Page 41 of Office Affairs

She huffed and pushed hair back from her forehead. “It wouldn’t open. Like it was locked. Or something. I don’t know. I banged on it, but nothing happened.” Her hand landed on my arm and she squeezed. “We’re okay, though. We’re almost out.”

She was worried about me? I bit back the scoff and reveled in her concern as we continued around the winding steps and out into the lobby. Three firefighters confronted us in the middle of the space and ushered us outside. Sabrina kept hold of my arm, her steps quick in our rush to cross the street and meet up with Chase. She paused at the edge of the parking lot. “I need to check on Miranda.”

I peered over her head and found her friend standing off to the right. “Stay close to her. Do not leave the parking lot until you hear from me, Chase, or Garrett. Understood?”

A quick nod and another squeeze and she slipped from my grasp. The urge to follow her, just to make sure nothing happened, stuck my shoes to the pavement until she reached Miranda and they fell into each other’s arms. Only then did my legs unlock and allow me to approach Chase and Garrett. “What happened?”

“We’re waiting to find out.” Chase jerked his head toward the building.

Nothing stood out when I craned my neck to look upward. “Everyone got out?”

“You and Sabrina were the last ones. Laura finished conducting the roll call. Everyone is accounted for.” Tension lined Chase’s face. “The Lexington Corp guys were not too thrilled. When Garrett asked if they wanted to set up another meeting, they said, and I quote, ‘Don’t call us. We’ll call you.’ Like this was some kind of movie.” He snorted but never looked away from the building.

Heatwaves shimmered across the lot and danced on the closed roadway. People peered through office windows on either side of Grady International. Employees tented hands over their eyes and leaned back to give the tall structure a long look.

“How long will it take?” I aimed the question at the man standing beside the fire truck. “Are your guys okay?”

His radio squawked and a crackle of garbled voices sliced the air. He ducked around behind the firetruck without answering my question.

“Good riddance to those Lexington pricks.” Garrett picked up Chase’s end of the conversation and carried it forward. “Never wanted to work with them anyway. No doubt they’ll run back to their daddy and tell him how mean we were.” He rolled his eyes.

“At least we respect Mr. Lexington.” It was easy to fall into conversation with my best friends, even as we waited to hear from the firefighters. We could lose everything. An unobstructed fire could take down the entire building. Chase had the money to recover the loss, especially with insurance, but would he have the heart to rebuild? After everything that had happened the last few months, we were all growing tired of the bullshit.

What happened to good, old-fashioned hard work and earning money without stealing from someone else?

“They’re coming out.” Garrett pointed his chin at the front entrance. “Must be clear.”

Thank fuck. The released breath emptied my lungs and I palmed the sweat from the back of my neck.

We waited for the firefighters to talk with their chief, who clapped each man on the back and sent them to the truck before he approached us. “Good news, fellas.” He removed his thick yellow coat and tossed it over his shoulder. “No fire.”

“None at all?” Chase’s voice had a hard edge to it that boded ill for whatever news came next. “What happened then? Is the alarm faulty?”

“Doesn’t look that way. You can have someone come out and check for sure, but my men found the fire alarm on the fourth floor had been pulled. No sign or even a hint of a fire, though.” He shrugged. “Could have been an accident and they panicked. I knew a man once who fainted and grabbed the fire alarm on his way down. Happened in the mall downtown.”

The tension I’d finally gotten rid of returned with a crushing weight. “The fourth floor? Are you sure?”

Piercing blue eyes crackled at the implied derision. “My men are thorough. If they say that’s what happened, that’s what happened. They cleared the whole building floor by floor, room by room.” He turned away from me. “Talk to your people. Maybe someone will fess up, though don’t be surprised if no one claims they pulled the alarm. People get squirrely about that stuff.”

Yeah. Probably because it was a crime. I bit back the remark.

Garrett shifted closer to me and dropped his voice. “Never was one to believe in coincidences.”

“Me either.” I found Sabrina in the crowd, still standing alongside her friend. She’d stopped shaking and the color returned to her cheeks. Her eyes met mine, her questions as easy to read in the deep gaze as my own. I’d tell her everything later, but right now my concern was getting everyone calmed down enough to go back to work.

“Maybe we should send everyone home for the day.” Garrett’s concern surprised me enough that I whipped my head around to face him. “Look at them. There’s no way they’ll get any work done after this. If we can even get them to go back inside.”

“Gives us a chance to look the place over ourselves,” I agreed while pinching the bridge of my nose. “We need to see who was on the fourth floor after we left. It’s too convenient.”

A cold dread settled in Chase’s eyes. “Give them the option to stay or go. They’ll get paid either way. Keep track of who does what. We may need the information later. I’m going back inside to check the fourth floor and pull footage.”

“Someone must not have liked us being in that storage room.” I drove the point home with a swift look at Sabrina. “And they were willing to put her at risk to prove their point. She said the stairwell door wouldn’t open and had to go around to the other side. I came in and out of the door closest to the storage room. The same one she would have tried first. Have someone check it for tampering.”

Cold fury strained every muscle in my body. I would find who did this, and they would regret ever messing with us.

22

SABRINA

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