by G. K. Parks
Martin rubbed his hand down his face, thinking. “No. I don’t think so.”
“I didn’t either.” I remembered sitting in his office and wondering where she was. Reaching for my phone, I dialed O’Connell.
“O’Connell,” he answered again.
“It’s Parker.” I was done with the pleasantries. “There’s a Suzanne Griffin who works at Martin Tech. We haven’t seen her since the explosion Thursday.”
“Afraid something happened to her? Or thinking she’s involved?”
I thought back to the strange conversation Griffin and I had on my second day at work. “I don’t know. See what you can dig up, and let us know.” I hung up.
“C’mon,” Martin said dismissively, “she’s worked at the company for years. She’s getting close to collecting her pension. Why would she have done this?” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re still upset about the conversation she had with you.”
“You are being ridiculous and letting your personal feelings get in the way,” I retorted. “Seriously though, we need to know where she is. I’m not saying she did this, but she never came back either. Didn’t call or anything.” I flipped through the absentees. “Does that seem like the reliable woman you know?”
“No. Do you think she’s hurt?”
I didn’t have an answer for him. I opened the employee manifest and found her phone number and address. Picking up my phone, I dialed the number, but there was no answer.
“I’ll call Mark, and we’ll check her place. You are going to stay here. If O’Connell calls, find out what he knows.” I grabbed my keys while I dialed Mark’s number. I put on my shoulder holster, snapped my handgun into the slot, and put a jacket on over it. “Stay put.”
Martin stood up, seemingly ready to go with me. “But…,” he began to protest.
“It’s probably nothing.” I wanted to downplay my bad feeling. “I’ll be back soon, and I’m taking Mark with me. Remember, you’re the body I was hired to guard. Don’t make my job more difficult.” I tried to joke, and he resigned himself to house arrest and sat back down on the couch. I went down the stairs to retrieve my car as my phone finally connected with Mark’s. “Where are you?” I asked.
“I just got home. What’s going on?”
I shut the car door before replying, afraid Martin might overhear. “I’m not really sure, but I might need some backup. Griffin, the secretary, just got bumped to number one on my suspect list. No one’s seen her since the explosion. I’ll pick you up on the way.”
“Okay. Did you call the police?” he asked as I drove away from Martin’s compound and onto the main road.
“I called O’Connell, but who knows how long it’ll take him to check things out. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Woman’s intuition?”
“Years of training.” I could hear Mark checking to make sure his service pistol was loaded.
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
We ended the call, and within fifteen minutes, I was honking my horn outside his house. He got into my car, and off we went.
The GPS got us to Griffin’s address in twenty minutes, and I parked on the street. The neighborhood seemed quiet. Mark and I approached the front door. It appeared no one was home. He rang the doorbell, and we waited. I tried to peer into the front window, but the blinds were closed.
“Try it again,” I insisted, stepping away from the porch and going toward the driveway. There were no cars parked there, but that didn’t mean Griffin hadn’t parked in the garage.
“Nothing,” Mark said. He knocked a couple of times. “Mrs. Griffin?” he called. He turned to me and shook his head.
“I’ll check around back.” I walked around the house, but everything seemed normal. I reached the back door and tried to turn the knob, but it was locked. The back windows were closed, and there were no signs of anything amiss. I returned to the front of the house.
“Anything?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“Want to do some canvassing since we came all the way here?”
Mark seemed annoyed but played along, anyway. I took the house to the right; he took the left. We knocked on a few doors, asking if anyone had seen Mrs. Griffin since she didn’t show up to work. The neighbors were less than helpful. No one remembered when they had seen her last. Mark and I were getting ready to leave when I saw flashing red and blue lights.
“Did you call in the cavalry?” I asked. We turned and waited while O’Connell and another detective pulled up behind me and shut the lights.
“Ms. Parker, funny running into you here,” O’Connell said. “You too, Agent Jablonsky.”
“Just in the neighborhood,” I replied. “What brings you down here?”
O’Connell gave me a no-nonsense look. “Checking out a lead, not to mention dispatch got a call about some suspicious looking people snooping around their neighbor’s house.”
“Hmm. I don’t remember seeing anyone suspicious. Did you, Mark?” I asked, and Mark glared at me.
“Need I remind you this is our investigation?” O’Connell threatened.
“Just checking on an employee,” I responded. “Y’know, part of my job description at Martin Tech.”
O’Connell shook his head slowly. “Find anything?” he asked. I guess he decided if you can’t beat them, join them.
“No one’s home, and no one’s seen anything. Well, except for some suspicious people walking around for the last twenty minutes, apparently.” I couldn’t help but be sarcastic. “I showed you mine. Want to show me yours?”
“We’ve got a plane ticket under the name Suzanne Griffin. She was supposed to fly out today, one-way to Nova Scotia, but she never checked in at the airport.”
The detective with O’Connell knocked on Griffin’s door. “This is the police, ma’am. Please open up.” After a few moments, he turned to the three of us. “No response.”
“Maybe we heard some screaming for help coming from inside,” Mark suggested. “It might be part of your job to enter, just to check things out.”
O’Connell considered it for a moment. “No. We’re doing things right. I’m not screwing up an investigation that will end up being dismissed in court for improper procedure.” Well, at least now, I had my answer about what kind of guy O’Connell was. “You got anything else which might make getting a warrant easier?”
“All I know is she is always at work, and she left before the explosion and hasn’t been back since. Not on Thursday and not on Friday. Martin’s worried. He says it’s not like her.”
“Can you get me access to her work office?” O’Connell asked. I agreed and called Martin.
“Call the office. Tell them Detective O’Connell needs to get in to check out Griffin’s office,” I instructed Martin as Mark and I followed the police car back to the MT building. “I’m so glad I don’t have to go to the office anymore,” I said ironically as we parked and got out of the car, and Mark gave me an odd look. “I’ve already been here once today.” My ID and Martin’s were at home, but luckily, Todd picked up an extra shift and was still working security.
“Ms. Parker,” he greeted.
“Hey, Todd, you know why we’re here.”
He came around the desk. “I’ll take you to her office.” He kindly unlocked the door. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything else.”
I thanked him, and the two cops entered Griffin’s office.
“Stay outside. We don’t need you potentially contaminating anything.” O’Connell spoke as if I were incompetent. I sighed but stood in the hallway, trying to peer inside.
“Did you leave your door open?” Mark asked, getting my attention.
“No, why?” I turned to see my office door cracked open. Mark pushed it open a bit more with his foot. It was obvious someone had been inside. Everything was slightly askew. The papers on the desk were scattered everywhere, and the trashcan was dumped on the floor. I was about to step inside when Mark grabbed my arm.
“O’Connell,
” he called. The detective poked his head out of Griffin’s office. “We might have a problem.”
O’Connell approached us, not understanding what was going on until he saw the mess inside. “Thompson,” he called to his partner, “lock that up for now. We have another issue.”
They entered my office and carefully checked to make sure no one was still inside. O’Connell approached the storage closet while Thompson covered him. I was outside in the hallway where I was instructed to remain with Mark. We were prepared to rush in if need be when I heard a loud thump as the closet door opened.
Please don’t be a dead body, I thought as I reached for my weapon and stepped into the office.
Fifteen
“You should talk to Martin about hiring better janitorial staff,” O’Connell teased as the four of us stood over the ancient vacuum cleaner that had been stuffed in the closet.
“Clearly.” I looked around, positive someone had gone through everything looking for information. Information on what, I didn’t know. Perhaps someone was checking to see if I was investigating Martin’s threats or maybe looking for information on Martin or me. Good thing I cleaned everything out yesterday before we left.
“It just looks like the janitors got called away before they finished cleaning up,” Thompson said.
I wondered how long he had been on the job, or if he had any clue how serious this could be. I wanted to strangle him.
O’Connell eyed me curiously. “Are you sure you shut the door? It doesn’t look like anything was really disturbed or damaged.” He didn’t seem concerned.
“Maybe you’re right.” I wondered what the surveillance tapes would show. Whoever was up here had less than twenty-four hours to get into my office, look around, and leave. Maybe the security cameras caught the culprit in the act. Maybe he was watching us at this very moment. Parker, you’re being paranoid.
Unfortunately, things weren’t adding up. Griffin was missing, and my office had been searched. I was sure of it. I learned long ago, just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean people aren’t after you. Mark looked at me skeptically. He didn’t buy this was a cleaning oversight any more than I did.
“I guess I’m losing it. I must have left the door open, and maybe the janitors got distracted and didn’t get a chance to take out the trash properly. My mistake,” I lied through my teeth, and Mark knew it.
“Maybe we should check to see if the cameras have anything on them, you know, with Mrs. Griffin being gone and all,” Mark suggested, and I had a feeling he wanted to know who had been inside my office just as badly as I did.
“That would be most helpful.” O’Connell smiled sweetly. “If you could get us a copy, it would greatly help our investigation.” He was relieved I had something else to do with my time besides make him go on scavenger hunts.
I went back to the lobby and found Todd in the security office. “Hey, I have another favor to ask. The police want a copy of the video for the seventeenth floor from Thursday through today.”
“No problem.“ Todd typed commands into the computer.
“Mr. Martin would also like a copy. He wants to keep up with everything going on around here, especially in his absence.”
“Of course.” Todd saved the files to a disk and copied the same information to another. “Here you go.” He handed me both disks.
“If you see anyone from cleaning, can you tell them they never finished in my office? It looks like they got distracted before they were done.” I wanted to appear naïve and ignorant. It never hurt to play dumb.
“Sure thing.” He seemed uneasy but didn’t say anything more.
I went back upstairs and found O’Connell, Thompson, and Mark inside Griffin’s office. I slowly edged my way into the room. “Here.” I handed the disk to O’Connell, expecting him to berate me for entering the office, but he didn’t.
“Thanks.” He took the disk and put it inside his jacket pocket. “We didn’t find anything. The only information here is work related, schedules of meetings and appointments for the board members, errands to run, mostly run-of-the-mill stuff.”
“It was worth a shot,” Mark responded.
“She’s still missing,” I said. The detectives were losing sight of the problem. “She’s not at work. She’s not at home, and she didn’t show up at the airport for some trip no one was aware she was taking. There is something seriously wrong.”
“We’ll look into it,” O’Connell said firmly. “If she doesn’t show up to work Monday, maybe Martin or someone from the company can file a missing person’s. But you told me Friday was an optional workday, and it’s the weekend now. She’s not missing, not yet anyway.”
I sighed. His hands were tied, and so were mine. I turned and walked out of the office. I was sick of the bureaucratic red-tape. Mark told the cops to do as they liked and to keep him informed before catching up with me at the elevator.
“Someone isn’t playing well with others,” he chided, but I didn’t say a word. We left the building and went back to my car in silence.
Once we were on our way to Mark’s place, I finally spoke. “There was someone in my office looking for god knows what, and despite what the cops say, I’m positive something is very wrong when it comes to Griffin.”
“I agree, but there is nothing you can do right now. Check out the feed, see if you can spot who was in your office, and Monday, if Griffin hasn’t shown up, then the cops can start searching. It’s all you can do.”
“Just for the record, playing by the rules sucks. For all they know, she’s the bomber, or she’s dead. What good is any of this waiting around doing?” This was exactly the reason why I didn’t work at the OIO anymore. I pulled up to Mark’s house and stopped the car.
“It’s a start. You will figure this thing out. Come on, you’ve already made better connections and have more leads than I ever did.” He patted my shoulder.
“It took long enough to get to this point.”
“You got this.” He opened the car door. “Just tell Marty to keep his head down until it’s resolved.”
I drove around randomly for a while, thinking about things. Griffin was missing, and my office had been broken into. I was one hundred percent certain whoever was threatening Martin was a current employee at MT. Could it be Mrs. Griffin? Initially, that’s what my gut said, but now with her missing and the unclaimed plane ticket to Nova Scotia, I was beginning to think something horrible had happened to her. I mean honestly, who the hell plans a trip and doesn’t go? You’re just going to have to let the cops do their job, Parker, I reminded myself.
When I arrived at Martin’s compound, I heard him talking on the phone. “Thanks, I appreciate it. If you need anything else, let me know.” I shut the door, announced my presence, and looked at him. He held up a finger, indicating I should wait a minute. I put my belongings down and took off my shoulder holster, waiting for him to hang up. “That was Detective O’Connell,” Martin answered my questioning look. “He found a bus ticket confirmation under Suzanne’s maiden name. Someone is checking into it. He’ll let us know.”
I sighed and sat down. “I’m glad he called.” I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the back of the couch. The seat next to me sunk in slightly as he sat down. I turned to look at him. He looked like a lost puppy. “We don’t know she’s behind this. We don’t even know if she’s involved. Maybe she just got scared and took off.” It felt like I was coddling him, but I didn’t need him melting down again, or worse yet, having a replay of last night.
“While you were gone, I watched the surveillance a few times and checked into the employee records of our possible suspect list.” He held up the notepad to show me the list he made.
“I thought you didn’t like lists.”
“I guess I learned from the best.” He handed me the notepad. “Anyway, I’ve done some digging into the employee files.” He had crossed off about a third of the names. “It doesn’t seem likely these individuals would have access to manufact
uring, let alone the knowledge to sabotage anything at the plant. Monday, we’ll get the surveillance, and hopefully, it will narrow this down further.” He hedged, and I suspected he might be hiding something.
“What?”
“I gave the list to O’Connell, figured he might as well do some checking.”
“It’s okay. We scratch his back, and maybe he’ll scratch ours.” It wouldn’t hurt to have some professionals looking into things, especially given the bang-up job I had been doing. “Why didn’t you go to the cops in the first place, when you received the first threat?”
“I didn’t want the publicity. Bad press is never a good thing for a company. Plus, things like this happen all the time. Despite what you might think about me crying wolf, I’m not one of those people.”
“Fair enough.” It didn’t explain why he didn’t call the cops after things escalated, but I didn’t push the issue. I informed him about the trip to Griffin’s and to the office. Finally, I told him about the break-in.
“If you want to back out of this, you can. No hard feelings.”
“Like I said, I’m not going anywhere. This is what I do, and things like this come with the territory. I’m not one to run and hide whenever there are a few bumps in the road.” We were heading toward dangerous ground, flitting around last night’s conversation, so I tried to steer us clear. I pulled out the new surveillance disk. “But we might be able to figure out who it was.”
He smirked and got up from the couch. “I’ll let you get started on that, and I will start on dinner.” A man who cooks, I could get used to this.
I popped the disk into the DVD player and flipped my notepad to a new sheet of paper while Martin rummaged around in the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans.
“Hey, what do you know about Todd?” I asked.
“Todd?”
“Yeah, security guard, Todd. I don’t know his last name.” Why didn’t I look at his name tag? Did it not say? I thought about it for a moment and realized I didn’t remember seeing a name tag on him.
