Page 35 of The Girl and the Lies

“We decided you were going to need to be able to get around, so we rented you this,” he says. “How bad is the damage to your car?”

“Not too bad,” I tell him. “The front and back ends are a little messed up and the airbags deployed. I haven’t had a chance to talk to the body shop yet, so I’m not sure how long it will take them to get it fixed. I can’t imagine it will be too long though.”

Eric tosses me the keys to the sedan they rented for me and climbs into the passenger seat beside Bellamy.

“Thanks,” I say, holding up the keys.

“You headed back to the house?” he asks.

“Yep,” I tell him.

“All right. See you later.”

They drive off, undoubtedly to bring Eric back to work, and I start for their house. I’m not far from the police station when I get a call from Detective Fuller.

“Hey, Agent Griffin,” he says. “I wanted to let you know that we got all the information you requested about Gideon Bell. His phone records and everything.”

“Great. I’ll be there to get them soon,” I tell him.

I drive away from one police station and head for the other, hoping something in the records will get me on the right path.

I sit in the conference room poring over the phone records, trying to find anything in Gideon’s calls or texts that would suggest something going on leading up to his death. There’s nothing unusual. No numbers that repeat multiple times. No aggressive or threatening text messages. It isn’t until I move on to the information taken from his computer that I find something that seems useful.

Among the various emails that he sent and received, there’s one sitting in Draft status that catches my attention. It’s addressed to Tracy Ellis and the subject line reads: “Situation Report.” The message in the email itself doesn’t seem to be finished, but it’s enough to put me on the phone with Jesse Kristoff.

I find out he has returned to the apartment that he shared with Gideon, and I head there. He opens the door with a concerned, confused expression on his face.

“Agent Griffin,” he says. “What’s going on?”

“Gideon’s records came through. Something showed up that I wanted to ask you about,” I say. I take out the folder with the records and pull out the printed-out email, handing it to him. “Does this mean anything to you?”

“‘Ms. Ellis, I’m writing today to make a report of an inappropriate relationship within the ministry. I have firsthand knowledge of this situation and would be happy to discuss it with you personally,’” he reads, then shakes his head. “I’ve never seen this.”

“It was on Gideon’s computer. According to the time stamp, he was working on it the day he died, but he never sent it. Do you have any idea whom he could be talking about?”

“I don’t know. If he had suspicions about somebody at work, he didn’t talk to me about it. But from what I understand, I think emails like that are pretty common within the ministry,” he says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“People are encouraged to report anything they think is immoral behavior or that goes against the company culture,” he says. “Gideon has mentioned that before.”

This piques my interest, and twenty minutes later, I’m at Tracy Ellis’s office, showing her the email. She shrugs and hands it back to me.

“He didn’t finish it, and I never got a message like that from him, so I really couldn’t tell you whom it’s about or what it is talking about,” she says.

“But the fact that he was writing you an email like this doesn’t strike you as unusual,” I say.

“Not at all,” Tracy says. “This is part of our company culture. I encourage everyone who works for me to feel free to be open and honest with me about what they witness among the others in our community. All of my employees are held to certain morality and behavior standards. They are clearly outlined to them before they are even formally hired to make sure that they are fully informed and can make a confident decision about their ability to adhere to them.”

“And you expect everyone to play watchdog for each other,” I say.

“I believe very strongly in accountability and responsibility, Agent Griffin,” she says. “I believe that when people make a commitment, they should be held to that, not only by their own moral code and desire to show integrity, but also by the people around them who are influenced and affected by their behavior. It’s just like when a couple gets married. They aren’t standing in front of their friends and family just because they want to share the moment with them. They are asking for witnesses to the vows they are making so that if there comes a time when those vows are compromised, they will be held accountable and encouraged to do better.

“That’s what I expect within my company. I desire for everyone to want the best out of not just themselves but everyone else around them. I want them to feel like they are part of something that is truly admirable, and that means being strong and willing to speak up when something isn’t going the way it should. And it’s not just about making sure that the inappropriate behavior is brought to my attention so I know how to deal with the person who is struggling. I believe that if you know something is wrong and don’t say anything, that is a mark against you. Reporting these things to me is a way for my employees to save themselves from that guilt and shame. Gideon obviously knew something about a fellow employee and wanted to unburden himself. He just didn’t get the opportunity.”

My skin crawls at her words. I understand having standards and specific guidelines for people to adhere to, especially in the kind of work that she does, but this doesn’t feel like protecting company culture and maintaining standards. This feels like pitting people against each other.

“It just doesn’t sit right with me,” I tell Sam later when we’re having a video call. “I mean, I get it. They decided to work for a ministry, and according to her, they knew what the expectations were before they signed their contracts to work for her. But there’s still something really disturbing about her encouraging them to report on each other when they see anything they deem inappropriate. That just seems rife with potential for exploitation and fear.”

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