Mimi didn't want to look at the taller woman. She was too ashamed. After the verbal lashing Delilah handed her, Mimi was also scared. She didn't know what her former friend was capable of; she attacked Jane in public. If she did that and walked away unscratched, what more could the girl get away with?

There was no protection for Mimi.
So the only thing she could think of was to come clean to Jane and warn her.

It took longer than both would have liked. Jane patiently listened as Mimi bawled her eyes out, struggling to get the words out. It was hard to understand what the frightened girl was saying at first. Mimi would pause, crying to the point of gasping for air. It got to the point that Jane had to remind the lady to take a breath.

"Better?" Jane asked. She placed down a cup of lavender tea with lemon wedges.

Mimi hiccuped. "Not really but thanks." She accepted tissues Jane offered to her. "Jane, I'm so so sooo sorry." Her eyes welled up again with tears, but she gulped down the urge to choke.

Jane waited until Mimi collected herself. "So let me clarify this." She kept a relaxed demeanor. She didn't need the shaken coworker bursting into tears again. It was almost like dealing with her nephew when he's caught lying to her. "Delilah planned on stealing my position by tearing down my character...which she started by photo shopping inappropriate photos of me and spreading them to other coworkers?" She received a nod. "You helped her with the photos?"

Mimi's head hung lower. "Yes." She nodded through sniffles. "She also had me try to get the boss's schedule from your computer..."

"That's why you asked to see how I worked."

Again, Mimi nodded. "But there was nothing. That's when Delilah got upset at me. Outside the office, she asked," She shook her head. "She told me to steal your phone and go through your personal emails. She's insisting that you're holding the schedules on there to spite her."

Jane was thoughtful. She should be angry at the girl in front of her, but she wasn't. Jane already picked up that Mimi wasn't to be fully trusted. She was a sweet girl, diligent in her work, but was extremely shy and could painfully be pushed over. She saw how Delilah deliberately took all the girls out for lunch, except for Mimi - the supposed best friend.

She also noticed how the other girls didn't really talk to shy Mimi unless they needed 'help' with some work. Honestly, Jane was impressed that Mimi told a bully like Delilah no when pushed to steal.

That must have taken some guts for the timid girl.

"Instead of doing that, you came to me." She finished up the story. Sipping some water, Jane slightly praised, "That takes a lot of courage, Mimi. Not a lot of people fess up to things like you are right now." Honestly, Jane truly was more impressed than upset.

In return, Mimi just cried. "I'm going to lose my job." She whaled. "The girls are going to bully me and I am going to lose my job. I have a mother to care for."

'This is going to take a while.' Jane sweated and it did, indeed, take a while.

At least some things were beginning to clear up like the feelings of eyes on her and the whispers whenever Jane left the room. She wondered who received those false photos and how fast that email chain was spreading. With gentle coaxing and a ton of reassurance that Mimi wouldn't be fired, Jane called Ricky.

After explaining the situation, Jane encouraged Mimi to tell Ricky the same thing she confessed to her. The night lasted longer than the three had wanted but at least now they could make a plan.

It started with seeing those photos.

Angry was not the word Jane could use to describe how she felt. Furious felt too polite and enraged just seemed too pleasant for the photos Delilah conjured up. Violated was also too nice of a description for Jane to use.

"She really went all out..." Jane bit out. The glass she held cracked in her grip.

"I'm sorry." Mimi peeped. Her face turned fifty shades of red.

"God..." Ricky's voice joined by phone. "What kind of person does this?" Waving away his own question, he asked Mimi, "This can't be on Delilah's own computer, otherwise it would have been pinged and tracked sooner. Mimi, do you know where Kohler stashed the evidence? Was it a personal computer?"

Although he couldn't see her, Mimi nodded anyways. "It was on her personal laptop. She did the photos and had me create a fake email and chain mail to spread through the office. After, she had me show her how to stash it in a USB hard drive. Then we deleted everything from the laptop."

"God, she didn't even know how to transfer files to a USB?" That was amazing news to Jane. "How the heck did she keep her job all this time? Who did all her work for her?"

If it were possible, Mimi turned redder. "I did."

Ricky and Jane felt second-hand embarrassment for her. 'Oh Mimi.' "Do you know where she keeps the hard drive?"

She nodded.

Ricky's voice cut through the thick atmosphere. "I'm going to need You to put this in writing as an anonymous tip to HR. That way, your identity could be protected, in case Delilah acts out and tries to approach you about this. If she does that, then she's basically telling on herself. Start that tonight and send it. That way it'll be on my and Ted's desk in the morning."

"Ok." Mimi sniffled.

"I'll help you write it." Jane placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. At that, newfound tears exploded and Jane found herself engulfed in a bear-hug from the shorter girl.

Meanwhile, Ricky plotted. Until that report reaches his desk tomorrow, he'll make sure Delilah felt the weight of her position before giving her the boot. His anger spiked as he reviewed the photo shopped images again. Some were AI generated. It was sickening to know what could be conjured in the wrong hands.

"I should have fired her when she first applied to the firm." Maybe he was a bit too nice sometimes.