Page 104 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Overtime

The secretary muttered inaudibly (to me) and looked in our
direction. Beau swung around and headed toward us, charm flashing
from his eyes and teeth.
“Well, Powell, always pleased to see you. Sorry I have another
appointment in a couple of minutes. And who is this intriguing
person beside you? A new member of HR?”
We stood. Beau extended his meaty paw to Labelle, who shook it.
He held it for an instant too long, no doubt giving it an extra little
squeeze. She wasn’t particularly glamorous, but he had only one way
of relating to women. It crossed my mind that she could have
crushed his hand in hers, had she wished.
“I am Lieutenant Labelle Gramercy, investigating the death of
Vincent D. Kates.”
“Kates? Who is that, Powell? One of the maintenance crew?”
“Actually, Beau, he worked in this department, for Maisy
Cornflower. I found him Saturday morning. He must have been
working overtime and had some kind of seizure. Anyway, the police
are making inquiries.”
“Oh.” He put down his briefcase and laptop. “Are you taking care
of the administrative side—government forms, and all that?”
“Yes. Everything is under control.”
“Good man. The company can depend on you in a crisis, Powell.
Now, is there anything I can do for you, Lieutenant? May I call you
Labelle? What an interesting name!”
“Yes,” she said curtly. If the man were alive who could distract her
from the task at hand, he was not in this building. “I have uncovered
a hidden document written by Mr. Kates concerning the P&L
contract for the Y2K project.” She pointed to her computer. “He
spent a lot of time digging up information related to the P&L sales
people and the money involved in the transaction.”
Beau sat down next to her. She did not flinch or move away; he
might have mistaken that for encouragement in other circumstances.
He opened his own laptop and turned it on.
“Really? I had no idea such intrigues were afoot. Let me see:
Kates, Kates. Yes, now I see the name. He has some minor role in
that project, according to the org chart, if it is up-to-date.”
“He put together enough public data and private supposition to
create a picture of systematic MIS corruption. Pesado and Lejeune,

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