Poker Face

Sally had a look on her face that was impossible to read. Staff didn’t know if she was happy or sad, angry or confused. She scared him when she looked like that. She was always incredibly moody, but if you knew the mood she was in you could take appropriate measures. It was when you couldn’t read her face that there was trouble. She was on the phone, pacing back and forth, her hand sometimes over her mouth and sometimes on the back of her head like she was reaching to scratch her back. Staff had no idea who was on the other end of the call, but this looked like a serious conversation. What Staff could tell was that it was a very one-sided interaction. Sally had hardly said a word for the last 30 minutes, she’d nodded and mhmed but she’d not really said anything of substance. Occasionally she stood for a moment in front of the only window in the office, casting a shadow across the room, and then she’d move off again, pacing some more, nodding some more and keeping her poker face.

Staff shuffled the files on his desk and then moved his mouse, trying to look like he wasn’t eavesdropping, like he wasn’t wondering that was going on with his boss.

‘Ok,’ she said. ‘Ok, ok, I understand.’ She nodded, Staff liked the way she nodded when she was on the phone, despite the fact the person she was talking to couldn’t see her. 
‘If you’re sure?’ She waited for the response before killing the call. Staff put his head down and underlined a key point in the report he was reading. He knew from experience Sally needed space now, he'd let her reveal her hand.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye go to her desk and unlock the padlock on her draw. Staff had never seen her do that before. He tried to concentrate on the report in front of him.

‘Staff, I’m sorry.’ Sally said.  He looked up to see a silenced gun pointing in his direction. A split second later it was over. Staff’s lifeless body slumped onto the desk and Sally picked up the phone again to call up the clean up squad.

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