Brushing off the seats of the folding chairs she offered us, she hustled to a cluttered kitchenette, returned with a plastic tray bearing a pitcher, two cups, a jar of instant coffee, a pair of tea bags, loose packets of sugar and sweetener.
“Hot water,” she said. “So you guys can have coffee or tea whatever. All’s I have is decaf, sorry.”
“Thanks, Ms. Pelleter,” said Milo, but he didn’t touch anything on the tray and neither did I.
She said, “Oh, I forgot the cookies,” and turned back.
Milo placed a gentle hand atop her forearm. That was enough to freeze her in place. The blue eyes turned huge.
“Not necessary, Ms. Pelleter, but thanks again. Now please sit down so we can chat.”
She tugged an index finger as if trying to remove a nonexistent ring. Complied. “Chat about Vita? I don’t get it, all that happened last year, it was supposed to be over.”
“The lawsuit.”
“Not allowed to talk about it, sorry.”
I said, “Must’ve been an ordeal.”
“Not for her, she got rich. The rest of us-no, no, I can’t talk about it.”
“Her accusations were false?”
“Totally, totally, totally. I never did anything to her.”
“What about other people at Well-Start?”
“I-they-Vita was the most-I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to discuss it. I’m really not.”
I said, “From what we’ve heard, Vita had trouble getting along with everyone.”
“Ain’t that the freakin’ truth,” said Samantha Pelleter. Blushing. “Pardon my language. But she makes me so… frustrated.”
“Makes you? You’re still in contact?”
“Huh? Oh, no, no way. I haven’t seen her since. And I really can’t talk about it. The lawyers said anyone who stepped out of line was finished, it had already cost the company-” She placed a finger over her lips. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I keep going back to it.”
“It upset you,” I said.
“Yes, but I’m sorry, I can’t. I need my job, I need it bad. As is, they cut us back to twenty-five hours a week. So please. I’m sorry if you wasted your time, but I can’t.”
I said, “How about we talk about Vita apart from the lawsuit?”
“I don’t know anything about Vita apart from the lawsuit. What’s going on, anyway? Is she claiming something else? Not happy with what she got? That’s crazy, she’s the only one who came out ahead.”
“Was anyone fired because of her?”
Samantha Pelleter shook her head. “The company didn’t want more lawsuits. But none of us got bonuses.”
“Meanwhile, Vita’s rich.”
“Bitch,” she said. “I still don’t get what this is about.”
I turned to Milo.
He said, “Vita’s gotten herself in trouble.”
“Oh,” said Samantha Pelleter. “Oh, wow.” New, improved brand of smile. She went into the kitchenette, returned with a box of Oreos, picked one out of the box, and nibbled. “You’re saying she tried to con someone else with false accusations and got caught? You want me to say she was a con? I’d love to help you guys, but I can’t.”
“She was a big-time liar, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
“What else did she lie about besides the lawsuit?”
“We have scripts, are supposed to stick to them. Did that matter to Vita? Not a chance.”
“She improvised.”
“Oh, boy did she. Like with a flu-type thing we’re supposed to start by having them list all their symptoms. We take our time so if it’s not serious just their talking about it will show them it’s no big deal and they’ll change their mind about wanting an appointment. If they don’t, we suggest over-the-counter meds. And drinking fluids, because let’s face it, that’s enough in most cases. If they get stubborn or call back, we ask if they’ve got a fever and if they don’t, we tell them they’re probably getting better, time will heal, but if they really need an appointment we’ve got one but it’s during working hours. After they’ve been cleared by the nurse. If they want to pursue that, we put them on the nurse’s call-back list. It’s a system, you know?”
“Vita wasn’t satisfied with that.”
“Vita would throw in her own stuff. Give them advice. Like try getting your mind off your problems. Concentrate on something else, stress is the cause of most symptoms, take a look at yours. Once I actually heard her tell someone to suck it up, colds were no big deal. That kind of thing.”
I said, “How’d people react?”
She said, “They didn’t like it. Sometimes Vita would just hang up on them before they could complain, sometimes she’d stay on the line and let them complain. Holding the phone like this.” Stretching her arm. “Away from her ear, you know. You could hear noise coming out of the phone like chirp chirp chirp. Vita just smiled and let them go on.”
“Enjoying herself.”
“She’s one of the meanest people I ever met.”
“Did policyholders complain about her?”
“I’m sure they tried but it would be tough. We never give our names out and our extensions are switched all the time so no one gets the same consultant twice.”
“High level of customer service,” I said.
“It’s to keep costs down,” she said. “So really sick people can get care.”
“You saw Vita improvise. Meaning you sat near her.”
“Right next to her. If I was smart, I’d have kept my darn mouth shut. But it bothered me, doing her own thing, so I said something to her.”
“What’d you say?”
“ ‘You know, Vita, you really shouldn’t leave the script.’ ” She winced.
I said, “She didn’t take that well.”
“Actually, she ignored me, like I wasn’t even there-talk to the hand. But a few days later she looked real mad so she must’ve found out.”
“Found out what?”
Pelleter looked to the side. “I was stupid. Because I cared.”
“You talked to someone else.”
“Not a supervisor, just one of the other consultants and they must’ve snitched because Vita got called in to a supervisor and when she got back to her cubicle she had a crazy look in her eyes, boiling mad. Nothing happened until after the first break but then all of a sudden she’s all over me, claiming I’m-a bunch of us-are bullies, we’ve never treated her like a human being, are out to persecute her.”
“How’d you react to that?”
“I didn’t do anything, I was so freaked out. But no, I can’t talk about it. Please. No more questions.”
Milo leaned in close. “Samantha, I promise you nothing you say will get back to the lawyers.”
“How can I be sure? I never really snitched on Vita but she thought I did and that’s what started the whole thing.”
He edged within an inch of her knees. “We know how to keep a secret, Samantha.”
“Whatever… so what kind of con did she try this time?”
“I know you didn’t harass her, Samantha, but did she have any particular problems with another consultant?”
“No one likes her, what goes around comes around.”
“Any special bad karma with someone else at work?”
“Everyone avoided her,” she said. “But no one bullied her. No one. What’d she do that you’re so interested?”
