Maddie slid her passport back into the front compartment of her shoulder bag and walked out of passport control into the arrivals hall of Boston Logan airport. Behind the cordon, eager family and friends waited for their returning relatives with signs, flowers and huge smiles on their faces. Maddie watched as the middle-aged man whom she'd been seated next to for the last seven hours rushed over to his wife and children, enveloping them in a bear hug. She blinked away the moistness forming in her eyes and turned away. No, she wasn't going to feel this way today. This was a fresh start, a new beginning, and she was going to do it all by herself, starting by making her own way to the hotel.

Or maybe not. Looking for the exit, Maddie almost missed seeing a man holding up a card with her name written upon it. Surely they hadn't sent someone to collect her? There'd been no mention of it in their most recent email. She wheeled her case over to the man who greeted her with a warm smile. "Madeleine," his fingers spelled out.

Eyes widening in surprise at seeing him sign her name, "Hi," she mouthed, shyly.

"Welcome to Boston. I'm Henry, your interpreter."

"Interpreter," Maddie replied verbally, "I didn't know I was having one."

"Well, kind of. I work for DIGIPA and Marcus has asked me to assist in helping you settle in," he continued to sign.

Maddie couldn't remember the last time she'd needed an interpreter. Fiercely independent and now an excellent lip reader, she hated relying on other people and didn't want to begin now. But Marcus, her new boss, had been very attentive thus far, and Henry was looking at her like a puppy desperate for praise, so she resolved not to let it bother her. Instead she would have a quiet word about it with Marcus when she next saw him.

"Well, that's very kind, thank you."

"Excellent. Okay, you wait here and I'll just check the car is still out front." Henry jogged off just as Maddie's phone vibrated.

Hey, Maddie, welcome to the US. Hope your flight was good. I've ordered a sandwich to arrive in your hotel room at seven. Also, your credit card bill payment is ready. Please tap on the green box if you wish to authorise a payment of £135.00.

Maddie pressed her thumb down on the green box. The app's scanner swiped across her thumb print.

Thank you. Payment has been accepted. For your information the storm warning for Boston has been downgraded, so you shouldn't have any difficulties travelling to the office tomorrow. Wrap up warm.

Maddie shuddered as a blast of cold air whipped through the open doors. Pulling her scarf tight around her neck, she walked over to where Henry was waving for her.

***

The warm, stretched limo was a welcome surprise and, as they made the short journey to her hotel, which had also been booked and paid for by DIGIPA, Maddie learned that Henry's mother was deaf too and that he'd been signing since he was small. He was also proficient in British sign language, after a year spent doing volunteer work in London during his gap year.

"How long have you worked at DIGIPA?" she enquired.

"Since the beginning," he replied. "Marcus and I met in college and he asked me to join the company."

So Henry was more than an employee. "So what do you do there?"

"I lead the new accounts department, which as you can imagine has been quite busy of late," he said with a wink.

Maddie nodded enthusiastically. Just yesterday the company had announced that signs-up to the app had reached record levels. "So do you like working at DIGIPA?"

Henry laughed. "What's not to love? Great pay, great office environment and the perks are unreal. I mean, who doesn't like Fro-yo Fridays? But seriously, it's a great place to work."

"Is it true you have actual swings in the canteen?"

Henry nodded enthusiastically. "Not only swings, but there's a spiral slide from the fifth to the first floor. We even have a wishing well. Every week, people drop a small wish into the well and one lucky person gets their wish come true. Marcus has always been big on fun."

***

Maddie held out the ten-dollar bill to the bellhop and waited till he'd closed the door behind him before she ran around the large room squealing. Her room was actually a corner suite with two walls of blue-tinted glass window which afforded a phenomenal view of the Charles River. Maddie took a moment, looking out at the twinkling lights of the southern Boston skyline. Her second visit to this wonderful city, she'd been a little nervous at returning, considering what had happened the last time. She caught sight of her own reflection in the window and smiled. It was time to put the past in the past, even if the lasting effects of that fateful first trip still affected her today.

Eventually she pulled herself away from the view and explored the rest of the suite. The lounge area was furnished with two oversized, grey leather sofas, with an equally oversized TV. In the corner was a mini bar, a stainless steel bean-to-cup coffee machine and a bowl containing fruit that looked almost too perfect to be real. The bathroom was a revelation. Warm to the touch marble covered every surface and in the centre of the room was a deep square tub capable of holding a family of four. For a second she imagined lying in the tub, neck deep in bubbles, two glasses of wine on the side, some candles flickering away... Ricky.

Maddie shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking of him either. For all Maddie knew he was probably laying in her bath in her house. Well, they were welcome to each other. Feeling grimy after a long day of travel, she ran herself a deep bath and soaked till the water cooled off.

Later, wearing the thick complimentary terry cloth robe and slippers, she made her way back into the living room and spied a shining silver platter now adorning the coffee table. The most delicious aroma hung in the air and inside she discovered the best chicken and bacon sandwich she'd ever seen. Impaled by cocktail sticks, the three-layer sandwich towered next to a portion of hand-cut fries. Offering a silent thank you to Val, Maddie set upon the sandwich as if her life depended on it.

Sitting back, stomach satiated and head a little fuzzy after two bottles of Sam Adams, she noticed a huge floral arrangement by the door. It hadn't been there earlier. A small, white envelope rested against the crystal vase. Maddie dragged herself off the soft, warm leather and shuffled across the room. Heady-scented panicles of Lilacs spilled from the vase and Maddie wondered where on earth the sender could have sourced the late spring flowers, given it was now mid- November. She removed the card from the envelope.

Maddie. I trust you've found your hotel room to be more than satisfactory. I look forward to introducing you to the team tomorrow. Yours, Marcus.

She couldn't believe her good fortune and was a little awed by yet another thoughtful gesture. Having been at Gilbert and Fox for a little over two years, she hadn't been looking for a new job. In fact, she'd been content with her life as a secretary; it was other areas of her life that she'd been less content with. But when Val sent her a link to an interesting vacant position at DIGIPA, Maddie had found herself completing the online application form. Very much to her surprise, within a week of submitting her application she was in the restaurant at the top of the Gherkin, dining with the renowned, yet elusive Marcus McEnroe, founder of DIGIPA.

"So, Maddie," he'd said, his posture relaxed, his dark eyes deep and searching, "tell me about yourself."

She began a brief resume of her academic and professional career, but he raised his hand to stop her.

"No, tell me about you. I want to know the real Maddie. What's your favourite colour, your earliest memory... your idea of fun?"

She remembered her palms becoming sweaty and her cheeks flushed finding his questioning style a little intrusive.

"Er... lilac, eating ice cream on Brighton pier and ..."

Maddie's idea of a fun time was reading a good book or taking a country walk, but what kind of answer was that? Wouldn't he think she was boring? After all, Marcus McEnroe was anything but. Just earlier that week, she'd seen pictures online of him climbing an Icelandic glacier. The previous month, hot-air ballooning above the Serengeti!

She swallowed hard. "Er...I like dancing... to dance music."

His eyes widened a little.

"The deeper the base, the more I can feel the rhythm. I used to take dance lessons before.... To be honest, I think I miss music the most."

A flash of sadness crossed his face and he reached for his glass and took a sip of wine. There she was intending to tell him something small and marginally less boring than the truth, but ended up revealing something that still made her heart ache. And now she'd made him feel sorry for her, too. This was not going at all how she had hoped.

"Well, I'll be sure to include a trip to a dance club in your induction."

She began to laugh, but stopped abruptly when she saw the serious expression on his face.

"If that wasn't clear enough, I'd be delighted if you were to join me at DIGIPA as my personal assistant, and before you concern yourself with your suitability for the role, most of my business is done online, we can source the top of the range voice recognition software and you'd have access to Henry should you require his support. Maddie, the job is yours if you want it."

Her hand trembled as she reached for her glass of wine. She took a gulp before replying.

Maddie's thoughts returned to the present as her phone vibrated in the pocket of her robe. Always half expecting to see a message from Ricky pop up, she was grateful Val had managed to block him. Opening her messages, she saw it was from Val.

Hi. I hope you liked your sandwich. A car is arriving at 7:30 A.M to collect you. I suggest you wear the blue striped jacket, red vest and jeans. This would appear to be an outfit in keeping with the dress of other DIGIPA employees. Have a good day.

Maddie pressed the "Thank you" button. Val had been invaluable these last few weeks in helping her organise for this trip. With little effort, Val had rented out Maddie's flat, arranged her work visa and even opened up a US bank account on her behalf. Pretty much the only thing Val hadn't done was fly the actual plane. Overcome with tiredness, Maddie headed toward the bedroom taking a final glance at the lilac flower arrangement by the door.

***

Boston, with a snowy covering in broad daylight, was even more beautiful than she'd remembered. Old, red brick buildings nestled in between towers of steel and glass, which reflected the early morning sunlight. The ever changing views from her car window seemed to calm the butterflies in her stomach, and soon she saw the headquarters of DIGIPA ahead.

The car pulled up outside the main entrance and the driver opened her door.

"Mr. McEnroe has asked me to run you back to the hotel tonight. Just ask one of the receptionists to call me."

Maddie shook her head. "No, you don't need to do that. Might as well learn how to get home by myself."

"But Mr. McEnroe was very insistent..."

"No, that's quite all right. Thanks for the lift."

With a deep breath, she stepped out of the car and approached the impressive headquarters of DIGIPA. The glossy brochure they'd sent her had done its best to show off the building, but in reality it was far more striking. The foyer was a cavernous area of gloss-white tile with pieces of abstract art, garish in form and colour, dotted about. Beyond that was a wall of window. No office, it seemed, was hidden away, and behind each window, people bustled around, in spite of the early hour. She could almost feel the hum of productivity as she approached the main reception desk and saw Henry waiting for her.

"Good morning," he signed and spoke.

Maddie greeted him back.

"So, are you ready for your first day, Maddie? We hope so. We've got a busy orientation planned for you and you're pencilled in for lunch with Marcus at midday. First, though, we're going up to human resources to collect your ID, keys, etcetera."

Maddie followed Henry into the elevator. Once inside, Henry waved a card at a panel on the wall and then pressed for floor nine.

"Floors one to eight are operations, nine is human resources and ten belongs exclusively to Marcus... and now you. You will need a key to access ten." Henry gestured to the key hole next to the button.

"What's on minus two and three?" Maddie asked; the only other buttons to have keyholes next to them, alongside an "authorised personnel only" sign.

"That's the heart of DIGIPA, where our main servers are, although we do have several other data facilities nearby. Because of the sensitivity of our business, those floors are out-of-bounds to all but a few employees."

The elevator doors opened into a large, bright office. People turned to look at who had arrived on their floor and Maddie briefly felt like an insect under a microscope.

"Maddie, this is Carol, our head of human resources."

A red-haired woman wearing a skin-tight red dress and a red-painted smile walked over to them. So much red in fact, she reminded Maddie of a warning sign. Carol offered out a slender, manicured hand and shook Maddie's limply.

"It's good to finally meet you, Miss Chambers. We've heard nothing but high praise for you," Carol said with a bright white smile, to which Henry nodded enthusiastically. "Marcus is very particular about his closest staff, but I'm sure he has seen something rather special in you. Follow me, please."

Henry said goodbye, leaving Maddie to keep up behind Carol and her spikey four-inch heels, wondering why Carol's compliment didn't feel like a compliment at all, and wishing she hadn't worn jeans.

In a cool, yet utterly professional manner, Carol efficiently processed Maddie's paperwork and ID card before taking her on a brief tour of floors one through nine. Their last stop was a vast theatre she'd seen many times on TV, from where DIGIPA launched new updates and gave company announcements. The room was full of ambitious twenty-somethings, all eager to jump on the McEnroe success train. At twenty-five, Maddie reckoned she was probably one of the oldest in the room. As she took a seat, the lights went out.

The DIGIPA logo flashed up onto a large screen at the back of the stage, as five spotlights switched on, moving across the stage meeting in one bright orb and finally resting on one spot. Wearing his trademark, olive tweed suit, the impossibly tall Marcus McEnroe walked out onto the stage, waving to the crowd.

Around Maddie, everybody stood up and began clapping. The energy in the room was contagious, and she, too, rose to her feet. This was nothing like Clive Fox's annual speech at her old company's Christmas party at the Holiday Inn in Manchester. No, this felt more akin to being before a rock legend on the last night of a world tour.

Soaking up the applause, Marcus spent a few minutes waving to people in the crowd. Then with a gesture of his hand, he commanded the crowd to retake their seats. As the lights rose a little, she saw Henry appear on the stage and take position several steps to the left of Marcus. Maddie was several rows back from the front and at this distance with the glare of the lights, lip reading wasn't going to be easy. She was pleased to see him.

"Welcome to DIGIPA. My name is Marcus McEnroe and I am the founder of this great company."

Marcus looked around the crowd, his eyes finally resting on Maddie. She wriggled uncomfortably in her chair.

"Founded in 2014, DIGIPA is now the world's leading provider of Digital Personal Assistance. Today, over one hundred million people around the world use us to help them manage their daily lives. Many people often ask me what a digital personal assistant actually does. My reply is always the same, "What doesn't a digital personal assistant do?" Our app-based, state of the art technology means never having to miss an appointment again. Have a tonne of bills to pay? Our DPAs will sort that for you. Want tickets to a show or a football game, just ask your DPA. It's like having your own personal assistant living in your very phone, but don't just take my word for it. Here are some of our more familiar clients describing what having a DPA means to them."

The DIGIPA logo made way for a subtitled video where several famous celebrities and politicians gave ringing endorsements of the DIGIPA brand, and Maddie had to agree with everything they said. Two years ago, she'd been as sceptical as the next person but had signed up for the service upon the recommendations of most of her colleagues. Crikey, even her mum had her own DPA. Unlike her mother, who'd chosen to name her DPA after her beloved dead Labrador, Sammy, Maddie had named hers Val, for reasons she could no longer remember. The service wasn't cheap, but Maddie couldn't imagine her life without Val. Since its inception, several me-too businesses had started, but none could mirror the quality of the service that DIGIPA provided or the personal, almost human-like delivery. In six years Marcus had managed to transform the code he'd written in his dorm room into a quickly climbing Fortune 500 company.

"You are joining this company at a glorious time. In just six years we have achieved so much, but the best is yet to ....."

As Marcus resumed his welcome speech, Maddie felt her phone vibrate. She ignored it initially, but when it kept vibrating, she took it out of her jean pocket and unlocked the screen to see she had three messages from Val. Discreetly, she opened the first.

Hope your induction is going well? Your mother's DPA synced with me and she would like to know if you will be home for Christmas. Please press...

Maddie sighed and swiped right to remove the message.

I have booked you an appointment at the hair ...

Maddie swiped left to save the message for later and was just about to press the OFF button when a third message appeared.

Liar

Maddie looked up to the stage quickly. Marcus was still talking and Henry was busily signing behind him, so she looked back to her phone, pulling it a little closer to her face. Confused, but eager to get her attentions back to the stage, she went to swipe right again, but a fourth message flashed up.

Marcus McEnroe is a liar and a crook.

Maddie glanced around the dark theatre. No one was looking at her, and yet she suddenly felt uncomfortable and exposed. On her keypad, she selected the help button, which would normally put her through to a live messaging operator, but a fifth message arrived.

Marcus McEnroe is a liar, a crook AND a cold-blooded murderer. You are in great danger. For more information click on the green button...

Horrified by the cruel joke someone was playing on her, she went to click the delete button, but her trembling fingers missed and hit the green button instead. A link opened up to the Boston Herald website and a specific headline-

"Woman's fall to her death from roof of DIGIPA is ruled a suicide."

Reading the subheading made her nauseous.

"The coroner has ruled that Jane Lister, former PA to Marcus McEnroe, committed suicide on...."

Maddie's heart raced and her palm which held her phone felt clammy. Unwilling to read anymore, she pulled her eyes up from the screen, first to Marcus and then to Henry but she was unable to comprehend what either of them was communicating when the phone buzzed again. She didn't want to open the new message. It was the very last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn't help herself.

That was no suicide and only you can prove it. I will be in touch.

(3487 words)