Page 26 of Nightshade

“Tell me about when you fired her.”

“Well, we don’t have a human resources department here. With a small staff, I am HR, and I simply called her up here to the office, told her that she had been warned repeatedly, that she’d ignored those warnings, and that it was time for her to find another place of employment.”

“And this was when, exactly?”

“Saturday morning, the seventeenth.”

“What time would you say?”

“The Marlin Room opens for lunch at eleven, which means she would have been here by ten to help set up the room. I left word in the kitchen that she should come see me upon her arrival. So I would say our conversation occurred shortly after ten o’clock that morning.”

“And how did she take it?”

“Not well, as you can imagine. She was angry and she stormed out of here.”

“And on her way out, she grabbed the sculpture.”

“Well, we can’t say for sure that she took it. But a week later, a staff member noticed it was missing.”

“Mrs. Landry.”

“Correct. And she notified me.”

“Is Mrs. Landry here today?”

“No, she’s primarily here on weekends, when we have many members visiting. But I could call her in if you need to speak to her.”

“I think we can hold off on that for the moment. But for the report, what’s Mrs. Landry’s first name?”

“Judith.”

“And how long has she worked here?”

“I’d have to look that up—much longer than me, I can tell you that.”

“Then how long have you been here?”

“This is my eighteenth year in the employ of the club, but it has been eight years since I was named general manager. I was second-in-command before I was promoted.”

“Let’s go back to Leigh-Anne for a moment. Were there a lot of members here when you fired her and she stormed out? Did they see or hear any of this?”

“Actually, the club was quite empty. We don’t serve breakfast, and lunch starts at eleven. It doesn’t get busy till noon or later. I chose that time to make the change because I knew the club would be quiet.”

“Sounds like you knew she was going to get angry.”

“Isuspectedshe might be angry and try to create a…”

“A scene?”

“A distraction.”

“You called it a gentlemen’s club earlier. Are there no female members?”

“My mistake. We do have female members.”

“How many?”

“Two members are female, but you have to remember that the club’s bylaws cap membership at one hundred, and it’s generational. It gets passed on. We have members who are the great-grandsons of our founders. New members are admitted only if an existing member resigns or there is no heir to come forward upon a member’s death. So the transition has been slow. In my time, there have been only three openings, and two of those went to female applicants.”

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