She went to the door, almost thankful to have visitors; dreading the thought that they might be Jehovah's Witnesses.
At the door were Becky and Ronald Davidson, two of her coworkers. Ronald was a stocky, balding man, about 5'8", with brown hair, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 35.
Becky was also around thirty five, with a slight tummy and shoulder-length dishwater blonde hair. Her face seemed a bit weathered to Deirdre, as though she'd had a rather hard life before finding her niche in the tech sector.
"Hi," said Becky cheerfully, "We figured you'd be lonely out here, this being your first week and all, so we decided to come over and bring you dinner!" Becky gestured to Ronald, whose hands were full of tupperware dishes containing a number of various foods.
"Great!" replied Deirdre, thankful for the company, "Come on in, we'll get it all set up." Deirdre led them into her house, giving Becky a tour while Ronald laid out the various containers on the table.
"You have such a lovely home," Becky said, a hint of jealousy tinging her words, "John must have big plans for you. Not everyone gets to use his second house."
"SECOND house? You...you mean John owns this?" Deirdre said, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah," Ronald joined in, "John's loaded. He founded this company, you know."
"Wow...I just thought he was like a regional manager or something," replied Deirdre.
"That's what he likes people to think," Becky said,"He doesn't exactly want everyone to know just how much power he has. He says its a great way to see what sort of person you are, if you don't know he could fire your ass in a heartbeat. He wants people who won't kiss his ass or leach off of him, just because of his power."
"I can understand that, totally," said Deirdre, intrigued by this new information. She couldn't help but wonder what other secrets John might be hiding.
"Well," said Ronald rather loudly, clearing his throat to get their full attention," I'm famished, why don't we eat?" Deirdre rushed to get plates and silverware out, as well as setting out a selection of soda, beer and liquor for them to drink as well.
Instead of eating inside at the table, the three decided to eat outside on her patio, since the evening was so mild. They enjoyed each others' company for quite some time, until the moon was high in the sky, illuminating the backyard with a pale wash of lunar rays.
That was when Deirdre noticed something rather odd.