“I did find out one thing,” Phoebe said as they crossed the street and headed toward the inn’s entrance.
“What’s that?”
“Well . . .” Phoebe paused until they cleared the crosswalk. “Bernard, the guy that answered the phone, said Gracie used to work in the marketing department.”
“Interesting.”
Phoebe sensed, from Jenna’s tone, that she was already concocting a plan.
“By the way, how was the date with Dave?”
“We went to the Silver Springs Restaurant—it was amazing. And Dave is so nice. He opened the door and helped me out of the car. He pulled out my chair in the restaurant. And, he has the most amazing green eyes. I could just stare into them for hours.”
“You’re in love!” Phoebe said once Jenna stopped to take a breath.
“You’re right! I am!” Jenna exclaimed. “He brought me roses, Phoebe! On our first date—a dozen long stemmed roses.”
Phoebe chuckled. “He sounds nice.”
“He is! And I think he really likes me. He’s called me three times since our date.”
“And . . .”
“And what?” Jenna glanced at Phoebe with raised eyebrows.
“Come on Jenna, don’t hold out on me.”
“Whatever are you talking about?” Jenna’s placed a hand on her heart and feigned ignorance.
“I’m talking about Dave, and the date and specifically the end of the date. Did you two . . .”
Jenna smiled shyly. “No, but I could tell he wanted to. He walked me to the porch and gave me a hug. It was soooo romantic.”
Once the girls were in the large foyer of the Inn, they made their way to the elevators. Phoebe followed Jenna’s lead since she was likely to know her way around—at least that’s what Phoebe told herself. They were about to step on the elevator when Jenna took Phoebe’s arm.
“Wait.” Jenna pointed to the stairs. “Over there.”
When they got to the door that led to the stairwell, Phoebe opened the door, and she and Jenna stepped inside. Neither spoke until they heard the door click shut. Phoebe moved close to Jenna and spoke softly, “Where should we go now?” Even though she was whispering, her words echoed off the cement walls.
Jenna pointed toward the basement and started descending the stairs. Phoebe tip toed behind her down the stairs—one flight, two flights, three flights, Phoebe held her breath. Jenna stopped on the landing and Phoebe stopped right behind her. Jenna looked over her shoulder and mouthed the word basement as she pointed to the door before them. The two girls stood listening. Nothing. Phoebe let out a breath before they entered the door that led to the basement. Jenna motioned for them to head down the hall. Phoebe’s pulse quickened when they began edging along the walls until they arrived at a door with an Employees Only sign. Jenna reached for the door handle, but Phoebe stopped her.
“Wait, Jenna.” Phoebe took hold of her arm. “We can’t go in there.”
Jenna smiled slyly. “Sure we can. Just try and act natural—like we belong here.”
Phoebe nodded. That might work if I had any idea what a person who belonged here might act like, she thought as she followed Jenna through the door.
They passed several offices, all of which were labeled with signs that indicated which department was housed there. There was a large housekeeping area and an office that belonged to the maintenance manager but no sign of a marketing office.
“Can I help you girls with something?”
The girls spun around to see a tall man wearing a grey shirt and matching pants marching toward them. Phoebe held her breath as the man neared them. The nametag sewn into his shirt told them his name was Brian and that he was the maintenance manager.
“Oh, are we glad to see you!” Jenna announced loudly. “We’ve been all over this place trying to find human resources.” She glanced at her watch. “We’re late for an interview and I swear this is where she said we were supposed to come.”
The man’s face softened as his stern expression transformed into a kind smile. “Well, you’re definitely lost, dear.” The smile on his face told Phoebe that it was okay to start breathing again. “Human resources is on the twenty eighth floor. Follow me.” He hurried toward the far end of the hallway and stopped when he came to an elevator. “This is the only elevator that will get you there from this level.” Brian turned a small key and then pressed a button triggering the door to open. “I’ll have to escort you up there. You’re not allowed to ride in here alone.”
Phoebe shot Jenna a nervous glance to which Jenna responded with a confident nod. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Phoebe put a hand over her stomach. What’s he going to do when he finds out we don’t actually have an interview? The image of Brian escorting the two of them out of the inn by the back of their pants flashed through her mind. The elevator stopped and the girls followed Brian through the doors.
“Right this way, girls.” Brian pointed to a door directly across the hall. “There’s Human Resources.”
Phoebe racked her brain for an idea, but she was at a loss. She had all but decided to fess up and tell Brian the truth when Jenna spoke up.
“Ummm. . . Brian?” Jenna’s voice was suddenly very high-pitched. “Would you mind not walking us in? I mean, it’s bad enough we’re late without them knowing we got hopelessly lost.” Jenna batted her eyelashes in Brian’s direction. The man smiled, held a finger up to his mouth to indicate that her secret was safe with him. He got back on the elevator and was gone.
“Wow! You are good!”
“Well, I have done some acting in my life, you know.” Jenna pretended to take a bow before motioning for Phoebe to follow her. “Come on.” The two girls made their way down the hallway until they arrived at the marketing office.
“How did you know that the Marketing Department would be on the same floor as Human Resources?”
“I didn’t.” Jenna looked at Phoebe and smiled. “I took a chance.”
“You really are good!”
Jenna reminded Phoebe of the plan. “We are students writing a paper about the effects of the down economy on tourism in Iron Springs . . . we’ve been talking to Gracie up to this point.”
“Got it.” Phoebe said, following Jenna through the door to the office where a young, twenty-something, lady was seated at a desk. She was attractive with long, thick blonde hair that flowed down her back and friendly light blue eyes.
“How can I help you?” the lady asked warmly. Phoebe relaxed a little. She took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking.
“We’re here for a meeting with the Marketing Manager.” Phoebe scanned the room as if in search of Gracie. “Is Ms. Brunson in?”
“Oh, Gracie, no, she’s…”
A man jumped up from his desk in an adjoining office and hurried to the outer office where he shot the receptionist a stern look. The woman’s mouth clamped shut, and her face tightened.
“Whatever business you have with Ms. Brunson can be handled by Ms. Hardy.” The man said, his eyes fixed upon Phoebe’s with a searching gaze. He spoke in a friendly tone, but there was no friendliness in his eyes.
Phoebe hesitated as she tried to squelch the feeling of intimidation that had crushed her confidence. The man stood, with a crinkled brow, glaring at her impatiently.
“Well . . . um, actually, we’re . . .” She glanced at Jenna.
“We’re doing a story on the effects of the down economy on tourism.” Jenna picked up the story. “We’ve been talking with Gracie, and we just had a few more questions to ask before we finish the story.” Jenna squared her shoulders and faced the man assertively. “So, if we could just speak with Gracie for a moment, we’ll be on our way.”
The man gave the girls a look of contempt and offered the same to the receptionist.
“Ms. Brunson is no longer employed here, so I’m afraid we can’t be of much assistance.” His tone was full of suspicion and annoyance. He raised an arm toward the door. “Have a good day, girls.�
�
Before exiting the office, Phoebe turned at looked the man in the eyes. She was sure she saw something evil lurking there and almost didn’t speak but, forcing herself to swallow her fear, she asked, “Would it be possible for you to put us in touch with her? The only number I have for her is the one here at the inn.”
“I’m afraid that’s against our policy. Good day.” The man turned and walked back into his office.
Phoebe glanced at Courtney hoping she would offer to help, but she had her eyes fixed on the computer screen in what was clearly a fake attempt to appear busy.
“What now?” Phoebe said once she and Jenna returned to the inn’s lobby.
“Come here.” Jenna motioned Phoebe toward a seating area.
The two girls took a seat on a large sofa that faced an empty fireplace.
“We just need to come up with a different plan.” Jenna thought for a moment. “We need to talk to that receptionist”
“You’re right.” Phoebe nodded. “She would have talked to us if that man hadn’t been there. I’m sure of it—and it seemed like she actually wanted to help us.”
“We just have to wait here until she leaves.” Jenna checked the time on her phone. “It’s almost four now. I wonder what time she gets off.”
“I doubt the marketing department stays open late. I’m kind of surprised they’re even open on a Saturday. I bet she gets off around five.”
Jenna nodded her head. “Well, as long as she leaves through this exit, we should spot her going out.” She thought for a moment before going on. “But if she doesn’t—” She hesitated as she allowed the idea to take shape. “Don’t places like this usually have a specific parking area for employees?”
“Good thinking. Let’s see if we can find out where it is.” The girls approached the reservation desk and got in line. As they waited, they discussed several explanations they could give to support their need to know where the employees parked.
“How may I help you today?” An older lady with a kind face spoke from behind the counter.
As they’d agreed, Jenna did the talking. “Well, you are going to think this is just so darn silly.” Jenna chuckled in an overly melodramatic fashion. “Gladys?” Jenna said after glancing at the woman’s name tag. “Did I say that right? Gladys? That’s such a beautiful name.”
“Yes you did, dear. You said it perfectly.” Gladys smiled; obviously taken by Jenna’s charm.
“Well, Gladys, you are not going to believe this but, I have searched and searched and I simply cannot remember where I parked my car.”
Gladys gave the girls a kind smile as she placed a map on the counter before her. “Oh, it happens all the time dear. Perhaps if you look at this map it might help. Can you remember what floor you were on or which elevator you exited from?”
Jenna scanned the map for several seconds until she spotted exactly what she needed. A small lot in the very back of the inn was labeled “Employee Parking Only”. “Ummm . . . well. . .” She glanced around the lobby as if in search of an answer. “We got off that elevator; didn’t we?” She directed her question at Phoebe.
“Uh, yeah, we did.” Phoebe’s scanned the lobby and focused on the elevator. “Because I remember seeing that bouquet of flowers and thinking how pretty they were.” She pointed to a small table that was situated to the right of the elevator.
“Okay, well then you probably parked somewhere in this area.” Gladys pointed to the map and indicated the underground parking area. “Now you just need to determine which of the six levels you parked on.”
Jenna glanced at Phoebe and the two girls pretended to be deep in thought as they searched their memory for the answer to which floor they had parked on. “Oh, I remember now!” Jenna eventually exclaimed. “Silly me! It was level five. Remember Phoebe? “Remember I said five was my lucky number?”
“Oh, yeah.” Phoebe chuckled as she did her best to act like the ditzy friend she was apparently supposed to be.
“Thank you so much for your help.” Jenna smiled at the lady. “You really saved us.”
“You’re very welcome dear. You ladies have a wonderful day.”
“We will. You too. And, Gladys?”
“Yes dear?”
“Would it be alright for me to keep this map?”
“Of course dear.” Gladys said as she handed the map to Jenna.
“Man! You are good!” Phoebe said again as the two girls headed out the front doors to the parking lot.
A few minutes later they arrived at the employee parking lot. Jenna pulled her cell phone from her pocket and glanced at the time. “If she works until five, she should be coming out any time.”
Within minutes, people were filing out the back doors of the Inn. Jenna and Phoebe tried to appear inconspicuous as they looked at each face to see if it matched the one they’d seen earlier.
“There she is!” Phoebe exclaimed in a loud whisper once the group of employees began to thin out. “She’s heading that way.”
The girls hurried to catch up with the lady and followed close behind her for a minute. They didn’t want to startle her but they couldn’t afford to let her get away either. “Excuse me.” Jenna said. She hurried to get in step with the lady who seemed to be in a big hurry. “Remember us?” she said once she had gotten the lady’s attention. “I’m Jenna, and this is Phoebe.” Jenna extended her hand and the lady accepted it in her own.
“I’m Courtney.” The woman’s expression revealed a mix of concern and curiosity. “Are you following me? Have you been here all this time?”
“To be honest; yes.” Jenna said. “We waited here because we really need to talk to you.”
“You do?” Courtney adjusted her purse strap and glanced nervously around the crowded parking lot. “What about?”
“Well, like we said earlier, we’re doing this story, and we really need to finish it. We’ve done so much work on it already and without Gracie’s input, we may as well start over.”
“I’m not sure what this has to do with me.” Courtney said.
“Well, we were hoping you could tell us how we can get a hold of Gracie.” Phoebe said. “It’s really important.”
Courtney was silent for a moment. She glanced around once more before motioning Jenna and Phoebe to follow her. She led them to a secluded spot on the far side of the parking structure. “Gracie and I worked together, and I know she wasn’t doing a story with you.” The woman glanced at each of the girls for a long moment before going on. “I was aware of her schedule and her appointments. If you had been meeting with her, I would know it. How about you tell me what you’re really doing here, and then I’ll decide if I should put you in touch with Gracie.”
Phoebe sighed. She couldn’t keep up the lie any longer. “Courtney, we’re not reporters. But we really need to talk to Gracie. It’s very important. If you could just tell us how to get a hold of her, it would really help.”
“Look . . .” Courtney shook her head as though she was trying to decide whether or not to trust them. “Gracie’s my friend, and she doesn’t deserve what happened to her.”
Jenna moved a little closer to Courtney. “What happened to Gracie?”
“She got fired for no reason. Does this have something to do with her getting fired?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Jenna said, shaking her head. “But, that’s just terrible . . . really terrible!”
“I know it is. That man—the one you met upstairs—Mr. Anderson, he fired her because she refused his advances.”
“Advances? Sexual Advances?” Phoebe asked.
Courtney nodded. “I’ve been so worried about her.”
There was a long moment of silence before Courtney spoke again. “Look, I’m in a hurry. I really need to get somewhere. And, I can’t just give you Gracie’s number. She’s my friend, and I don’t know you. But you seem nice enough.” She reached in her purse and pulled out a pen and a small pad of paper. “How about you give me your number, and I’ll see that Gracie get
s it.”
Phoebe let out a crushed sigh. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for, but Phoebe knew it was the best they were going to get.
Jenna wrote down her cell phone number and handed the notebook back to Courtney.
“Courtney?” Phoebe said as the woman started walking away.
“Yes?”
“Will you please stress that this is very important?”
“Yes. I will. I promise.”
Sixteen
After a short wait on the front porch of Gracie’s home, the door opened. A petite, dark-haired lady stood before them. The first thing Phoebe noticed was how pretty Gracie was. Phoebe looked into the woman’s light blue eyes before glancing at Jenna with raised eyebrows. Jenna’s expression told Phoebe that she was thinking the same thing.
“Gracie?” Phoebe said, even though she was certain the woman standing before her was Gracie. She’d called Jenna only a few hours after Courtney took her number and willingly agreed to meet with them.
Gracie nodded as her eyes moved from Jenna to Phoebe. “I’m Phoebe, and this is Jenna. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us.” Phoebe extended her hand and Gracie accepted it in her own.
Phoebe looked over her shoulder at Billy who had reluctantly agreed to wait in the truck. It was only after doing an online search and finding out the Gracie was only twenty one years old that he’d agreed to let them talk to her without him present. Gracie would have been eight the year Bessie died and that meant she couldn’t possibly be the person responsible for her death.
“You said you needed to ask me some questions.” Gracie stepped onto the porch and allowed the screen door to close behind her.
Okay—I guess we’re going to talk on the porch. In rehearsing this moment, Phoebe had imagined they would sit and exchange small talk for a minute or two. But Gracie—while nice enough —was also very guarded and didn’t seem interested in small talk.
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