Page 32 of Cold Silence
“I hear you, I really do, I just don’t think he would do it.”
“Then I’ll have to prove it to you.” Travis gritted his teeth.
“Is there any scenario where youwouldbelieve this is an inside job?” Gage asked.
She crossed her arms. “I know it looks like that’s what happened, but I trust my staff.”
She was far too trusting. Always had been. The exact opposite of Travis, but then she supposed he learned not to trust others on the job as a way to stay alive.
“Just keep an open mind, okay?” he asked.
“I’ll do my best,” she said and meant it.
“Any ideas where I can find Robb?”
She leaned back to think. “He’s really a frugal guy but loves seafood. He always used to go to a local place for the shrimp specials on Wednesdays.”
“And today is Wednesday,” Travis said.
Gage’s phone rang, and he looked at the screen. “Text from Eryn. She’s emailing Robb’s background report. She said page three is interesting.” Gage thumbed through his phone and looked at Claire. “I’m assuming I can’t access your printers so give me your email, and I’ll forward this to be printed.”
Claire shared her email address, and then opened her laptop to wait for the report, her mind already spinning over what page three might hold.
“Got it,” she said.
“Print a copy for each of us,” Travis said.
She sent it to the printer, but scanned down to page three while the printer whirred into action. The report declared that Mike had a restraining order issued by his former wife.
Travis grabbed the reports and handed them out.
“His ex-wife had a restraining order issued for him,” Claire said.
Travis raised an eyebrow. “Further evidence that he has stalker tendencies.”
Claire didn’t really want to believe that, but she was starting to. “I wonder how he passed his background check with something like that on his record.”
“Eryn’s good at her job, and she can find things many others miss,” Gage said. “Plus, archive records are being put online all the time by law enforcement. Maybe it was added after his hire.”
“Either way, he’s the man we need to start with.” Travis eyed Claire. “So this leaves Robb firmly as a suspect along with Norton, who we need to start investigating too.”
“I’ll text Eryn to do a deep dive on Norton.” Gage got out his phone and started typing.
“You were going to review other staff to include women too,” Travis said. “Anyone come to mind?”
Claire hated to add more of her dedicated workers to the list, but she had to do this. “Ruth Sadler and Bethany Jennings are the most obvious. I heard Ruth say she was one step away from getting evicted for not being able to pay the increase in her rent. She’s a software developer, so she could have the skills to disable the systems.”
“And Bethany?” Gage asked.
Claire took a breath. “She’s less likely. She’s our receptionist and as far as I know doesn’t have the skills to pull this off. But she does have knowledge of how things work around here and that might make partnering with someone on the theft a possibility.”
“Why do you think she might have done it?” Travis asked.
“She always has the latest designer handbags and shoes. She can’t possibly afford them on her admin salary. She says they’re knockoffs, but I’ve heard others say she’s lying.”
“So you think they both need money,” Gage said.
Claire nodded. “I can talk to them to see if they have an alibi for the night of the theft. Not sure how I’ll broach the subject, but I’ll figure it out. Doesn’t matter for the time of the attack though. Neither of them could be my attacker.”
