The Witness

Chapter 1

How is it that the whole city seems to be so alive even in the middle of the night? Anna loved New York and was reminded every time she looked out on the busy streets from the birdsview she had in this glass tower in the middle of Manhattan. It is a home away from home now and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

She could however imagine a better job, but this was the best she could get with the experience she had. A college drop out from Columbia she always imagined doing something else than emptying trashcans and dusting whole floors in this office building.

“Don’t forget the toilets” she thought to herself. You’d think rich and busy people could use the toilet brush after themselves but apparently not.

The exception had to be the CEO. He was a neat person, never even a weird smell from his bathroom. Rumors were he would never let anyone, no matter how important the meeting was, to borrow his private bathroom in the office, they had to go down the hall to relieve themselves. Anna was thankful for that since she always saved his office until last. Especially since she once accidentally walked in to his office with earbuds in and music on while a scowling CEO was at his desk working. She scurried out and apologized but made it a habit of checking to see if he was still in the building before she entered.

She knew he was a busy man and hated distractions so she was thankful not to have gotten fired that night.

She worked her way through the six floors that were hers quickly during the nightshift. She had floor 10 to 16 and she was on the 16th floor now, almost done.

As she was entering the mens bathroom to start her clean up she heard a mans voice.

“Yeah, its going down in a week or so. No of course not, he doesn’t suspect a thing.”

She could hear the man pee, so she stood motionless and frozen. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she had a feeling of imminent danger.

“He just gave me all the passcodes, I’ve earned his trust after licking his boots for months. He wouldn’t manage his life or work without me.” the man laughed.

Anna could hear him flush and pull his zipper up but he stayed in the cubicle. Why did she recognize his voice?

“I want to negotiate the terms of my employment in the company as soon as the takeover is done. Don’t try to screw me Charles!” as the man was about to open the door Anna recognized his voice. It was Rick Dorney, the personal assistant of the CEO Sebastian Cerrano. Anna instinctively turned around left the bathroom. As the door closed it made a sound and Rick yelled “Hey! Who’s out there?! I gotta go Charles, I think the cleaning staff overheard me! s**t”

Anna was already in the stairwell, running for her life. She could her Rick crash in to her cleaning cart and swear as he hurt himself.

She ran down a few set of stairs and then in on the 10th floor. She zigzaged in the hallways running to the maintenance staffs elevator. Rick would probably not know it existed. She used her keycard to get in and pushed the button to the entrance floor. “s**t s**t s**t!” she could barely breathe let alone think. Adrenaline rushing through her veins she thought of an exit plan. 

All her stuff, her purse and jacket was in the locker rooms in the basement. That’s where Rick would look. As she was coming out of the elevator she ran out the building from the side entrance and just kept in running down that alley. She made a few turns and when she could hide behind a dumpster she called for an Uber and let herself breathe. Where the f**k would she go?