Page 10 of Five Midnight Moment
His mouth settled in a grim line. Only two people had a master set of keys—him and his administrative assistant. No way would he believe Norma Roberts had anything to do with this. The forty-something woman had worked in the same position for over fifteen years, first with his father and now, Dwayne. On the way back to his office he was going to stop by Human Resources and pull a few files.
“I can’t figure out why someone would target me. I’ve only worked here six months and, aside from Ingram—who can barely retrieve his password from a computer, let alone try to siphon money out of an account—I haven’t had a run-in with anyone else.”
“I’d wondered the same thing.” The only other alternative was someone wanted to ruin him, the company or both. Dwayne had continued the same comfortable, family-oriented working environment as his father and got along with all the employees, so he didn’t have a clue as to the reason why. Valencia touched his arm and drew him out of his thoughts.
“Hey. I’m going to find out who did this.”
“I know. I’m going to look into a few things and Dwight is working on it, as well.”
Valencia frowned. “Oh, great. I just thought of something.”
“What is it?”
“I could’ve been smiling at Dwight some of those times I passed you in the halls.”
She looked so mortified, he couldn’t do anything but laugh.
“It’s not funny, Dwayne.”
“I can guarantee you he hasn’t gotten any of my smiles. Dwight has only been here a couple of weeks and he rarely leaves the office.”
“Thank goodness,” she said, slumping against the chair. “Some of the thoughts I had—.” She cut herself off and spun around back to her computer.
Dwayne rotated her back to face him, leaned down and braced his hands on the chair’s armrests. “Naw, baby. I want to hear all about those thoughts. Maybe they’re the same as the ones I’ve had about you.”
“Um…we have a thief to catch right now, and didn’t you say you needed to look into a few things?”
Sobering, he straightened and blew out a long breath. “Yeah, we do.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Let me know if you find something, and I’ll do the same.”
“Okay.”
Because his father built his business during the days when paper ruled, Dwayne had the human resources manager pull the files he needed. However, he’d grown up in the world of technology, so he also kept electronic records. For the next several hours, he went through each file, making notes and flagging anything that could be considered a clue. He paid particular attention to those who had extensive computer experience.
When he came up for air, it was after three. His stomach growled and reminded him that he’d worked straight through lunch. Closing the files, Dwayne locked them in his file cabinet and went to the sandwich shop on the first floor.
He found Dwight waiting in his office when he returned. His heart rate kicked up. “What did you find out?”
“Nothing yet. I’ve been checking out the two women who work in marketing and the one in IT, since they have the most computer experience and wanted to ask you about them.”
“What do you want to know?” He sat down at the small conference table on the other side of the office and unwrapped the turkey sandwich.
Dwight took the chair opposite him, opened Dwayne’s bag of chips and dug out a few.
“You really need to stop grabbing people’s stuff and get your own damn food.” For as long as he could remember, Dwight always helped himself to someone’s food or drink. Because they were twins, Dwayne ended up being his victim most often.
Smiling, he said, “You wouldn’t know what to do if I stopped.”
“Yes, I would. I’d be able to eat in peace.” Dwayne slid the bag closer to him. “You wanted to ask some questions?”
“Yeah. How long has Ms. Lynch worked in IT?”
Before he could answer, Valencia stormed into the office with fury in her eyes and slapped a photo on the desk.
“It’s Shawna.”
“The marketing manager?” Dwight asked with a raised eyebrow.
Valencia nodded. She pointed to the photo of a woman sitting at Valencia’s desk. “I recognize the bracelet she’s wearing. She doesn’t have gloves on and I guarantee you’ll find her fingerprints on my keyboard or mouse.”
