Page 66 of Little Empty Promises

“When was the last time you spoke with Eddy?”I asked.

He was just about to respond, but he hesitated for a few beats.Then, “Ah, yes,” like a lightbulb moment had occurred.

Tripp opened his desk drawer, taking out a large leather planner.He opened it, flipping through and running a finger up and down the pages as he read.

Several flips later, he said, “To answer your question, the last time we spoke was sixteen days ago.I remember the conversation well, including the date, because it was the last day I worked before I left for a family vacation.”

“What did you and Eddy talk about?”

“Can’t go into too much detail, as some of it was confidential, work-related information.”

“What can you tell me?”

Tripp drummed his fingers on the desk a couple of times before starting.“Eddy came to my office to speak to me, and he was upset, flailing his arms, yelling.It was hard to get through to him.I’ve never known him to be so unreasonable before.It was a side of him I’d never seen.”

“Can I ask why he was so upset?”

“There’s an employee he worked with here, someone he demanded I fire.I don’t feel comfortable giving you the employee’s name, but Eddy said he wouldn’t work one more day with the guy.”

“Why not?”

“He was ranting, going in circles, giving me tidbits of information, but even then, it took a while before it all started to make sense.What I got out of the conversation was that this particular employee had offended him in some way by speaking to his wife.”

“What did the guy say to her?”I asked.

“I’m not sure what was said, but I can imagine.Eddy’s wife had dropped him off at work that morning, and this employee had a brief conversation with her.Then she left.From what I gather, some flirting had gone on—not on Eddy’s wife’s end, but on the employee’s end.”

“How do you know?”

“After Eddy came to my office, I spoke with the employee.He admitted he thought Mrs.Westwood was a real looker, and he’d told her as much.In his mind, his comments were fine.He wasn’t aware that Nadia, our receptionist, had overheard the entire conversation.She confronted him and told him she thought the way he’d behaved with Eddy’s wife was inappropriate.He laughed it off, saying something about her being too stuffy, which fueled the fire.She went to Eddy and told him what had happened.”

“What did you say after Eddy demanded you fire the guy?”I asked.

“I said I’d have to think about it.I thought he’d simmer down, and we could revisit the issue once I returned from my vacation.I planned to bring both men in and see if we could resolve the situation.On my first day back to the office, I was told Eddy hadn’t shown up to work since that day.

“Did you or anyone else call him to find out why he hadn’t returned to work?”

“I assumed he quit and hadn’t bothered to tell anyone.I felt bad about downplaying the situation.So, to answer your question … yes, I called him.Several times, in fact.”

“Did you speak to him?”

Tripp shook his head.“Eddy never answered the phone.It rang and rang and went to voicemail.I left messages, but he never got back to me.”

“You didn’t happen to call his wife, did you?”

“No, I didn’t, but funny thing is, your timing’s perfect.I planned on calling her today.”

“Why now?”

“A couple of days ago, we hired someone to fill Eddy’s position.I asked Nadia to check Eddy’s locker to make sure it was cleaned out.I planned on letting Eddy’s replacement use it.When she opened the locker, she was surprised to find Eddy had left some things behind.”

“Like what?”

“A couple of thermoses, a pair of shoes, two shirts, and a watch—a Rolex.All this time I figured he didn’t want to show his face around here again, not even to gather his things.But I can’t imagine leaving a Rolex behind.Can you?”

27

Icouldn’timagine leaving a Rolex watch behind, so before I’d left Eco Earth, I asked if I could see the watch.Tripp agreed to show it to me, and I snapped a few photos, sending them to Hunter so she could do some research on it.When she got back to me, I learned the watch was a current year model, with a price tag of twelve thousand dollars.I could think of only one reason such a watch would have been left behind—he had no choice but to leave it.

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