Page 19 of Untamed Protector

She pauses with the paper in her hand, waiting for our reaction.

“Why didn’t you tell me that until now?” Peter asks.

“It took me a few days to check the printers around the office. Yesterday, I found the one they used for the first letter.”

“You mean here, in my company?” Peter rages.

“I knew you’d get upset hearing this. I’m used to getting threats. It’s like what I used to get in school. My less-than-smart classmates handwrote those, and it was easy to tell who it was.”

Wow. She’s exactly as Peter described her: photographic memory and extraordinary attention to detail. We could use someone like her in our investigations as Protectors, but I park the thought for later.

“And? Can you figure out who sent it?” Peter asks, gritting his teeth.

“I can’t narrow it down to one person. But I suspect it could be the five guys from Stats & Planning up on the third. That’s where the printer is. There are three men and two women in that team. It could be a group action.”

“Why a group?” I ask.

“Well, the text of the letter is pretty basic, almost impersonal. I think a man would’ve been harsher with his words. And I also think a woman took care of the address label on the envelope. That requires more patience and attention to detail. But I don’t know, it’s just a hunch.”

“And what could they possibly have on you? Why send this threat?”

“When I audited their department and gathered data, I found an overall mess. I gave them a week to fix it so I wouldn’t report it to Peter. They worked their butts off that week, more than their entire time here. I’m pretty sure they hold a grudge. The letter came right after I told them they’d made good progress, but there was still more work to do. They also insulted me in a face-to-face conversation.”

“But why didn’t you tell me about this?” Peter asks.

“If I had told you, you would’ve thrown them out. This way, they can keep their jobs, and I can fix the problem. It was a win-win, or so I thought.”

“Peter, what exactly does Lexi do here? How did she start working for you?” Peter needs to give me a proper timeline before I make my first assessment of this situation.

“Lexi was working in one of my factories in her hometown. I saw how good she was with numbers and brought her to work with me here.”

“When was that?”

“About a month and a half ago, I think.”

“Go on, Peter. Or maybe you want to continue the story, Lexi?” I’m curious to hear her talk and understand her take on this situation. It sounds like she’s having fun playing detective, but that doesn’t help me.

“It’s fine. I’ll let Peter share the whole thing.” Oh, so she wants to keep silent. We’ll see about that…

“I’ve had a hunch for weeks that something was wrong with the grain and cargo shipments at the port. I needed evidence before involving the police. Lexi sifted through the documents I gathered—shipping papers, official records, and some unofficial intel I gained with a few favors.”

Wow! This affair Peter describes seems to involve a lot more people than I initially thought. This is getting messy.

“Besides outside sources, Lexi had access to all the company records. I never told my staff what her actual mission was. She came on board as an internal auditor, but I never thought they’d see her as a threat.”

Petite and seemingly naïve, I can see how Lexi would pass at first for an innocent bookworm. But her earlier display of detective skills shows she’s got a mind as sharp as a knife.

Before I can ask more questions, Lexi drops the first letter on the table and picks up three others, ready to continue.

“Someone else sent these. One person this time, not more. And the texts of the letters are a lot more threatening.”

“Why do you think it’s someone else?” I’m curious about the way she makes logical deductions.

“Someone sent them from a post office near the port. Only this time, they handwrote the company address on the envelope. The order of the street, number, and zip code differs from the first envelope’s label. Both have my name, but the first one starts with my name and then the company address, while the second one does it the other way around. The company address is written on these last three envelopes, just as it appears on our website. The first one, probably sent by someone here, had the address copied from an email signature.”

“Damn, you can tell all that just by looking at a piece of paper?” Peter ponders.

“Go on, please. What can you tell me about the threats in these last three letters?” I urge her.

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