Once Upon Stilettos

by Shanna Swendson

  “I think these days we all need to look after each other.”

  “You’re probably right about that. You’ll let me know if you hear anything?”

  I couldn’t promise that without breaking my word to Merlin. “I’ll keep you posted,” I said instead, hoping that was vague enough for my conscience. I hated having to keep secrets from people, but I was getting better and better at it. If you can keep the secret about magic from the rest of the world, hiding a few things from your coworkers isn’t that hard.

  Merlin came out of his office. “Oh, good, Mr. Gwaltney, you’re here. Please come in.” Rod gathered his stack of papers, gave me a wink, then headed into Merlin’s office. As I watched the door shut behind him, I considered the preposterous idea of Merlin as a suspect. He might have said he wasn’t above suspicion, but the idea of him teaming up with Idris was beyond my comprehension. I wouldn’t worry about him unless there was evidence.

  On the other hand, his response to the situation was to assign a novice to investigate, and he probably had more access to the headquarters than anyone. He also lived in an apartment in the office building, so he was there all the time, even over the weekend when Owen’s desk had been broken into. I shook my head. No, there was no way Merlin could be in on this. Idris had little respect for him, and quite frankly, I doubted Idris was a good enough actor to fake that. If I couldn’t trust Merlin, I might as well quit my job and practice saying, “Do you want fries with that?”

  Merlin’s office door opened, and he and Rod emerged, Rod still carrying that stack of papers. “I’ll get these distributed immediately, sir,” Rod said.

  Merlin nodded, then blinked and looked at me. A light sparked in his eyes, then he turned to Rod and said, “I believe I’ll have Miss Chandler take care of the distribution. The message will have more authority coming directly from my office.”

  “Distribute what?” I asked.

  “It’s a document for the various department and division heads,” Rod explained, “outlining company policy on intellectual property and the like—so we can avoid future Idris-like incidents. We enchanted it so that signing it is binding, which means it has to be distributed in person.”

  Right away, I knew what Merlin was up to. He was giving me an excuse to snoop around the company. “I’d be glad to help,” I said, giving them both my perkiest smile. “Do I need to get someone to cover the desk here?”

  “I don’t anticipate your brief absence causing any problems,” Merlin said, looking satisfied with himself.

  Rod handed the stack of documents over to me and said, “Thanks for the help, Katie. I owe you one.” And I owed Merlin one for setting that up so neatly. Then again, I shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d apparently been quite good with the scheming back in his day.

  I hadn’t had to hand-deliver a memo since the dark days when I worked for Mimi, my evil boss at my old, nonmagical job. I hadn’t minded it much then, for it gave me a chance to escape from my desk for a while. This particular mission was something else entirely. I felt almost dirty and dishonest, going around the company under false pretenses with the intent of scoping everything out. I had to remind myself that catching the spy was important and that honest people had nothing to hide.

  I decided to start at the lowest level and work my way to the top. The design department was in the basement, but it was empty at the moment, not that I expected the company’s designer to leave his video games long enough to spy on anyone. On the ground level, I dropped the memo off in the security office to the side of the foyer. Sam was probably outside in his guard position, but I couldn’t make myself consider him a suspect. He was too busy moonlighting as a security guard at various churches around town to have time for corporate espionage. He was also intensely protective of the company. There would have to be a literal smoking gun to make me suspect him.

  Next, I headed up to my old department, Verification. Just approaching that doorway made my stomach knot up. I hadn’t been back since I’d been promoted to my current job, and I doubted anyone there would be happy to see me. I had good reason to look for suspects there, too, for a magical immune would be able to get past any wards. Gritting my teeth, I pushed the door open. “Gregor! I have a memo for you from the boss!” I said, heading straight for the department head’s desk.

  Even though he was in charge of the verification department, where most of the company’s immunes worked, Gregor was magical. He was definitely on my list of suspects because he had a known grudge against Owen. He used to have Owen’s job until an accident turned him into an ogre. He still tended to turn green and grow horns when his anger got out of control. That proved he had motive and a history of tinkering with questionable magic.

  He barely looked up as he took the memo from me. “Do you need a response right away?” he asked.

  “No, just sign it and return it when you get a chance. You will note that it is binding.”

  He groaned. “Of course it is.” He put the memo aside on his desk. “Is there anything else?”

  “No, not really. I was just wondering how things are going.”

  “Same as usual,” he grunted. There were fewer verifiers working in the department than there had been a couple of months ago. They’d been scattered throughout the company to better spot any magical irregularities. That also meant they weren’t too carefully supervised. Even so, I could probably eliminate most of them as suspects because spying was too much like real work for their tastes. They had a cushy gig and they knew it, so I doubted they’d do anything to upset that.

  There was only one verifier I was suspicious about, and fortunately, she wasn’t in the office. When I worked in Verification, Kim had been overly ambitious, taking far too many notes about what was going on in the company and showing far too much interest in company happenings. Her goal had been to get the job as Merlin’s assistant, and she’d never gotten over me being appointed to that post. I’d been dreading running into her ever since I got the job she’d been scheming for.

  As luck would have it, she came into the office just as I was leaving. “Kim!” I greeted her. If I acted friendly, maybe she wouldn’t claw my eyes out, I hoped.

  She gave me a look so frosty it made me wish I’d brought a coat on my errand. “What brings you back here?”

  I waved my stack of memos. “Just delivering memos for the boss. At least I didn’t have to type them this time.” I hoped making the job sound like menial secretarial work would leave her a little less bitter. Her eyes narrowed and I waited for her to say something cutting, but she just headed over to Gregor’s desk. Relieved, I left the office before she changed her mind and started a catfight.

  Next, I headed to R&D. If my steps were lighter and my spirits boosted, it had nothing at all to do with seeing Owen. He must have known I was coming, in that uncanny way he had, for the usually locked door opened easily for me. I didn’t know the head of the R&D department or even where his office was, but Owen was head of the theoretical magic section of R&D, so he was sure to be able to point me in the right direction.

  Both Owen and his assistant, Jake, were at work in the theoretical magic lab. They had a giant book open on the table and a much-erased series of words on a nearby whiteboard. Owen said a few words that sounded like nonsense to me, there was a tingle of power in the air, then Jake yelped and dropped his clipboard.

  Owen winced. “Sorry about that. And it looks like that one didn’t work.” He erased some of the words on the whiteboard, then bent over to look at the book again. “Hmm, maybe they spelled it wrong, and this is what they meant.” He wrote a different series of foreign words on the whiteboard while Jake, still shaking his right hand, bent to retrieve his clipboard.

  Jake was probably the one person other than Owen who stood a chance of getting into Owen’s office without looking suspicious. He’d struck me as fairly loyal to his boss, but that could have been an act. On the other hand, he’d been the one to find the first commercial spell Idris had produced and had
brought it to Owen for testing. Would he have helped like that if he’d been working for Idris? But that also meant he tended to frequent places where dark spells were sold. I left him in the “possible” column. His proximity to Owen made it too dangerous to write him off so soon.

  I cleared my throat. “Before you zap Jake again, I need your help with something.”

  “Of course. What is it?” Owen asked, re-capping his dry erase marker and looking over at me with a welcoming smile that made my knees feel a little watery.

  “Memo for the department head, from the boss. I don’t think I know where his office is.”

  “I’ll get it to him.”

  “It’s no problem. I can deliver it myself if I know where to go.”

  “Let me take a look at it.” His tone had gone from casual to the least bit commanding, so I handed over the memo. As he read it, I tried to contemplate the unthinkable. Owen had been the victim in this situation, and he was the one who’d reported the crime. That would generally leave him above suspicion. Then again, that sort of thing happened on TV all the time, where the killer was the one who “found” the body and reported the crime. Maybe he’d reported this so he could go on spying and we wouldn’t suspect him.

  I shook my head. It couldn’t be Owen, and not just because he was so incredibly cute. Idris really hated him, so even if Owen went crazy and decided to become a spy, Idris would probably laugh in his face. I’d seen how freaked out Owen got over the idea of dark magic. He wouldn’t go near the stuff, and that was what Idris was all about. For the time being, I put Owen in the “safe” column.

  He finished reading the memo and looked up at me. “It’s enchanted, isn’t it? A binding spell, it seems, jointly cast by Rod and Mr. Mervyn.”

  “Yeah. How’d you know?”

  He shrugged. “Magic has fingerprints. I’ll get this to the director.”

  “Thanks,” I said, wondering if I should be suspicious about his evasion.

  I must not have hid it well, for he grinned and said, “Don’t worry, there’s nothing sinister going on. Mr. Lansing tends to avoid people in general. Almost everything for him goes through me.”

  “Oh. Okay. Well, thanks again. I guess I’d better finish my rounds.”

  As I left, I heard another zap behind me, followed by another yelp from Jake. “I don’t think that’s it either, boss,” Jake whispered painfully.

  On my way out, I was surprised to find Sam entering the department. “What’s up, Sam?” I asked.

  “Hey, dollface, nothing much. Just doing a routine security sweep of the department.” He winked as he said the word “routine.”

  “Probably a good idea in these times. I left a memo for you in the security office.”

  “Thanks for the heads-up.”

  My final stop was the sales department. As far as I was concerned, the entire sales department was suspicious, but that probably had more to do with my personal experience with salespeople than with any actual evidence. Before I moved to New York, I ran the business end of my family’s farm and ranch supply store, and I’d dealt with more than my fair share of slick sales guys. The MSI sales force seemed like good people/elves/gnomes/whatever, but they came and went often and interacted with a variety of people outside the company. As long as they could get the information from inside MSI, they could sell it to almost anyone on the outside without looking the least bit suspicious.

  Most of the sales beings I knew were out of the office as I passed through the department. I went straight to the office of Mr. Hartwell, the director of sales, whom I was convinced was a giant Ken doll brought to life. He gave the memo a cursory glance, then put it aside as he said, “We need to have a meeting about marketing soon. It’s time to shake things up again.”

  “Of course. Let me know and I’ll put it on my calendar.” While I kept up a cheerful front, I groaned inwardly. Great, more to worry about. I had my usual job, and now this spying thing, and then I’d have to do more marketing. I was going to be busy. Then again, marketing would give me more excuses for investigating. But I could put him to work, too. “Did you get my e-mail about the winery?” I asked.

  “Yes, I did. We have them on record as a customer in the past, but they dropped off about a year ago. I’ll get Corporate Sales on it to see what happened. It sounds like they found another supplier.”

  I knew who that other supplier might be, and it wasn’t good. “Please let me know what you find out,” I said.

  I returned to Merlin’s office suite and found myself wondering about Trix as I looked at her desk. She had access to Merlin, which meant she had similar access to the rest of the company through her association with him. She was also out sick on the day Owen discovered the spying. I’d seen her Saturday, and she hadn’t looked particularly brokenhearted then, but she could have fought with Pippin on Saturday night or Sunday and still not felt well enough to be at work Monday. I left her in the “possible” column until I had actual evidence, but I reluctantly admitted that I needed to check out her story.

  Merlin’s office door swung open, and he and his latest victim emerged. The chairman of the magical committee for something-or-other didn’t look quite as shell-shocked as the Amalgamated Neuromancy guy had that morning, so he must have been cooperating. He and Merlin shook hands, then Merlin approached Trix’s desk once his visitor was gone.

  “How’s it going?” I asked him. “Are we getting allies?”

  He sighed. “They’re reluctant to accept change, to acknowledge that the cheese has moved.” Oh boy, he was now quoting from the business books. This was going to be fun. “I’m having difficulty persuading them of the threat inherent in one lone renegade. They seem to have forgotten the last few lone renegades who caused serious trouble in the magical community. They hide their heads in the sand until the danger is so dire they can no longer ignore it. Arthur was the same way about Guinevere and Lancelot and about Mordred.”

  It still blew my mind that he was talking about people I’d always considered fictional characters as people he knew and remembered. “Human beings haven’t changed all that much in the past thousand or so years,” I said.

  “And how is your investigation coming?”

  “It’s difficult,” I admitted reluctantly. “It’s all rumor and personal impression at this stage. But if you wanted the fact that we might have a spy to remain secret, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. It seems like the whole company knows, or will know before long.”

  He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “Now, that I find interesting. You, Mr. Palmer, and I are the only ones who know the full details—and the spy, of course. I haven’t told anyone, I can assume you haven’t told anyone, and I suspect Mr. Palmer has remained as guarded as ever.”

  “I think most of it is guesswork. Someone saw Owen tear out of R and D, and there’s already some worry that we could have intruders or spies. Next thing you know, word has spread around the company that someone’s spying, and they broke into Owen’s office. Finding a real spy when everyone else is already doing their own spying is going to be nearly impossible.”

  “This is only the first day of your investigation,” he said kindly.

  The intercom squawked just then. “Katie-Bug, you there?” said Sam’s voice.

  “Yeah, I’m here. What is it, Sam?”

  “I’m at R and D. You’d better get the boss down here, pronto.”

  Merlin and I looked at each other, then he headed toward the escalator. Without waiting for an invitation, I got up and followed him. I’d been there no more than fifteen minutes earlier. What could have happened?

  Normally, the door into the research and development department was secured, with a hand ID and magic spell required for access. Even I couldn’t get into that department unless I was accompanied by an employee or Owen was expecting me. But now the door was wide open. Sam and a white-faced Owen stood in front of the door. “What is it, Sam?” Merlin asked.

  “The security to this department ha
s been totally short-circuited. Kaput. It looks like it works the same way as always, but anyone could have walked in at any time.”

  “How long has it been like this?”

  Sam shrugged as expressively as a stone creature could. “No telling. I wouldn’t have even discovered it today if the kid here hadn’t asked me to do a security sweep of the department.” He indicated Owen with one wing.

  “I thought it was a reasonable precaution,” Owen said softly.

  “And it’s good that you took that precaution,” Merlin said. “Can you fix it, Sam?”

  “Sure. No problem. But first, we ought to run a similar sweep on the rest of the building.”

  Merlin nodded. “Do it.”

  “That would explain how the spy got in, huh, boss?” Sam said as he went back to fiddling with wires.

  “It also means we can’t narrow the suspects down to only people who have access to R and D,” I remarked. Great, my job had just become even more difficult.

  “Was this done magically or mechanically?” Merlin asked Sam.

  “Maybe a little of both,” the gargoyle replied. “I’ll get someone down here to check people one by one as they enter. Then you’d better seal off the department for the night.”

  “I’ll make sure everyone gets out on time tonight, then we’ll shut down,” Owen said.

  While they were talking, I glanced over my shoulder at the corridor, then did a double take. I touched Merlin’s elbow and said softly, “Somehow, I don’t think our spy is a secret anymore.”

  A crowd had gathered, both in the outside hallway and in the R&D corridor. I noticed Jake peering wide-eyed over Owen’s shoulder. Ari hovered over the group clustered in the R&D corridor, looking like someone who had slowed down to ogle the five-car pileup on the freeway.

  In the outside hallway, there was an even larger crowd. It was as if someone had gotten on the company intercom and announced that there was free food outside R&D. Gregor and Kim were there from Verification. Minerva Phelps of Prophets and Lost stood in front of the group, like she’d been the first arrival. Dortmund, the accounting gnome, was elbowing people in the knees as he worked his way to the front.