Hiding in Plain Sight

by Valerie Sherrard

  The Yaegers said they’d been at home all night and had turned in early after watching their favourite movie — a copy of Dead Poets Society, which they owned. Hard to prove or disprove, I thought, unless they’d left the house and someone had seen them. Neither claimed to know anything about the theft and both agreed that there was no one they would suspect among the staff at NUTEC.

  Angi’s statement seemed to border on insolence in places. She denied any involvement and said she’d been with “a friend” at the time the crime was taking place but refused to give a name. She also went on record that none of her co-workers were brave enough to commit a crime, which I thought was a strange way of saying she didn’t think anyone at work had done it.

  Darla, James, and Janine had been quite formal with their answers, responding briefly to each question in a simple, straightforward manner. All three claimed they’d been with family members, Darla and James with their spouses, and Janine with her sister, whom she went out of her way to describe as a highly trustworthy person. I smiled at that, since I’d previously heard Janine call her sister a backstabbing lowlife. I don’t suppose that’s something you’d want to say to the police about the person who was your alibi, though.

  The last statement I looked at was Carol’s, and it was a bit different from the others. The main thing that stood out was how she answered the questions. Although she didn’t actually claim to know anything, her answers were vague and worded in a way that made it look like she was hiding something. It seemed pretty deliberate, and I figured she was using the robbery to get attention for herself in any way she could. As for an alibi, she said she’d been taking care of a neighbour. Apparently, she has a second job two nights a week, staying with an elderly woman. It looked like a solid alibi on the surface, but she’d admitted that the old woman had been in bed asleep from nine-thirty on, which meant she could have left and returned without anyone knowing. Bleary-eyed, I put everything back into the file, then showered, brushed my teeth, and got ready for bed. It was barely ten o’clock by then, but I was bushed.

  I crawled in, turned my lamp on, and picked up Nobody’s Child by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, the awe-some novel I’d started recently. Before long I realized I was reading the same paragraph over and over without taking anything in, so I gave up and switched off the light. Just as I was falling asleep, I felt a thud as Ernie landed on the bed beside me.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “That woman is going to drive me crazy,” Janine hissed at me the next morning, when Carol once again arrived late and managed to turn her tardiness into a reason to give Janine a hard time. “Thank goodness she doesn’t spend much time out here.”

  I was about to say something consoling when Debbie spoke from the doorway of the office she shared with Stuart.

  “Janine, could you take down a letter for me?”

  “Sure, Deb. Shelby, would you get the phone if it rings while I’m not at my desk? Just do like I showed you if you need to send a call through to anyone’s office. Otherwise, take down messages and I’ll get to them when I’m done.”

  I nodded and slid into her seat, feeling kind of important in the real receptionist’s chair. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head and then examined my nails. I’m afraid they needed a lot more work than Janine’s.

  Just then, the phone rang, nearly making me jump off my chair. I picked it up and said, “Good morning, NUTEC, may I help you?” as I’d heard Janine do.

  “Stuart Yaeger, please.”

  “Certainly, sir. May I tell him who’s calling?”

  “Bryan Balanski from Dymelle Enterprises.”

  I pushed the button on the phone that would put the caller on hold while I rang Stuart’s desk.

  “Yes, Mr. Yaeger?” I said, trying to sound professional. “A Mr. Balanski is calling for you from Dymelle Enterprises.”

  “Who? Oh, yeah. Uh, okay, put him through.”

  I transferred the call, wishing I had some way of listening in on the conversation. I found myself staring at the light on the phone, as if knowing how long they spoke would tell me anything.

  “Lost in thought?”

  Startled for the second time, I found myself guiltily facing James, while warmth spread up my neck and across my cheeks.

  “Nickel for your thoughts,” he said, smiling.

  “I thought it was a penny,” I said. I wondered how flustered and red-faced I looked.

  “Inflation. Anyway, where’s Janine?”

  “Taking dictation from Mrs. Yaeger.”

  “Ah, well, when she gets back, tell her I’d like a few moments of her time.”

  “Is there anything I could help you with?”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think so. You could tell her, though, that I’d like a printout of the activities of these accounts for the past six months.” He handed me a slip of paper with a list of names written on it.

  “I’ll let her know as soon as she gets back,” I said, hoping I sounded efficient.

  “Great then.” He turned and walked back to his office, passing Carol in the hallway as he went.

  “Where’s Janine?” she asked, lumbering up to the desk.

  “Taking dictation.”

  “Well, I need her for a minute.” She looked at me angrily, as though I’d deliberately sent Janine off in order to inconvenience her.

  “I’m sure she won’t be much longer,” I said.

  “The copier needs toner.” Her tone implied that once I understood the importance of her request, I’d hurry up and do something about it.

  “She should be back any moment.”

  “I can’t make copies without toner!” Carol said, her voice rising. “I have to get my work done, you know.”

  “Maybe I can help.” I stood, intending to go with her to the copy room, but she became visibly upset by the suggestion.

  “No, you can’t! Only Janine is trained for that.”

  “Okay, well…” My words trailed off in relief as I saw Janine coming back down the hall.

  “Janine, the toner is empty and this girl here wanted to put more in but I wouldn’t let her.” Carol’s voice was so different than it had been the few times I’d heard her speak before that I could scarcely believe it was the same person. All traces of her usual blustery aggression were gone, replaced with a whining, pleading sound.

  “I’ll get it, just relax,” Janine said. She disappeared back down the hall with Carol on her heels and came back alone a couple of minutes later.

  “She dumped the toner powder in the wrong place once, and we had to service the machine, so now I always do it,” she explained to me as she slid into the chair I’d vacated for her. “She gets pretty freaked out if she can’t get her copying done, though she’s slower’n a snail at it anyway.”

  “She acts really different when she needs help,” I observed.

  “Yeah. I think it panics her when she can’t do her work, because she hasn’t been able to hold on to jobs in the past. Marion insisted when she came that we were going to give her an honest chance, since she’s not very employable. I’d say we’ve done that all right. And it’s not really all that bad since she mostly keeps to herself and does her copying and shredding and stuff.”

  “Does she shred things that are related to new programs being developed?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I guess. Whatever they’ve printed out that they no longer want, and anything that’s confidential — like stuff they might print for presentations. After their meetings they collect up all the copies and send them for shredding right away.”

  “But the details, the actual codes wouldn’t be on anything they’d show at a meeting,” I said, thinking out loud. “They’d only present information on what a program did.”

  “Whatever.” Janine gave me a strange look. “You sure ask about weird things. Who cares what Carol’s in there shredding, as long as she’s not out here bothering us.”

  “You’re right,” I said quickly. It was clearly time to change the subject. “S
o, are you taking any holidays this summer?”

  “I already took my vacation the end of June,” she sighed. “I won’t have any more time off until Christmas, though at least there are a few long weekends between now and then.”

  “Oh!” I jumped up suddenly, which made her start in her seat. “I almost forgot. James, uh, Mr. Rankin wants you to take him the records of these accounts, going back for six months.” I passed her the paper he’d handed me.

  “Okay.” She took the slip and glanced at it, then started typing to bring up the files. However disorganized she seemed, I had to admit she was fast on the computer. In just a few moments she’d sent all the records he’d asked for to the printer and it was zipping and whirring as it spewed out pages. She had me take them to his office when they were ready.

  “Well, thanks, but I really need to see Janine for a minute,” he said, taking them from me. “Tell her I have questions I need answers to on a few of the billing codes so that I can set these up properly in the tax accounts.”

  I gave her the message and took over the phone once again while she went off to give him the information he needed.

  I was turning the Rolodex on the desk, reading through the names without any real idea of what I expected to find there, when the main door opened and a policeman stepped into the reception area.

  “Officer Doucet!” I’d recently had some dealings with him when a friend disappeared. He’d been pretty decent to me — took me seriously and even came by to congratulate me when I’d figured out what was going on. Most importantly, he hadn’t treated me like a kid.

  “Miss Bel … uh … I want to say Bellflower but that’s not right, is it?”

  “Belgarden. Shelby Belgarden.”

  “Yes, that’s it — Belgarden.” He laughed a little at that, probably realizing it sounded silly for him to be confirming my own name for me. “Are you working here?”

  “Uh-huh, I just started this week.”

  “Then you weren’t working here with the robbery took place. Or, maybe you haven’t heard anything about it.”

  “I’ve heard about it,” I said simply. No need to tell him I was supposed to be clearing the person they’d just arrested.

  “Well, this is one we won’t need any help solving,” he said, smiling. “We laid charges yesterday. Pretty open-and-shut case, really.”

  “As much as purely circumstantial evidence can be,” I said. Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth closed?

  “Sounds like you’ve heard all about it,” he said. “And that maybe you don’t agree with our conclusions.”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “It looks bad for her, I guess.”

  “Ironclad,” he said grimly. “It’s a shame to see a respected citizen involved in something like this, but the evidence is pretty convincing.”

  “Have you considered other possibilities?” I asked.

  “Sure, we look at everything in an investigation. But the bottom line is usually this: If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck and walks like a duck, chances are pretty good that it’s a duck. No need to create a mystery where there is none.”

  “What if there was something you’d overlooked because it seemed so cut and dried? What if you’re sending an innocent woman to prison?”

  “Well, you know, Shelby, we try to avoid locking up innocent folk. That’s why we investigate carefully and look at every possible angle.”

  “So, if someone brought something different to your attention — even if it went against your own conclusions, you’d look into it?”

  “Of course.” He smiled widely and passed me his card. “In fact, to prove it, here’s my card. You come up with something new, you call me. I’ll listen.”

  I tucked the card into my wallet, hoping I’d need it.

  CHAPTER FITEEN

  Officer Doucet had spoken to only two people — Darla Rhule and Angi Alexander — while he was at NUTEC. Naturally, this made me very curious, but there was no way I could find out what he’d wanted with them.

  I spent a few minutes fantasizing about having fancy equipment like they have in movies. Hidden micro-phones or surveillance cameras would sure come in handy. I could picture myself playing back a tape and hearing the right bit of information. Nothing obvious, though. You know — the phrase that seems innocent and doesn’t mean a thing to anyone else but that the really sharp detective catches and explains the significance of to everyone else as he solves the crime.

  I think I might have been getting a bit carried away with myself. Fortunately, the fact that I truly hadn’t a clue helped put me back in a more humble frame of mind.

  At least there was one good thing that came of Officer Doucet’s visit. Before that, I’d been feeling pretty down and hopeless. Nothing was falling into place in my head, and the chance that I’d suddenly stumble onto an answer seemed bleak.

  Seeing Officer Doucet again reminded me of how I’d felt exactly the same way in the past, and more than once, too. In spite of that, clues would start to make sense and everything would fall together like a big jig-saw puzzle. That helped me a lot because I got a bit of confidence back. All I needed was to actually have the solution come to me.

  Angi came out of her office not long after Officer Doucet left. She came over to the reception desk, leaned down, put a finger over her lips for a few seconds, and then whispered, “Is the copper gone?”

  “Yeah, the coast is clear,” I whispered back.

  “I thought they had me this time for sure,” she said, expelling her breath in a way that made her cheeks puff out. “I guess I’m just too smart for them after all.”

  “So, you admit your guilt,” I said. “How do you know I won’t turn you in?”

  “I’ll deny it,” she said with a wink. “You got nothin’ on me.”

  I laughed.

  “Anyway, now that I’ve given them the slip, there’s something else I need.”

  I waited while she made a show of looking around, like someone might be hidden in the corner listening. “Magenta,” she hissed at last.

  “Magenta?”

  “Ink. For my printer. I’m out and I happen to know that Janine keeps an extra one in her bottom desk drawer. You get it for me, I’ll slip you a mint, and it will be our little secret. You can be bought for a mint, can’t you?”

  “Is it chocolate-coated?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Then we have a deal.” I opened the drawer and found the right colour among a bunch of ink cartridges. She took it, looked it over, winked again, and reached into her pocket. She produced a small brown paper bag, like a miniature lunch sack.

  “Here you go,” she said, passing me a plain white Scotch mint.

  “Hey! This isn’t chocolate-coated,” I protested.

  “You just want to be thankful it’s not covered in lint,” she laughed. Then she was gone back to her office.

  I popped the mint into my mouth just in time for the phone to ring. Even though I pushed it into one cheek with my tongue before answering, my words weren’t quite clear.

  “I can’t hear what you’re saying. Is this NUTEC?” a woman’s voice asked. She sounded annoyed.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said, letting the mint drop with a sticky plop into the palm of my hand.

  “I need to speak to Marion Thompson,” she said.

  “Uh, Mrs. Thompson is on holidays,” I said. “Would you like to speak to the person who’s filling in for her?”

  “No,” she said without hesitation. “When will Mrs. Thompson be back from holidays?”

  “I’m not exactly sure.”

  “Well, approximately.” She sounded pretty exasperated.

  “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know, ma’am.” I was about to ask if there was a message I could pass on but before I could say anything further there was a click and the dial tone began to hum in my ear. I sat the phone back in the cradle.

  “How do you stand impatient or unreasonable people?” I asked Janine, who arrived back fro
m James’s office just then.

  She shrugged. “Doesn’t usually bother me, though once in a while I’d like to give someone a piece of my mind. Mostly, I just … hey, what’s that in your hand?”

  “Oh, a mint.” I stuck it back in my mouth and looked for a tissue to wipe my hand.

  “Looks like one of Angi’s mints,” she said, eyes narrowing. “Okay, what did you give her?”

  “Ink,” I admitted, feeling like a kid confessing to cookie theft.

  “Well, go wash your hands, for goodness’ sake. And try not to be bribed so easily the next time. I always get a mint and something else, like this.” She pulled open a desk drawer and pulled out a cute little caricature sketch of herself painting her nails.

  “There was supposed to be chocolate,” I said lamely.

  “Second lesson.” Janine shook her head sadly, as though there was little hope for me. “Never give up the merchandise until after you get your payoff. That Angi can’t be trusted. She’ll promise you Belgian truffles and end up giving you Hershey’s kisses.”

  “So I found out.” I went to wash up, all the while thinking of how much Greg would like to have a caricature of me. I wondered if another opportunity would present itself, or if I could just ask her to do one for me. Since she’d fibbed about the chocolate, I figured she kind of owed me.

  As I was leaving the washroom, I noticed a small plastic watering can on the floor near the sink. I filled it with water and took it with me.

  When I got back to the reception area Janine was on the computer playing spider solitaire. I went over and watered the poor, neglected spider plant hanging in the corner. I was picking off some dead leaves when Janine spoke.

  “I wish Debbie would take her stupid plant home. She never takes care of it.”

  “It used to be in the conference room, didn’t it?” I asked, thinking of the pictures of the crime scene.

  “Mmhmm. Caused a problem, though, because Darla had put a fern in there first. Later on, Debbie brought this one, put it where Darla’s plant had been, and moved the fern to another spot. There was an argument over it, and Darla was pretty mad that Debbie had moved her plant. I guess they both wanted the best light for their own plants or something. To tell the truth, I didn’t pay much attention. I thought it was a pretty dumb thing to fight about. In the end, they both took them out of there and this is where the spider plant ended up.”