Copy Cap Murder: A Hat Shop Mystery Part 24

"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."

"Who are Steve and Anne?" I asked.

"Two other a.s.sociates," she said. "They've both just reached their five-year anniversary."

"Tuesday and Anne, did they get neckties, too?" I asked.

"Silk scarves," Reese said. "Do stop prattling, I can't look at this and converse at the same time."

Duly chastised, I resumed pacing. I checked the time on my phone. There was a text from Inspector Franks: Where are you?

I quickly texted back that I was on the thirty-third floor.

I waited but there was no immediate reply.

"I found it," Reese said. She glanced at the small printer in the corner behind her desk. "The invoice for his tie is in his file and it lists the number st.i.tched on it. I'm printing a copy of it."

"Excellent," I said. "Now if the police find that this number is different than the number on the tie he was strangled with, it could lead us to the killer."

Reese moved to stand beside the printer. I noticed her hand was shaking as she pulled the invoice out of it. "I hate to think that it was one of our own."

She moved back behind her desk and glanced at her computer screen. "That's strange."

"What?" I asked.

"Win's file, the file I was just in, was wiped clean," she said. She leaned over to examine the screen more closely and began clicking her mouse. "And I've been locked out."

"Who could do that?" I asked.

"I think you'd better take this paper and go," she said. Her voice trembled and the raw fear made the hair on the back of my neck p.r.i.c.kle.

She held the sheet out to me. I started across the room to take it when her office door banged open.

"Reese, Rene tells me you have a new hire . . . what's this?" Tyler Carson stood in the doorway, looking perplexed. He stared at me. "You?"

"Hi," I said.

I gave him a tiny wave as I reached out to take the paper. He was too quick for me, however, and s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of Reese's hand before I could. He glanced at the paper and then at Reese.

"Explain," he said. He sounded angry and I saw Reese flinch. Then she shook her head and blew out a breath.

"I know," she said. "Everything."

She s.h.i.+fted her feet, almost in a fighter's stance. This got my attention. Pale and tight lipped, Reese looked frightened and enraged all at the same time. Emotion was pouring off her in waves and my inner sense of caution was now clanging like a five-alarm fire bell. Something awful was about to happen.

"That sounds very dramatic," Tyler said. He gave her a confused half smile. "Why don't we discuss this in private?"

"No, I know what you did," she said. Her voice was low and growly, sounding more angry than scared now as if her courage had just needed a few minutes to build itself up.

Tyler heaved a put-upon sigh. "We've been over this and over this. I don't know what you think you know . . ."

"Win wasn't wearing his tie at the party," Reese said.

"Pah!" Tyler scoffed. "Of course he was, it's mandatory."

Reese pointed to me. "She says he wasn't."

Tyler turned and looked at me. His gaze was sympathetic and kind as if he felt my tension and was pained by it. I felt myself relax. Tyler was such a nice man. He took the care of his company seriously; I knew he wouldn't let someone get away with murdering one of his staff.

"You were mistaken, weren't you, Scarlett?" he asked. "You were overwrought at the party, which was quite understandable given Win's boorish behavior."

I nodded. Huh? I shook my head.

"No, I was up close and personal with his s.h.i.+rtfront," I said. I looked at Reese, who was shaking her head at me. "Not on purpose. It just sort of happened."

Now she was shaking her head more frantically, which made me feel terrible given that she had just admitted to pining for a relations.h.i.+p with Win that he had denied her and here I was talking about his awkward pa.s.s at me.

"I'm sure it was because he was drunk and because he hated Harrison," I said. I glanced back at Tyler. "But you're wrong. I am quite certain he wasn't wearing a tie."

"That is quite unfortunate," Tyler said. Then he lunged at me.

Chapter 28.

Taken by surprise, I jumped back out of instinct, which was a good thing because Reese hurled a solid gla.s.s paperweight at Tyler, popping him in the ribs with a sickening thunk.

He dropped the invoice as he grabbed his side with an "Oomph!"

"Grab the paper!" Reese yelled.

I s.n.a.t.c.hed the sheet off the ground. Dancing back just before Tyler caught me with a kick in the head. He staggered forward as I dashed for the door.

"Run, Scarlett, ru-" Reese's voice was cut off with a sickening crunch.

I had no doubt if I went back, Tyler would get the paper, the last bit of evidence that Win was strangled with-and I knew this was no longer a wild guess-Tyler's necktie. I had to hope Reese could fend for herself and I had to keep going.

Now I was d.a.m.n thankful for my jeans and Converse sneakers. Had I worn a power suit and heels, I never could have bolted out of Reese's office as fast as I did. There is a message there but I had no time to ponder it. Probably it was that normal people in suits don't have to run for their lives, but that's just a theory.

I glanced up at the ceiling and saw a sign that showed a white stick figure running on a green background with an arrow pointing. I a.s.sumed this meant go this way. I did.

The elevator was out as it would be too easy for Tyler to catch me while I was waiting for it and if he got in with me, he could strangle the life out of me before we hit the twentieth floor. It was going to have to be the stairs. I scanned the ceiling looking for more of the green signs with the little running man on them.

I was lapping the offices in the center of the floor, trying to read the doors as I flew past. I heard a shout behind me and I knew it was Tyler. He was gaining on me. I stumbled. Not helpful but terror makes me a tad uncoordinated.

Finally a severe-looking gray door tucked into the wall showed a picture of a stick figure and an arrow pointing down. I pushed through it, wondering if an alarm would sound. I heard nothing.