Page 19 of The Girl and the Lies

“You can come by my house tonight,” he tells me.

I hand him one of my business cards. “Text me the address and time, and I’ll be there.”

As I’m walking out into the lobby, I stop by the reception desk. The woman I’m assuming is Estelle looks up at me with another smile.

“Can I help you with something else?” she asks.

“Yes, actually,” I tell her. “I need the most recent contact information for a former employee. Marcus Kelsey. Can you access the personnel records and get that for me?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t have access to that kind of information. You’d have to speak with the staffing director.”

“Where would I find them?” I ask.

“The second floor. Her name is Leslie Downing,” she tells me.

“Thank you,” I say and head for the elevator. As I’m going up, I check the list that Tracy gave me and confirm that Leslie’s name is on it.

I know the staffing director could balk at providing me contact information for Marcus Kelsey without a warrant, but I’m hoping she will understand the urgency of the investigation and give it to me. Even if she won’t, I need to talk to her about what threatening messages she has gotten. I get to the second floor and read the plaques on the offices and rooms until I find the one that has her name. I knock.

“Come in,” she calls from inside.

I open the door and see that she’s on the phone. I show her my badge, and she holds a finger up to ask me to wait a moment.

“I’m going to have to call you back and continue this another time. How is your schedule this afternoon…? Perfect. I’ll talk to you later.” She hangs up and stands to shake my hand. “Leslie Downing.”

“Agent Emma Griffin,” I tell her.

“I know,” she says. “I was in the company meeting earlier when Tracy introduced you to everybody. You’re the FBI agent investigating Gideon’s murder.”

“I am,” I tell her.

“What can I do for you?” she asks.

“I need the most recent contact information for Marcus Kelsey,” I tell her. “I spoke with Tracy about him, and I’m interested in talking with him.”

She nods and goes behind her desk. “I can get that for you. Give me just a second to pull up his personnel file.”

“Did you hire Marcus?” I ask as she types commands into her computer.

“I did,” she says. “I thought he was going to be a fantastic match for the company. He had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and his belief system seemed to be in alignment with what Tracy teaches, which is extremely important for the position he was filling.”

“Are you familiar with why he ended up being fired?” I ask.

“No. I do the recruiting and hiring for positions that Tracy doesn’t handpick people for, but she is the one who handles firing anyone. She says since they are working for her, it’s her prerogative to be the one to determine when their usefulness to her has run its course and to have that final conversation with them.” She reaches to the corner of her desk for a bright-pink sticky notepad and picks up a pen. “Here you go. This is the last phone number and address we have for him.”

She holds the note out to me, and I take it from her.

“Thanks. I also wanted to ask you about the threats. Tracy told me that you have gotten some of them,” I say.

Leslie looks uncomfortable, her gaze dropping down to her lap briefly before she looks back at me. There’s the distinct impression she was hoping I wasn’t going to bring that up.

“Yes,” she says. “I have gotten threatening notes.”

“Do you still have them?” I ask.

“No, I threw them away after talking to Tracy about them,” she says.

“What did they say?” I ask.

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