Vengeance. Mystery Writers of America Presents B00A25NLU4

slap-and-tickle.”
    Rukshana was horrified. “They’re not having an affair. He’s married with kids; he’s got a photo of them on his desk, he’s always going on about his family.”
    “Oh, Rukshana, puh-leeze — you can’t be that naive. They’re carrying on, everyone at the bank knows that.”
    “I didn’t know that.”
    Kelly hesitated. “Well, people didn’t like to tell you gossip, what with you being a Muslim and everything — they thought you wouldn’t like it.”
    Rukshana was disgusted. She loved gossip. Kelly went on to tell Rukshana what everyone knew. “It’s been going on for months. They think it’s a big secret, but of course everyone knows. That’s why he fixed it for her to get the job, to keep her sweet. Then he advised Personnel to get rid of you, so in case you sued them about missing the promotion, they could say you were just bitter because you’d been fired. That’s what everyone’s saying happened.”
    “That’s what everyone’s saying?”
    “That’s what everyone’s saying. He was on your interview panel, wasn’t he? He goes up to Personnel every five minutes, doesn’t he? Every lunchtime at noon, Jeff and Sarah meet up. He goes out and waits a couple of streets away, and then five minutes later she follows and they get a cab to some Holiday Inn, where they do their dirty business. Then at two o’clock on the dot, he comes back, and five minutes later, she arrives on her own so no one will guess that they’re at it. I mean, can you imagine? It’d take a lot more than a promotion to persuade me to shag that fat ugly bastard. Talk about lie back and think of England. Rukshana? You’ve gone very quiet. Are you still there?”
    Rukshana was still there. She was just very, very angry.

    R UKSHANA DIDN ’ T DO anything the following day because she was still too angry; she wanted a clear head when she decided what to do next. Twenty-four hours later she was still too angry but had decided to ring a couple of lawyers anyway to see if she had a case against the bank. They were a bit skeptical but thought she might be able to do something on discrimination grounds. They were less sure about Kelly’s preferred option, that Rukshana sue Jeff for being a lying, cheating, disloyal, fat ugly bastard who’d taken her job away. Rukshana was glad the lawyers didn’t advise that. She didn’t want to sue anyone; that wasn’t what she was after.
    She couldn’t relax. The only person in the house during the day was her granddad. He was in his eighties. He got a little confused sometimes, but on other occasions he was very sharp. Whatever — she didn’t feel like chatting. She tried doing a little housework to calm down. That didn’t help, but she did it anyway. In Farah’s room, she picked up the clothes her sister had scattered around after she’d come in from a party the previous night. Rukshana held a miniskirt against her hips; it really was immodestly short. A few months ago, their cousin had come from Pakistan to visit and had shared a room with Farah; what a culture shock it must have been for her. Their cousin refused to leave the house without wearing a burka, so when she went out, she was covered in black, only her eyes visible to the outside world. When she returned to Pakistan, she’d left one of her burkas behind, and it was still sitting on a shelf, possibly meant to serve as a reproach to her wayward cousin. Rukshana picked it up.
    From the bedroom window, she could see the towers of the City, London’s financial district, looming over the rooftops; down below those towers was the bank where Jeff and Sarah were having a good laugh at her expense. She looked at the clothes in her hands and then out over the city, and she bit her lip.
    Rukshana knew what she was considering was a serious criminal offense and that she’d go to prison for several years if she was caught. She’d have to get everything right and not make any mistakes. There were a lot of things that could go wrong, and there was her family to think about. Then she thought about Jeff appearing from his office and telling her how outrageous her sacking was and how he wasn’t putting up with it. She gripped the clothes tightly in her hand. Every single day she spent staring out the barred windows of a prison cell would be worth it. Jeff was going to pay. She smiled and whispered to herself:
    “It’s on.”

    I T WAS A Thursday. Rukshana had everything prepared and all the timing worked