apologies? No, 'sorry I was such a petty skank and ruined your life?' Just act like nothing ever happened, everything was just all hunky-dory, huh? Okay, she could play it that way.

But the tour actually hadn't been that bad. She'd half expected Penny to be

one of those overly-extroverted sales reps she'd had run-ins with before, but she'd been…normal. Even professional. Maybe we do all grow up sometime.

John Wells was approaching briskly. “Well, then, what do you think of our

little operation?” he asked, face beaming.

All she could remember were pipes and banging and guys in white hazmat

coveralls, all with the urgent look of someone waiting for a vat of deadly chemicals to explode and flood the town.

“It was amazing. Just like I remembered it.”

He laughed. “You mean you liked all those tanks and smelly mixing

stations?”

“I've always been interested in science.” She tried to sound convincing. It wasn't a flat-out lie. There was her friendship with Peter after all. Yeah, right.

He began walking back down the hallway. “Let's be real, Miss Brady. Most

people don't get much out of seeing our little operation here. But I think what we do here is important. Not just chemicals for sewage plants or farms. You know

we also make resins in paints used by artists?”

“I saw something about that, yes.”

He nodded. “Among other things. You may not see it right up front, but you'd sure notice it if we weren't there. What I'm trying to say is that you may

feel like you have your work cut out for you, but Nitrovex isn't just chemicals.”

“We'll certainly do our best for you, Mr. Wells. And I hope you find we're the right company for this project.” That was no lie. The significance of this project to her career continued to hover around her like a nervous cloud.

He smiled. “You can call me John if I can call you Kate.”

She smiled. She liked him. “It's a deal.”

He gestured down the hall, and she followed. “Now, let me show you our history room if I may. Did you know we were the first company in the US to produce epichlorohydrin derivatives?”

Chapter Nine

A week later, Kate was back in Golden Grove, hoping to be inspired before her

second meeting at Nitrovex. She put down the heavy book on Carol's dining room table and rubbed her temple. Nitrovex: Fifty Years of Innovation.

More like fifty years of grinding monotony. She'd thumbed through the

science tome, which was masquerading as a company PR piece, at least a dozen

times in her office in Chicago. If she had to look at one more photo of a smiling, goggled technician pointing at a rat's nest of tubes she'd go crazy.

The table was loaded with all the materials Penny Fitch had shoved at her after her tour of the plant. They might as well have been written in Martian.

Membrane technology. Hexavalent chromium reduction. Flocculant polymers.

It was all just a bunch of vague words next to pictures of dirty churning machines run by guys hidden in white hazmat gear. And this one: “sludge bulking.” Sounded like some exercise Penny did to keep her stomach flat.

The wispy witch might pretend the pile of materials was intended to help, but Kate wasn't fooled. Penny was probably trying another round of sabotage.

She called out to Carol in the kitchen. “I'll give you twenty bucks if you can

tell me what”—she squinted at a brochure—“ 'filamentous bulking bacteria' is.”

Carol was at the sink washing dishes left from a Thread Heads meeting

earlier in the day. “Sounds like the bug I got after my trip to Acapulco a few years ago. Maybe you should take a break. You've been at it all afternoon and now past dinner.”

“I don't need to take a break. I need to get one.” Kate sighed. “Clothing companies, web startups, those I can at least somewhat relate to.” She flipped through a stack of Nitrovex brochures. “But phosphorus reduction and sludge dewatering? I'd have to be a…a…”

“Chemist?” Carol suggested.

Kate leaned back to look at her, shaking her head slowly. “Oh, nice try.”

Carol continued to dry her dishes, back turned. “What do mean? I'm just trying to provide you with the best answer to your dilemma.”

“Have you ever thought of being a politician?”

“All I'm trying to do is suggest the best ways for you to do well with your

job. That is what you want, isn't it?”

Kate opened her mouth, then closed it. It was manipulative, it was sneaky,

but she had to admit Carol might be right. Peter was probably the best person to help her get a handle on this project. She'd gone through every piece of material

Penny had given her, watched every online video of swirling tanks of cow poop

she could handle, and she was still left with a blank. And Garman was expecting

an update on her progress on Wednesday.

She just needed a kernel of a concept, a base for everything she would use to

promote the company. Coke was fun, fizzy water. Corvette was fast, loud cars.

But unpronounceable chemicals? What did you do with that, come up with a mascot of a singing test tube?