Page 23 of The Attraction File

ELEVEN

Evaleen

“Hi Ms. Bechmann, I’m Detective Hardy from CPD and this is my partner, Detective Mackeson. We are here just to ask you a few questions.”

My eyes blinked at the woman in a blue button-up shirt with shoulder-length red hair. Her partner, Mackeson, was equally well dressed with short brown hair. Both attractive like they belonged modeling for a catalogue, not walking the streets catching criminals.

But what did I know, I was just a silly girl who made up stories trying to get attention. At least, that’s what a cop told me many years ago.

“Of course. What would the police be interested in with an HR manager?”

Right then the door to the conference room opened and Grace appeared, holding two cups of coffee. She walked over, handing them off to the detectives. They nodded and smiled at her. As slow as she entered, Grace double-timed it out of the room.

“Man, this is better coffee than we get at the station.” Mackeson glanced at his partner before taking another gulp.

Hardy clasped her hands around the paper cup. “Oh yeah. I should use my badge to gain access to the building during the week just for the coffee.”

My eyes narrowed and I cleared my throat.

They turned their heads and laughed.

“Sorry, I got lost in the coffee. Forgot you were in here, Ms. Bechmann.”

I gritted my teeth. “I can just tell you the brand of the coffee we use. No need to abuse your authority every day just for coffee.”

Mackeson’s eyes slid sideways toward his partner. “Oh, she was just joking. A little cop humor. You understand. I am sure you have lots of HR jokes.”

“Nothing is funny about human resources, detectives. Nothing.” I folded my hands in front of me.

I’m sure they were good detectives and I knew I was letting my bias show, but I did have a job to get back to.

“Okay then. I think we can get onto why we are here.” Hardy opened a manila folder in front of her.

“A friend of yours, Angel Hernandez, contacted us about a missing person.” Mackeson’s pearly whites gleamed at me.

I nodded my head. He mentioned he would have to contact the police if he found anything suspicious. I guess he had.

“Yes, I’m friends with Angel. Since he used to be with the CPD, I knew he would reach out to you. An employee with the company hasn’t been here in a few weeks so I asked Angel to see if he could help me track him down. That’s all.”

They both nodded, but Hardy sat forward while Mackeson relaxed back in the black leather chair.

“I see. Did Mr. Ashton Graham mention anything to you about being worried?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but I didn’t work with him on a regular basis. You would have to ask the people in the IT department. I only grew concerned when his manager, Edgar Mimir, came to me because he hadn’t been at work for two weeks. At first, I thought he forgot to fill out the vacation sheet and that Ashton was most likely on a vacation we didn’t know about. But by the third week we still couldn’t reach him, so I contacted Angel to find out more. Now it’s been a month, and no one at Mimir has heard from Ashton.”

The door to the conference room opened behind me. I turned to find Edgar standing there. His eyes scanned the two detectives before landing on me.

“Mr. Edgar Mimir?” Hardy said.

“Yes. I can wait outside for my turn.” Edgar stepped back and started to close the door.

“No, Mr. Mimir, please have a seat. What we are discussing with Ms. Bechmann pertains to you too.” Hardy pointed to the chair beside me.

As he entered the room and closed the door behind him, I brought my attention forward to the two detectives. I tried my best to ignore the prickling sensation running up my arm and neck. Perhaps I was imagining it, but I swear as Edgar sat I could feel the heat from his body move across me.

Ever since his lips touched mine in the elevator last week I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. I knew it was because of the crowded elevator, but I liked to imagine he was tempted to kiss me.

It’s silly to think he would feel that way, but it’s not like I have anything else going on in my life to fantasize over.

---