“We’ll see,” I murmur, keeping my head down in my files.
“Why did you move states so often when you changed jobs?” he asks out of nowhere. “I’m sure you could have found companies willing to hire you within the same state, if not city, you were living in. Why relocate yourself to such an extreme?”
My blood goes cold at his pointed question. I try to lift myshoulders, but it comes off as awkward. “I-I don’t like staying in one place for too long.”
“Really?” He gives me a dubious look.
I pretend not to notice, hand him another sheet of paper with the names of more employees. “This is the list of new hires in the Marketing Department—I’ve marked them with red— and the others are employees whom I interviewed myself. After I came on, the board of directors wanted me to overhaul the entire Marketing Department. I didn’t let everybody go. A few of them were actually good workers, but I did hire quite a lot of people. Their names are on such list.”
As Ethan reads the list, I let out a shaky breath, grateful he’s moved on from the previous line of questioning.
I don’t like talking about my past. I don’t like remembering how my life fell apart because of my own selfish actions. I spent two years running, making sure my door had three locks instead of one, always looking over my shoulder when walking home at night.
I would never have returned to New York if my mother hadn’t insisted or if I hadn’t been completely certain I was no longer in danger.
“There’s something that’s been bothering me about the Robert situation.” I look at Ethan. He’s sipping his coffee, his eyes running over the papers in his hand.
I’ve been in his office since this morning. I left only for my lunch break, and when I came back, he was sitting in the same position, working. He had offered to get lunch delivered to the office, but when I returned, I discovered he hadn’t eaten.
This is what he does, according to Clarice. He forgets to eat when he’s absorbed in his work. He’ll let his food go cold, then put it aside. After a month of working closely with him, I’ve gotten used to his intense work ethic, though it still amazes me. Doesn’t he ever get tired?
“We’ve already established the email sent to Robert was fromIris’s assistant’s computer, it was sent during the lunch break. The cameras were also conveniently down for a couple of minutes. Let’s operate on the assumption whoever sent such an email wanted Robert to check for the errors. Isn’t there a good chance Iris would have been fired?”
Ethan looks at me with a grimace. “You think somebody was trying to frame her?”
“From any way you look at it, the report clearly implies the Marketing Department is misrepresenting how their funds are used, trying to go for a bigger budget. Isn’t something like this a guaranteed reason for either demotion or firing?”
It’s a rhetorical question, but Ethan’s expression turns grim. “If Iris’s position was abandoned, who would be the next candidate?”
“Off the top of my head?” I ask, considering. “Charlotte Evans or Frank Kolinski. All three were managers of different teams within the department. When the previous head of marketing left, Iris got the position. Charlotte was recently demoted, though. She’s been going through some personal problems, and it was starting to affect the quality of her work. She filed a complaint about her work being sabotaged multiple times. I looked into it, but nothing came of it. Office politics can be quite dirty.”
“So we are looking at Frank, then?” Ethan ponders.
“I don’t know. He’s a good worker. But there’s something happening in the Marketing Department. Both Frank and Charlotte were not in the office the day the email was sent. In fact, it was Charlotte who took Holly, Iris’s assistant, out to lunch. It was Holly’s birthday or something. I don’t remember, but they took a long lunch while Frank was meeting a client for lunch.”
“What about Iris?”
I’ve already had statements from Iris on her whereabouts from that day because I knew it would come up. “She wassupposed to be in the office but got called away at the last minute.”
Ethan’s eyes sharpen. “So if she had been in the office, she would have been the most likely suspect, wouldn’t she? I assume plenty of people knew she would be in the office at that particular time?”
I nod.
“I understand office politics, Natalie. I didn’t get to where I am by simply sitting behind a desk. Miss Campbell should watch her back. I don’t even know the full details yet, and I can already tell that somebody’s trying to get her fired.”
A sick feeling forms in the pit of my stomach. Iris is quite young to be the head of a department. Over the past month, I’ve kept a close eye on the Marketing Department dynamics. I always knew there had been some resentment within the department when she had been promoted, but I never imagined someone would deliberately sabotage her. It is evident to everybody in the Marketing Department how hard she works. Ever since she took over, the department has flourished, sales have taken off.
The Marketing Department is Thalvyn’s powerhouse. If it falls, the company falls. That’s become even more clear over this past month of restructuring.
The intercom buzzes, and Clarice’s voice sounds on the other end. “Mr. Roland Blake is here to see you, Mr. Wilder.”
Ethan half-rises out of his seat. “Roland? Let him in.”
I get to my feet. “Maybe I should leave.”
“No, stay.” He gestures with his hand. “Roland is one of my biggest investors. He’s also an old friend of my father. He must be in New York visiting him. I doubt he’s going to stay for long, and we still have a lot to get done.”
The door opens before I have a chance to respond, and a man enters. His salt-and-pepper hair is slicked back, and he’s wearing a gray suit. He looks to be in his late sixties, but fromthe way he carries himself, it’s obvious he takes good care of his health. He’s carrying a cane with a carved silver head and rests most of his weight on it.
