrienne thinks, "What have I done now, shooting my mouth off before my brains are loaded!"

"Didn't I read in your application that you graduated from a computer design course?" Veronica inquires. "You better not have been lying about that, along with certain other things!"

"Oh no," Adrienne quickly gets out, "The part about the course is true! I thought it would help me with employment so I took it. I did quite well in it but it wasn't required at the branch office and I ended u..."

"Yeah, yeah, enough babble," Veronica interrupts, "All I want to know is, can you run the designing thingy on the office computer? I would do it myself but I, er, hurt my finger and can't type."

"Oh sure," Adrienne thinks, "She can't use the 'thingy' because of her 'wittle boo-boo'! And I suppose her strange fetishes have nothing to do with the staff shortage around here either!" She starts up the computer and quickly locates a whole range of design software she's familiar with. "Yes, I can use these programs. What do you need for these books, Madame?"

Looking very relieved, Veronica hands her a wad of notes and design proposals. "Good, you're now on the design staff, unofficially of course! Everything is in here. I need something put together by Thursday for the next meeting. It doesn't have to be finished product but if it's good, I'll take all the credit!" Veronica slyly grins, "Of course if it's bad, I'll blame it all on you and have a good excuse to get you canned! Either way I win! Heehee!" Veronica then snarls back over her shoulder as she leaves again, "Don't just stand there, get to work!"

Adrienne does stand there stunned for a minute. "Wow, did that really happen? I think I just bought myself a reprieve! I really thought that she would fire me quickly but now she can't possibly do that, at least for a few days! Of course, I still have to produce some decent work or it's game over! I'd better find out what I have to come up with."

She looks through the sheets of notes and some rough pencil sketches. "Hmm, not a lot of detail but I think I can see what they want here. No great works of art needed, thank goodness. After all, it's just for young kids. Still a lot to be done by Thursday morning! I'd better get moving!"

Adrienne works out a hasty list of what has to be done and decides on the book covers first. She's soon busy on the computer, searching the program libraries and the Internet for artwork she can use or modify.

Veronica returns late in the afternoon to find Adrienne still busy at the computer, surrounded by sketches and printouts. "I hope you've produced something to justify this mess," she grumbles. She picks up some of Adrienne's work and glances through it. "Hmm, most of this looks really good," she muses. "Of course it won't do to let her know that! I'll just have to make sure she finishes it all before she conveniently 'disappears' and I can bask in the glory of a job well done. I might even get a bonus!"

She says to Adrienne, "Is this the best you can do? Well, it's passable and I suppose I have no choice but to use it. There will have to be a change of plan because of this project. I was going to fi... er, send you to my home on Wednesday afternoon to help Sarah get the place ready for the Halloween party. But now I'll have to keep you here to complete this project by Thursday morning. You might even have to work late to get it done."

Adrienne now figures she could easily have it done by Wednesday afternoon but decides to stretch the facts a bit. It wouldn't hurt to have some spare time to herself just in case. "I'll try to do it as quick as I can but it's still going to take a lot of time," she lies.

Veronica accepts this. "Alright, enough time wasted already. Keep cranking that stuff out. You have a busy couple of days ahead of you!"

"Don't I know it," Adrienne thinks. "Now I have this to do plus try to save my buns and Sarah's too! I wonder if that information about Veronica owning a cab company is going to be of any use?"