Page 33 of A Daddy for Maddy

Cuddles turned to Stewart, confusion in his eyes. “We’re just friends. We sometimes talk. That’s all. Right, Stewart?”

Stewart had a new look in his eyes, one of almost defiance, as he shrugged and grunted.

“But Stewart has access,” Gil continued. “We have security footage that proves it.”

“What proof?” They were the first words Stewart had uttered since the meeting had started.

Gil brought up a remote and the big screen TV on the far wall of Trent’s office turned on. Video began to play. It showed Stewart walking along the line of lockers, looking over his shoulder, then stopping at mine. He jimmied the lock with a bent paperclip, then rifled through my stuff. He took his time looking through my wallet, but stole nothing.

“What the--?” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut as I watched another clip begin to play.

Stewart was in the break room. I was there, too. We were sitting at the table eating a sandwich, my cell lying next to me. When I got up to go to the fridge for a drink, Stewart quickly grabbed my cell and opened it. He must’ve seen me use my lock code many times, because it looked like he had it memorized.

“Why?” I asked. “As a co-worker, he had my number.”

Gil spoke up. “That’s Stewart creating a tracking app on your phone.”

“What? Why?”

“I didn’t do anything like that,” Stewart began.

Gil zoomed in on the image. It was very clear. Trent had the best security for this joint. As we watched, we could all see what Stewart was doing.

I spun to face him. “Do you know Griff?”

Stewart shrugged again.

“Is that why you applied for a job here?” I asked. “To spy for him?”

Gil jumped in. “We managed to do a bit more background checking. Stewart is Griff’s half-brother. They have different last names but the same mother.”

“What?”

“Yes,” Trent said. “Which is why we’ve called this meeting. You are, of course, fired, Mr. Phillips.”

“So what? You can’t prove anything,” Stewart snarled.

“The video?” Trent asked him.

Stewart’s mouth twisted into a hard slant.

“We are hoping before we call the police to have you arrested that you might give us some indication of where Griff Simon is,” Gil said.

“You think I’d tell you?”

“Things might go easier for you if you do,” Trent replied.

Stewart’s face morphed into an ugly smile. “He’s closer than you think.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Trent asked.

“It means exactly that. He’s close.” Stewart let out a weird chuckle.

16

Maddy

Carlo led us to the littles playroom. He was nice. He turned on the TV and gave us the remote, showing us how to change the channels. It was all programmed in kid’s mode, so showed only cartoons.

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