Page 55 of In the Line of Ire

"Just tobe extra helpful and positive. I'm sure her bonus payment hasnothing to do with it."

"Magdagets a bonus?"

"Acommission for every sale. The rest of us are on flatsalaries."

"Me too.I wish I made more money so I could go traveling," I said, thinkingabout Magda's potential sales commission. Increasing her salarywould definitely make her sales pitches more polished and honed,which didn’t make sense if she were behind the stolen and latercounterfeited purses. Unless she were greedy. Greediness was a goodthing in my book; it led to mistakes being made and when thathappened, the odds of me catching the thief sooner rather thanlater went much higher.

"We needto move the large, black purses over there, and the small, pink andred purses on that stand to make sure very customer sees them,"Joan continued, pointing to the purses in question.

"Whythem?"

"They'rethe last ones in stock, I think, and have lingered on the shelveslonger than Page's allows. We need to clear the shelves for our newproducts now. New stock is always being delivered. Here comesMagda. Act like I'm showing you what to do so she doesn't moan,"said Joan as she began to gesticulate at the cash register. Inodded along, like she suggested.

"Whatare you two doing?" asked Magda, coming to a stop in front of usand placing her hands on her hips.

"I wasjust explaining to Lexi how to use the register," lied Joan."Sorry. She wanted another quick run-through. Sorry."

Magdaglanced at me but before she could say anything, Maddox walked pastand hissed “five minutes” to me while beaming at her. Her facesoftened, her eyes lit up and she turned on her heel, hurryingafter him.

Joanheld back a laugh. "She's just so obvious," she remarked, shakingher head.

"I'dbetter find something to do," I said.

"I'lltake care of this gentleman," said Joan when a man wearing a suitwandered in.

I workedmy way around the department, straightening purses and rearrangingthe display of wallets. By the time I reached the store room door,Joan was busy talking to the customer, Magda had disappeared and noone else was browsing. I tapped in the code, pulled open the doorand stepped inside, looking around for Tansy.

"Hello?"I called.

Tansypeeked around the corner of the nearest shelving unit and smiled."Hi," she said as she stepped out, her arms laden with folded bags."I didn't hear the door open. I was just going to bring these bagsout to the cash desk. Give me a minute and I'll be rightback."

I grabbed the door for her and she stepped through, leaving mealone in the store room. Knowing Tansy could return any second, Ididn't have enough time to rummage through anything. As my spiritsdropped with disappointment, an ear-piercing, ringing noiseshrieked through the air.Thealarm!I covered my ears and prepared todart for the door, then stopped. “Five minutes” Maddoxwhispered.Was this hisdistraction?Edging the store room dooropen a fraction, I peeked out and saw all the shoppers andemployees making for the exit. I shut the door and turned around. Ididn't have long before the alarm was canceled so I had to makeevery second count.

"I don'tknow if you can hear this but I'm in the store room and the alarmjust went off. I'm going to check the stock," I said into my top,hoping the mic picked up the sound of my voice.

I didn'thave the luxury of spending time deciding where to start. So Ihurried ahead, quickly opening boxes and dust bags, pulling outluxury purse after luxury purse, and repackaging them as neatly asI could. If anyone complained later, I intended to lie and say Iwas looking for a particular purse for a customer.

As thealarm continued to wail, I moved as swiftly as possible. By thetime I reached the thirtieth box, I hit the jackpot. The greenbucket bag lying within should have been a dark racing green butthe dye was a shade too light, and the gold hardware didn't havethe heavy weight it should have. The stitching, however, was thereal giveaway, being much too uneven with loose threads hanging atthe seam edges. I reached for my cellphone and snapped a photo ofit nestled in the authentic box before I repackaged it.

Movingon, I continued my search until the alarm abruptly ended, but Ididn't find another fake.

"Gotone," I said into the mic as I added the cellphone photo to a textmessage. "Sending a photo now."

I waitedby the store room door until the staff members started to file backin, then I slipped out and rejoined them, hoping no one noticed myabsence.

"Wherewere you?" snapped Magda as soon as she noticed me.

"I justgot back," I said.

"Ididn't see you anywhere. You should have found me so I didn't haveto report you missing to the fire marshal."

"Ididn't know I was supposed to do that."

"Sorry,Magda, Lexi was with me," said Joan, hurrying over to us. "Wecouldn't get to you through the crowd. I'll explain the fire drillprotocol fully to Lexi."

"Fine,"huffed Magda. "At least it was a false alarm. Now, get back towork."

I aimeda grateful glance at Joan for stepping in as my alibi and didexactly as I was told the rest of my day. I was hurrying around,helping customers and being barked at by Magda and no onequestioned my occasional comments about making extra cash. By thetime my shift finished, Maddox hadn't reappeared but I could takecredit for the sale of two purses. I also eavesdropped on some verydull conversations and my feet were sore. But I knew one thing.Someone in the store was definitely involved in the sale of fakepurses. Madga, Joan, Curtis and Tansy all had access to the storeroom, as did several other employees. I just had to find out whichone was the responsible party.

---