“My God,” Eric said, seeming to mean the words as the prayer they were. “What was that?”
They were in his office, where he had pulled her after their exit from his father’s presence. He’d shoved her onto a small couch, where she now sat shaking, her hands clutched together in her lap.
“I’m not sure. But aaah…” She shook her head once, hard. “He was so…so…”
“Infuriating? Pompous? Disgusting?”
Casey let out a short laugh, and Eric relaxed, sitting beside her and running a hand through his hair. “Wow, were you scary. It was like you were somewhere else for a minute. Or you’d been possessed by something. Shakespeare, maybe.” He smiled stiffly.
Casey couldn’t smile back, remembering the image of Death standing over Eric’s father, waiting for Casey to lose control… She had a hard time looking at Eric, his eyes concerned and full of trust. “I sort of was. But I’m back now.” She stood up and walked to the window, looking out. “There’s something.”
Eric came to stand beside her, joining her at the window. “What?”
“No, not out there. In here.” She turned, indicating the room, the building. “He’s hiding something.”
Eric snorted. “He’s always hiding something.”
“Something about what Ellen said. I think she was telling you the truth.”
“Of course she—”
“I don’t mean she wasn’t lying. I never thought that. I mean she was right. There was something that could’ve gotten these people their jobs back.”
Eric tensed. “You really think so?”
Casey remembered that flicker in Willems’ eyes, that split-second sign that there was a secret. “Yes.”
Eric’s face hardened. “Then we have to find out what it is. And we have to find out before…”
“Before it’s too late and this place is closed down for good.”
He nodded.
Casey looked at his desk. “What’s on your computer?”
“The usual. Production details. Payroll. Employee records.”
“Do you have access to everything?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Find out.”
He seated himself at his desk and turned on the computer. “I haven’t used this in weeks.”
Casey paced the office. “Ellen’s desk.”
He glanced up, his computer making the beeping and humming noises of booting up. “What about it?”
“Has it been cleaned out?”
“I’m sure it has. She left here months ago.” He looked toward the door. “But we can check.”
“I wouldn’t know what to look for on there,” Casey said, indicating Eric’s monitor. “I’ll go through Ellen’s desk. If that’s okay.”
Eric’s face had gone a bit gray with the past hour’s events, but he stood and went to the door. “I’ll need to tell Yvonne and Kathy. They won’t like it, probably, but if I ask they won’t make a fuss.”
Casey followed him out to the office, where he explained to the two women that Casey would be searching Ellen’s desk. He glanced nervously toward his father’s door. “What are his plans the rest of the day?”
Yvonne didn’t even have to look. “Nothing. I mean, he has no appointments. He could leave any time. If he sees…” The worry was easy to read on her face. She wanted to keep this job. Even if it was only for three more months.
Eric turned to Casey. “Maybe we’d better wait. Come back later.”
She considered it. “But if there’s anything there…”
“He’s not going to do anything with Yvonne and Kathy sitting out here.”
“And if he waits until they leave?”
Eric exhaled loudly, running a hand over his face. “If he comes out here he’s going to be angry.”
“He’s already angry.”
The two women were looking at them, fear apparent on their faces. Eric spoke to them gently. “She needs to look. It won’t take long.”
Yvonne grabbed a stack of papers. “I have things for him to go over and sign. I can keep him busy for about five minutes. Six or seven, maybe, at the most.”
That would have to be enough.
Casey motioned Eric back to his office and stayed out of Willems’ sightline as Yvonne knocked, opened the door, and entered, closing the door with a soft click. Kathy pointed out Ellen’s desk and Casey raced to it, immediately turning on the computer. While it booted up she opened the drawers, beginning with the top middle and moving methodically down each side.
There was nothing there. No folders, no memos, not even a stray Post-It note. Quietly she slid each drawer out of its slot, looking under and over it, feeling into the space. Nothing.
She turned to the computer, searching for anything remotely personal. Again, nothing. The hard drive had been wiped clean of everything but boilerplate forms, the word processor, and the company logo. She glanced at the clock. Five minutes had already elapsed. The doorknob to Willems’ office turned, and she ducked behind the desk.
“He’ll be busy a few more minutes,” Yvonne said quietly, once the door was closed. “That’s all I can promise.”
Casey sprang back into the seat and went to the search engine’s history. Cleared. The bookmark column—empty.
Growling under her breath she flicked the computer off, slid the chair in place, and went to Eric’s office door. “Thank you,” she mouthed to the women.
They acknowledged her gratitude with obvious relief.
Eric looked up as she entered his office and closed the door behind her. “Anything?”
“Zip.”
His shoulders sagged. “Nothing here, either. At least, that I know of. This stuff isn’t exactly… I mean, I’m an actor.”
Casey swiveled, leaning her hip on the desk. “It’s too much to ask for it to be that easy. Is there any point in your looking further?”
Eric rested his elbows on his desk, his fingers twisting his hair until he looked like a mad scientist. He flicked a thumb toward the two secretaries. “If they knew something that would save their jobs they would have told somebody. Right?”
Casey rubbed her eyes with one hand, the other hand keeping her balanced on the desk. “Probably.”
Eric sat back, checking his watch. “We need to go. Loretta and Johnny will be waiting.” He stood up and pushed in his chair. “There’s nothing here.” His hands gripped the back of his chair. “Nothing but the livelihoods of hundreds of people in this town.”
He looked at her bleakly, and Casey felt the sudden urge to smooth his hair and take him in her arms, comforting him. “Come on,” she said, instead. “Let’s go do the little we’re able to. Thanks to you they’ll at least have full bellies tonight.”
He stood for a moment, head bowed, knuckles white on the chair. Finally he looked up, gave a ghost of a smile, and held out a hand. “Shall we?”
As they left he turned to look at his office once more, as if seeing what it could have been, before turning off the light.