Hiding in Plain Sight (11 page)

“So, you find that your thinking is muddled and out of focus when I'm not there to influence you?”

“Yeah, sure. That's exactly what I said, all right.” I waited for him to make a quick comeback, but there was nothing but silence on the other end of the line. It lasted for nearly half a minute.

“Boy, would I ever like to kiss you right now,” he said suddenly. His voice was all husky, and it made me feel weak in the knees and stomach.

“I don't find this is helping,” I said when I could finally get some words out. “It's hard enough being apart without you going and saying stuff like that.”

He agreed, so we wrapped it up and said good-night. I looked at the phone for a long minute before setting it back in the cradle. I thought of how I'd done the sensible thing instead of letting the conversation get all sloppy and sad. We'd only have ended up feeling way worse.

I could cheerfully have kicked myself.

“
W
e are going to be killed
for sure
this time.”

This was Janine's greeting remark to me the next morning when I arrived for work. I must say that I really prefer a simple good morning.

“What have we done that demands our execution?” I inquired, following her lead in forfeiting the standard hello.

“We totally forgot to do up the July quote sum-maries. Now Darla is waiting for them and they're not even started.” She dropped her head between both hands and lamented, “We're dead.”

“How long will it take to do up these, uh, sum-maries that our lives apparently depend on?” I asked. I didn't bother pointing out that
we
hadn't forgotten to do them —
she
had forgotten to do them. It would have
been hard for me to forget them, since I'd never even heard of them in the first place.

“Hours and hours. Most of the day, probably, depending on how many interruptions there are. And Darla just buzzed me for them.”

“Did you tell her they're not done?”

“Are you crazy?” Janine looked at me as though I'd just escaped from a mental institution. “Of course not. She'd have a fit.”

“Don't you think she might notice when you don't take them to her?”

“I was going to think of some reason to stall. Like, tell her the printer is acting up or something, and that they're ready but I can't print them out yet.”

“Don't they all have printers in their own offices?” I asked, thinking of how Angi had finagled an ink cartridge out of me for a plain old boring mint.

“Yeah, but they're not connected to my computer.”

“But if you lie about it, aren't you running the risk that she'll just tell you to load the information on a disk and she'll print it herself?” I knew from experience that lies have a way of turning on you. Besides, Darla didn't strike me as all that fierce.

“Oh, I don't know,” Janine moaned pitifully. “I just don't know what to do.”

“How about just telling her the truth — that you forgot and you'll get them done as quickly as possible?”

“The
truth
?” She sounded incredulous. “Do you think that might work?”

“I'll tell her if you want,” I said. “The sooner that's over with the better. Then we can actually start doing them.”

“Okay,” she looked doubtful. “I hope she doesn't bite your head off.”

I figured she was overreacting, but Darla was far from happy at the news once I'd delivered my message.

“Janine knows those are to be done at the start of every month without fail. There's no excuse for her not having them ready.”

“It probably slipped her mind because she was busy training me and all,” I said. I felt no relief at all that she was putting the blame fully on Janine, even though it
was
her fault.

“I'm sure she remembered to do her nails and play with that mop of hair and make personal phone calls,” Darla said shortly. “Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Tell her I want them by the end of the day and no excuses. I can't run a business if things aren't done properly and on time.”

“Yes, ma'am.” I was only too glad to get out of there and go back to the reception area. I noticed, as I passed the offices along the way, that the Yaegers' door was open and they weren't in yet. The temptation to just take a quick peek in there was strong, but picturing
what would happen if I got caught stopped me.

It was just as well, since they arrived only seconds after I'd passed Darla's message on to Janine. With barely a nod in our direction they headed down the hall, neither of them looking overly happy.

“Trouble in paradise,” Janine whispered. “They don't fight often but when they do anyone could tell just looking at them. I bet it's about a baby.”

“A
baby
?”

“They've been trying to start a family for years, but with no luck. So every once in a while Debbie gets on this kick that she wants to adopt a foreign kid from, I dunno exactly, a Third World country or something. Only Stuart doesn't want to. He gives her all these excuses, but she thinks it's really because it's expensive and he tends to be kind of tight with money.”

“How do you know all this?” I asked, curious.

“Oh, Debbie and I have had some long heart-to-hearts over lunch. She needs someone to talk to, because she has no family around here and she and Stuart don't socialize enough for her to have close friends. Little River is originally Stuart's home, not hers.”

“Where's she from?”

“Pickering, Ontario. But her mother was the last person left there from her family, and she moved to a retirement community somewhere near Sudbury, in Northern Ontario. Elliot Lake, I think. Anyway, now
Debbie feels kind of adrift, like her background is all wiped out or something. She told me that makes her want a baby even more, though I can't quite under-stand what one thing has to do with the other.”

“Do they know if there's some reason they haven't been able to have a baby of their own?” I felt kind of creepy asking something that personal about people I hardly knew, but it had occurred to me that there were medical procedures available for couples in that situation, and some of them could be pretty expensive. Of course, I had no way of knowing whether or not Debbie would steal in order to get the money for some-thing like that, but it did sound as though she was get-ting desperate to have a family.

“I don't really know. I got the impression that they were still trying, though.” Janine seemed to have tired of this particular conversation, since she reached into her purse and drew out her manicure kit, a small burgundy case that held clippers, a tiny pair of scissors, a nail file, emery boards, and whatever those things are called that push back cuticles.

“Uh, Janine, did you want me to start on those summaries?” I asked.

“The summaries!” She tossed the kit back into her bulging purse and slapped herself on the forehead. “I can't believe I was going to forget about them again! What is
wrong
with me?”

The phone rang before I could respond to that, which was probably just as well. She answered it, put a call through to Angi's office, and then started tapping on the keyboard. Her fingers flew as she typed, and I was struck once again by how fast and efficient she was when she actually did some work.

While she did that I busied myself with a bit of dusting. There's a cleaning person who comes in on Monday mornings, but the job he does wouldn't earn him any awards, that's for sure. I wiped off the desks and filing cabinets and window ledges in the reception area, then did the lunchroom and conference room. When I'd finished, I stood and surveyed the conference room for a few minutes. While I did that, I pictured the photos from the robbery, willing something to click into place.

Nothing.

A
t around eleven o'clock, while Janine was working furiously on the summaries (I still had no idea what that meant, and it didn't look as though she intended to fill me in), a couple of men in suits came into the reception area and asked for Darla. Well, actually, they asked for Ms. Rhule.

I was dispatched to let her know they'd arrived, and she told me to escort them into the conference room and make them comfortable. Just how I was supposed to make them comfortable she didn't say. I didn't want to go overboard, so I just offered them a seat and asked if they would like coffee.

“A bottle of club soda for me,” the taller of the two said without looking at me.

“I'll have a diet soda. Preferably Pepsi, if you have it,” said the other, also without so much as a glance
in my direction.

I told them certainly and then dashed back to the reception area and asked Janine if we had a stash of various beverages anywhere. On learning we didn't, I hurried downstairs, outside, and across the street to a near-by convenience store.

All told, it must have taken five minutes for me to deliver their drinks. It was a warm day, too, and I think I looked a little flushed from hurrying, but since they acted like I didn't even exist, I didn't worry about them noticing. I sat the bottles, along with ice-filled glasses, on the table in front of them. They were opening briefcases and getting out folders and notepads and neither thanked me nor even acknowledged that I'd given them anything.

I couldn't help thinking that my mother would have been appalled at their rudeness, but I guess if you're some kind of a bigshot in the business world, you might get the idea that you're too good for common manners. Mom says people like that have gotten a bit too big-feeling.

Anyway, I was about to exit the room when Darla came in. She looked at the drinks and then at me with a sort of questioning expression that was quickly chased off by a smile of approval.

“Can I get anything for you, ma'am?” I asked her.

“Thank you, Shelby, but I'm fine.” She stepped forward
to greet the men, who both rose and extended hands toward her.

I nearly bumped into Joey on the way back down the hall. He was coming out of Angi's office, talking and walking backwards. I managed to stop in time, but just barely, and I nearly lost my balance in the process.

“Oops, sorry about that,” he said, grabbing my arm to steady me. “I should have been watching where I was going, but if you've had any dealings with Angi, you already know it's best never to turn your back on her.”

“She did cheat me out of chocolate yesterday,” I said solemnly.

“I'm not surprised. That's just like her. If I was-n't working on a project with her right now, I'd stay barricaded in my room with fresh garlic hanging in the doorway.”

“It would improve the smell of the place,” she commented without looking up from her desk. “He's got this desk his grandfather made for him with secret compartments. I swear, he uses them to hide food until it moulds and rots.”

“One time! One time I forgot about a bologna sandwich.” Joey lifted his chin and made an indignant sound. “Don't ever make a mistake here, Shelby. You'll never be allowed to live it down.”

“I'll try not to,” I said. My brain had grabbed on to the mention of a secret compartment, though, and was
running it through a few questions. As intriguing as it sounded, I found it did little to offer up any ideas related to the robbery. After all, it wouldn't help a person get into the locked conference room or the safe. You needed keys and codes for those things, not a place you could hide things.

I was suddenly aware of Carol, standing nearby at the copy room door watching Joey and me. She huffed loudly, apparently trying to give us the message that we were disturbing her.

“If you don't mind, this is a place of business,” she said angrily, just before she turned and flounced back into her work area.

Joey shook his head mildly, obviously not intending to let her get to him. Angi, on the other hand, either hadn't heard what Carol said or had decided to ignore her completely. She bent back down to something she was working on at her desk.

I thought I'd better get back to work too and returned to the reception area to find Janine looking flustered and angry.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“I can't open some of these files,” she muttered. “I keep getting stupid prompts for passwords — which this program doesn't even use — and the only way I can get back in is by rebooting the whole system. That seemed to work for a few of them, but
there are half a dozen or so that I can't get at no matter what I try.”

“I wish I could help,” I said, “but my computer knowledge is pretty basic.”

She looked at me as though I'd said something brilliant, which I was relatively certain I hadn't. “Of course!” she said, though she seemed to be talking to the air more than to me. “Why didn't I think of that before?”

“Think of what?”

“The geeks. This place is full of computer geniuses. One of them will know what to do.”

“Do you want me to ask one of them to help?”

“Okay. Uh, maybe Joey could do it. He can figure anything out.”

“I'll see if he can spare a few minutes.” I headed back down the hall and tapped on his door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“Shelby.”

“Just a sec.”

I heard scraping sounds, like something being moved on the floor, only it couldn't have been because the floors are carpet. I waited for what seemed a full two minutes before he told me to come in.

I explained that Janine was having a problem and wanted to know if he might be able to help. He smiled, friendly as ever, and followed me down the hall.

Janine filled him in on what the program was doing and then vacated her chair. Joey plunked down in it and looked puzzled for a moment or two. Then his fingers began to fly on the keyboard and he started talking to himself. Nothing he said made the least bit of sense to me, or to Janine either, if the look on her face was any indication. It was as though he was talking in a totally different language.