Page 9 of Entice

“Thank you. Makes things easy for me.” Crystal stepped into the office and put her bag under the desk, before returning to Kendra.

“All right. Office layout.” Kendra stepped out the door. “Jordan’s office is right here.” She pointed to the closed door at the next office. Then they started walking. By the time they made it to the break room, Crystal had been introduced to most of the staff.

Kendra walked Crystal back to her office. “If you need anything, find me or ask Valerie.”

“I will. Thank you.” Okay, she’d get settled and see what she needed. Rounding the desk, she sat down and sighed. Luxury. This was a chair made for an executive.

She opened the top drawer. The passwords were right where Kendra said, but there was also a big envelope with her name on it.

Crystal pulled both out and opened the envelope first to find a file folder and a letter inside.

Crystal,

Sorry I’m not there for your first morning in the office. I trust that Kendra has shown you around. The file folder has some information related to the case to get you started on your research. If you need anything, ask Kendra or Valerie.

See you later today. J.

As she read the letter, she heard Jordan’s husky voice, and her body reacted. Goosebumps rose over her skin.Get it together.

Crystal set the letter aside, booted up the laptop, and signed in. She took a sip of her coffee and a bite of her scone as she read the documents in the folder. A frown appeared. What was he talking about? There were a lot of acronyms. She’d have to research them to even get started.

First things first. She opened her company email box to make sure everything there looked good. She’d had trouble in enough temp jobs so she made sure she could access email and the company server. Everything worked like a charm.

Opening the internet, she typed in the first acronym, RACK, and hit enter. Several things came up. And not one of them made sense. She frowned. Okay, this was going to be fun trying to figure this all out. She opened the side drawer of the desk, empty. She tried the next one. It, too, was empty.

All right, first thing on her to-do list was office supplies. Crystal drained her coffee and left her office. Kendra’s door was closed so she went to see Valerie, who was on the phone, nodding and writing. When she hung up she looked at Crystal. “Is there a problem?”

“Office supplies?”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t think of that.” She started to stand, but the phone rang again. Crystal watched her take care of the call. Busy firm. Good to know. When Valerie hung up, Crystal said, “Point me in the right direction.”

“File room, there’s another small room attached where we keep the supplies.”

“Got it.” Crystal went down the hallway. She found the supply room easily. Thankfully there was a cart in the room. She got what she needed and took it back to her office.

When she came up for air, it was almost eleven. Crystal stood and stretched. She’d go ask Valerie if there was a good place nearby to grab a sandwich or something. Gathering her wallet, she walked out to Valerie. A man was standing in front of Valerie’s desk, his face slightly red, and Valerie looked uncomfortable.

“I don’t care for excuses. If you continue to mess things up, I’ll fire you.”

One of the other lawyers, Crystal surmised, but still, why was he yelling at Valerie?

“Excuse me,” Crystal said. “What is the issue?” Crystal raised her chin when the man turned his glacial gaze on her.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Crystal Hayden, Mr. Frost’s paralegal.” She held out her hand, which was ignored. “And you are?” She kept her tone civil and even. It was hard, but she did it.

“Charles Johnson, I’m one of the partners in this firm, and I certainly didn’t authorize a paralegal.” His voice was loud and annoying.

Crystal stared at the man. Partner? As far as she knew Jordan was the sole owner. “I work for Mr. Frost and no one else, but you didn’t answer my question regarding the issue of why you’re yelling at Valerie.”

“I’d like to know as well,” Kendra said walking up to the group.

“She’s incompetent.”

Crystal’s hackles went up as Valerie cringed. “We’ve talked about this, Mr. Johnson,” Kendra said, her voice soft but with a thread of hardness through it. “If you have an issue with personnel, you come to me.”

“So you can ignore me,” he spit out.

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