By the time I found the time to call Zoey, it was almost three p.m. One might think that a man who had piloted a space shuttle down from the international space station wouldn’t feel a lot of fear when talking to a woman, but I was scared shitless. She didn’t even answer, of course. I had to leave the world’s most awkward voicemail.

When she returned my call, it was six p.m.

“Nathan?” Her voice came through the phone tentatively, “did you call me?”

“Yes,” I answered, shutting my office door on the off chance any stray employee might hear this conversation and instantly lose all respect for their CEO, “I’m calling to apologize for myself last night. I behaved stupidly and probably hurt your feelings. I’m really sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Zoey said, clearly having regained her professional confidence now that she wasn’t standing topless in her home, “really. I wish you well, Nathan. It was great meeting you.”

She was ready to hang up.

“Wait,” I pleaded, feeling deeply conflicted for what I’d done and what I was about to do, “look, I need your help. The reason I was so weird last night… some really important data got stolen right before the launch and we’re having trouble figuring out what happened. It’s been messing with my head.” That, at least, was one-hundred percent true.

“I’m sorry Nathan, that must be really stressful. You don’t need to explain yourself though. I’m glad I got to see the launch. Good luck at the next one,” she said, giving me every possible out to end the conversation. She was being kinder than I deserved. Unless she was the person who stole my data. In which case she was crazy, brilliant, manipulative, and awful.

“No,” I pushed, “that’s what I’m trying to tell you. There may not be a next launch if we don’t figure out what happened. Do you think you’d be able to come down to Durant Astronautics and take a look at a few things? I think you might be able to help.”

“Me?” She asked, her voice containing both surprise and skepticism, “I don’t think I’d be very helpful. I’ve got no cybersecurity knowledge. It’s a good day when I don’t break my own computer.”

“Please?” I asked her, trying my best to avoid lying to her, “I really want to get your perspective on a few things. I think you might have insights that we lack. Would you be willing to come down here?”

The silence on the other end of the line was impossible to interpret. Part of me truly believed that if she were guilty, she’d refuse, just like she should have refused meeting me the night before. Why put herself at risk? If Zoey were really such a criminal, she’d have to be a very stupid criminal to seduce, go on a date with, and then again seduce the CEO of the company she was robbing.

Or maybe she was a brilliant one.

Cecelia agreed that it was unlikely she’d agree to simply help and had instead suggested that I make up some other reason to get her to visit me, but I wasn’t willing to do that. Despite my attempts to convince her otherwise, Cecelia was adamant that Zoey was using her body to throw me off the trail of her misdeeds. She said I’d revealed my weakness for women in a very public way already, and that it would be logical for someone to try to exploit that same weakness again. While I liked to believe I was smart enough to not make the same stupid mistake twice, I had already let Zoey seduce me, so maybe Cecelia wasn’t so far off the mark. I had no idea what to believe.

“Plus,” I added before I could control myself and lie, “I really want to see you again and make up for my bad behavior last night.”

“When do you want me to come?” She finally asked, and I felt at once victorious and terrible. Her voice sounded sweet and hopeful, and I knew if she was innocent she was definitely going to hate me once she got here. If she was guilty she’d probably hate me, too, but I wouldn’t feel nearly as bad.

“Whenever you can, honestly,” I answered, “I’ll work around your schedule.”

I couldn’t recall ever saying those words before. Working around other people’s schedules wasn’t something that CEO’s regularly did. People usually worked around my schedule. In fact, I never even thought about my schedule, since Paul seamlessly made sure my day worked from start to finish. I just followed along with the agenda he put together each day. He could probably schedule me to drive off a cliff and I’d be plummeting toward the ground before realizing that it was a mistake.

“Ok Nathan,” she said, and I could hear a smile in her voice, “I’ll come by in about two hours once I finish off what I’m working on for work. But please don’t be all weird this time, ok?”

“I’ll do my best,” I lied to her.