Afternoon at the Office

Darlene never looked up from her work when her boss said he was going to lunch and would be back in an hour. She knew it would give her an hour without interruption, which should allow her to finish most of the work she needed to complete for the afternoon. After that, she decided to catch up on filing and start her weekly reports.

In her late fifties, Darlene was in the early stages of starting retirement. Her finances were in order, but she was still undecided on when. She liked her job, but didn't like the location. As the only clerical employee for a small steel fabrication company, she knew it would take some time to train her replacement and this task would eventually lead to a point there was no turning back.

"Teency" was Darlene's mother's description of her daughter. At a shade over 5 feet and around 100 pounds, she was small by any standard. That was a deciding factor when her ex-husband was sentenced for putting her in the hospital. He received the maximum sentence and she was sure she wouldn't have to deal with him again for a long time. The marriage removed any thought of another. "Once bitten, twice shy" she'd tell her friends when they made efforts to find her another mate. She had no intentions of marrying again, or developing long term relationships that bound her to another.

As Darlene worked, she heard the fabricators leaving for lunch. In a few minutes, she'd be the only person there, except for the few workers that took a nap in the break room next to the shop. A few times, a few of the workers tried coming to the office to ask questions about their check, or insurance, but soon learned that was her time and to leave her alone. The automatic phone system removed her only assistant a few years before, so there was nobody else to help with these questions. If the employees had questions, they were to ask first thing in the morning, or after 3:00. Those were her rules and the owner didn't object.

Darlene was a little startled when the front door opened. Looking up, she saw two young men walk into the office. One walked to in front of her desk, the other stood inside the door and glanced around the room.

Before Darlene could say anything, the man in front of her desk spoke: "We're looking for a job." Darlene started to lecture the young men about not reading the sign outside that specifically stated all applications were through the local employment agency, but decided to not waste her time, or increase the time she had to smell the two men that reeked of sweat, filth and alcohol.

"We're not hiring. When we do hire, we go through an agency."

Darlene paid closer attention to the young men. Both had the wild eyed look of druggies and she didn't like their constant scanning of the room.

"Then give me your purse."

For a moment, Darlene wasn't sure she'd heard what he said, but when he pulled a large hunting knife from his pocket, she had no doubt she was being robbed.

Quickly glancing at the other man by the door, she realized he was staring at the security camera behind her desk. She hoped he's say something to his partner, and they'd leave, but he only said: "They have a security camera."

The man in front of her desk now had a panicked look on his face and spoke loudly : "Give me your purse and any money you have."

Darlene, now resigned to her fate, responded: "Okay" and slowly bent down to receive her purse from by her desk.

"This isn't good" the man by the door commented. "Now what?"

The man in front of Darlene's desk was now obviously agitated. Darlene spoke, reached into her purse and said: "Here's my wallet."

The man didn't have time to respond when Darlene pulled the small 380 automatic and placed two quick shots in his chest. He fell immediately onto her desk, as Darlene rose to face the man by the door. She was  hoping he'd retreat, when he made a step towards her desk. Two more quick shots snapped the man's head forward and he slumped to the floor.

Darlene spent a few moments sorting her thoughts before calling 911 to report the incident. Her mind was still racing and the last 5 minutes were repeated over and over again. Realizing her ears were ringing, she thought of how loud the shots were in the small office. At the range, she always wore ear plugs, so the unexpected noise was a surprise.

Looking at the blood pouring on her desk, she thought for a moment of moving the body, but decided she needed to wait until the investigation was over. Looking around, she realized her decision on when to retire had been made. She decided to look carefully at her finances and determine if she could retire earlier than 62. She'd had enough and the thought of cleaning up the mess was unpleasant.