Page 84 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Overtime

I withdrew from her presence as if from a techno-potentate, too
simple an organism to merit serious time-consuming scrutiny. But I
did have a few things to do, most of them concerning the late Mr.
Kates. The words “foul play” came into my consciousness several
times. I forced them out, with some effort, in order to complete the
tasks at hand. Leah was not at her work-station: off, I guessed,
scouring TimeWarper’s arcana for every piece of paper related to the
man I had found in a heap next to the fifth-floor elevator doors. My
mission upstairs had been to deliver to Perry Farragut’s office a copy
of P&L’s latest invoice for services rendered on the Y2K project,
something we needed action on immediately come Monday morning.
It was for a lot of money, all justified no doubt, but I had forgotten
about it immediately. The papers were still in my briefcase. I stuffed
them into an interoffice envelope, scribbled the MIS VP’s name on it
and shoved it into the nearest outgoing mail bin. Internal finances
were not a high priority for me now. A fox was loose in the hen
house, and I had to be its chaperone.

<< 2 >>

I made a few calls on Leah’s phone, including one alerting my
superiors to the situation and assuring them that I had it well in hand.
What I really had was a sweaty palm clutching a telephone, but my
voice did not betray me. Leah came back with a small stack of
photocopies, frowned at my occupation of her desk and sashayed
into my office to drop off the documents. I relinquished the
uncomfortable typist’s chair to her as my last conversation ended.
Then I went in to face Ms. Gramercy, dreading it.
She had printed out dozens of sheets of paper and was organizing
them on my desk, along with Leah’s contributions. Neat little piles: I
recognized organization charts, sales plans, financial records, time
and attendance summaries, insurance forms, building maintenance
checklists—more than I knew existed, and I suspected she had cast
her net beyond one dead fish. Too late now.
“That’s all proprietary information, you know, Lieutenant.”
“Of course. I’ll sign for it if I take it out of the building. But it is
evidence, and some or all of it might have to be divulged in a court of
law.”

83