In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

said, "Hey, do you mind? I've got a virgin system."
"Ah, yes, I am so sorry." He logged back to the blue green of
the seaweed ballet and stared into the screen, his face bleached pale
blue with shock.
Exasperated, Penny slipped into the bathroom with the phone
to get into her plane uniform of crisp kid size Levi's and a clean
sweatshirt. She was on pure automatic pilot now.
Her foot in one jeans leg, she pondered the situation. At first
she had suspected it might be sound leaking out into the hall, that Ula
heard, but that would just be a garbled mess. But now she had digital
proof of theft.
She couldn't figure it out. With digital watermarking embedded
throughout the data, her IP was unquestionable. But getting the law on
her side was another thing, now. Penny pulled up her jeans. Zip. Snap.
She checked her sweatshirt. Clean but covered with nubblies from its
polyester content. Would have to do.
She brushed her teeth. How to get through to this Ula, the
master manipulator? Penny knew that wrapping people around her
finger was not her forte. He would be the one to work on. He was the
guy behind her big splash, anyway. Swish, swish, spit in the sink, wash
the foam away. The Hentai stuff was news to him. Poor guy, his
girlfriend was making dirty cartoons behind his back. Pathetic. And the
break-in? She doubted anyone would kill a virtual hooker in the real
world. Case of mistaken door? Her spooks were more sophisticated
than that. So, back to square one.
She came out of the bathroom to find him at the counter
making a pot of espresso, and he'd found the thimbles.
"I see you bring the phone in there, but you dun talk, no answer
at the lawyers? Maybe they are asleep at the bottom of the sea, with the
flounders and the other bottom-dwelling-scum suckers, eh? I know a
fantastic lawyer, for the entertainment industry, real scum sucking
asshole. But the best lawyer. He has an office here on Madison, you
wunt his number?"
"No thanks, he's probably a crook."
"Em, yes, I think so." He brought the coffee to the table. Had
he been a waiter?
"I'll have all my stuff in there in a sec," she said, jumping to
grab her carry on knapsack from the top of the file cabinet, and there
he was at her side pulling it down for her. A bellboy? Then he was back
on the futon again, sipping coffee, all in five seconds.
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