Native Intelligence

Nita looked down at the small cellophane packet in her hand, both gratified that she had been right about her instincts and stupified in the way in which it had come into her possession. As she sat looking at it and contemplating her options, she heard something that jolted her out of her contemplative state, "Nita Denson, Nita Denson," the loudspeaker blared, "please report to Customer Service Return area. Nita Denson to Customer Return!"  Her mind raced.  Now that she had it,  where would she hide it until she could decide what to do with it? Take it to the police?  And what exactly was it? Should she have it analyzed herself? Whoa! Her head was spinning. First to stash this packet somewhere. Then to get Lester's attention and tell him not to clear this car for re-rental.

Just then she looked up and saw a possible solution to her problems in the person of her friend and co-worker, Tessa. But Nita was surprised to see her here this early. She actually always came to work with an hour to spare to have coffee and read the paper before her shift began, so they saw each other every work day. Nita was usually going off-shift as Tessa was coming on.  The two of them had become quite close, sharing office gossip and personal stories about the trials and tribulations of love. And, of course, they did hang out together sometimes. Nita had no time and no choice but to trust Tessa.

   "Hi, Tessa," Nita hailed, "Why are you here so early? Your shift doesn't begin til 4 PM...right?"

   "Hey Nita. Today I'm covering for somebody and I start at Noon," Tessa said in her usual upbeat tone.

   "You are a lifesaver! I really need you to do something very important. I can't tell you why right now, but I need you to find a way or reason, an excuse, anything...to stop Lester from returning this car to active. They've been paging me on the system, so I've got to go. Well, after I go to my locker for a sec. Can you find him and make up something?" she asked. "Sure Nita, but what's...?" Tessa asked of Nita's already turned back.

   Nita hurried to the locker/lunch area. She got a couple of napkins from the lunchtable and wrapped them around the packet before she placed the whole wad in her handbag. Just in case the cellophane opened, the powder would not spill into her purse. Then she shut the locker door, locked it and ran to the customer service area where Mr. Barnes was waiting for her. He looked kind of upset. But today it didn't matter, because no matter what he said, she had far more important things to think about. And one of them was making up a good excuse to leave work early so she could start sleuthing.