Part 24 (1/2)

”We'll need to go to personnel,” she said. She rose from her desk. She looked a bit wobbly, and I understood but we really didn't have time to cater to it. Inspector Franks would be here soon and I wanted to have the information for him.

Reese drew in a deep breath and turned to me and said, ”All right then, follow me.”

We went back into the hallway that lapped the inner offices like a racetrack. It was brighter now as the sun had risen higher and was streaming in through the windows on the east side. We pa.s.sed several offices and then Reese pushed through a door marked Personnel.

A young woman sat at a desk that overlooked the files. I figured this was some sort of punishment. All those windows and she got stuck in the room with a view of files. She must have made someone mad.

”Can I help you, Mrs. Evers?” she asked.

Reese forced her lips into a smile that could only be called one because her lips curved up. There was nothing happy or rea.s.suring about the look.

”No, thank you, Rene, I just need to grab some paperwork for the new girl.” She paused to gesture to me. Rene looked appalled at my jeans but had the grace not to say anything.

I gave her a tiny finger wave and a superior look. She'd undoubtedly be on the phone to all of the other employees, trying to find out who I was, as soon as the door closed behind us.

”Wait, on second thought, would you mind terribly fetching me a gla.s.s of water?” Reese asked.

Rene looked irritated in a ”that's not my job” sort of way, but she was obviously hesitant to balk to the boss.

”I wouldn't ask, but I have such a headache starting, and Mary”-she paused to gesture to me-”doesn't know where the watercooler is.”

Rea.s.sured that this was an emergency and not an abuse of power, Rene gave her an understanding smile. ”Of course, I'll be right back.”

We waited while she left, closing the door behind her.

”Mary?” I asked.

”Scarlett is too unusual of a name. I didn't want to have to explain what we're doing,” Reese said.

”What are we doing?” I asked.

”Pulling Win's personnel file,” she said.

”Don't you have all of this stuff online?” I asked.

She strode over to the file cabinet and used the key she had taken from her desk to unlock it. These weren't your nineteen fifties postwar steel cabinets, oh no, these things were some exotic wood that slid out with a delicate whoosh of air. Very slick. Very expensive.

”We do,” she said. ”But if I access them online, then I have to sign in and anyone else in the company can see that I am searching Win's file.”

”Including the killer,” I said.

She looked pained. ”Let's just say it's better to do this the old-fas.h.i.+oned way.”

Reese pulled out the second drawer down and began flipping through the folders. She paused, studied the folders more closely and flipped through them again.

”Something's wrong,” she said. ”His file isn't here.”

We stared at each other for a moment and then the office door began to open. Reese slammed the file shut and s.n.a.t.c.hed a paper off the top of the cabinet.

”So you'll want to have these filled out and returned to me as soon as possible,” Reese said.

Rene caught the last half of the sentence, which Reese ended by thrusting the paper into my hands. She then smiled at Rene and took the paper cup of water from her.

”Thank you so much,” she said.

”No trouble,” Rene said and she resumed her seat at her desk. A glance at her computer monitor showed a complicated spreadsheet, so unless it was one of those quick-the-boss-is-coming fake spreadsheets, she appeared to be doing rather complicated work.

Reese guzzled the water with an unladylike gusto that made me like her just a little. She crushed the cup in her hand and tossed it into the recycle bin.

”Feeling better?” I asked. I was going for solicitous but somehow I think sarcastic came out.

Reese nodded. Then she turned to Rene and said, ”Tell me, has anyone been in to use the files recently?” Rene looked at her in surprise and Reese added, ”I'm just wondering if we should do away with the old hard copies.”

”Oh, well, Mr. Wentworth was in here a few days ago,” she said.

Reese looked at me. I glared back. I was quite certain Harrison had a good reason for looking at the files. Really, I did.

”And Mr. Carson gave a file to the inspector, the older one with the mustache,” Rene said.

”Inspector Franks,” I said.

”That's right,” she said. ”Why? Was there a problem?”

”Oh, no,” Reese said. ”Like I said I was just wondering if they still got any use, and it looks like they do. If you'll excuse us, we'll leave you to it.”

”All right,” Rene said. She gave us a cheery wave, which I returned even though I felt like I was leaving her a prisoner in the windowless room.

Outside I was again trailing behind Reese. I wondered if Inspector Franks had shown up and was waiting for me downstairs. I wondered if I should call him. I wondered if Harrison was here yet, and if so, what was he going to say when he saw me? Yes, there was a lot of wondering happening but not a lot of doing, mostly because I was afraid to take my eyes off Reese.

My internal caution alarm was clanging and I thought it might be advised to eyeball the viable exits. I had really admired the egg-shaped building from the outside, but now that I was in it, I wasn't so sure. How did one get out of here in case of an emergency? Or was I just panicking? Yeah, that felt about right.

”I'm going to have to go into the human resources portal,” Reese said.

She sat at her desk and clicked away at her keyboard. I chose to pace the length of her office and back. It was a large office. I wondered if that helped the executives think bigger thoughts. Maybe if everyone had s.p.a.cious offices, they'd all think bigger.

Nervousness was making it hard for me to focus. Who had access to the files? Rene, obviously, but she didn't seem to have an ulterior motive. Still, I figured I'd better check.

”What's Rene's story?” I asked Reese. ”She wasn't involved with Win, was she?”

”No,” Reese said. ”She's new, fresh out of university and happily engaged. She spends more time planning her wedding than she does working.”

So the spreadsheet had most likely been a decoy, which made me feel better. It would have been appalling for someone so much younger than me to have a grasp of such a complicated form.

”Who else has access to the files in that room?” I asked.

”Only the senior staff members,” Reese said. She didn't look up from her computer. ”Tyler, Harrison, Tuesday, Steve, Anne, and of course, Win would have had access as well.”