Simon knew that the woman with the strained smile in front of him had enough on her plate already and did not need him to add extra to it for her, but he had pondered on it and tried to handle it as best as possible, but just as they concluded in the general personnel meeting they had that day, something had to be done.

How he wished Bernard could just get up this instant and tell them all that it had all been a huge prank. That he was up and ready to get to work now. Even though Simon knew that was highly unlikely, his gaze flitted to...