Page 57 of Backwater Justice

“I can only imagine. I don’t know him very well, but we had a discussion once during a fund-raising event.”

“Fund-raiser?” Jessica asked. “We call it a shindig.”

Isabelle laughed. “Same thing. So, tell me, why did the assistant manager leave?”

“Not sure, but first thing yesterday morning, Oliver told me to fill out the paperwork for his severance and send it to the accounting office.”

Isabelle made a mental note to bring up the missing persons myth when she met with the Sisters later. Also, the disappearance of the assistant manager. She wondered how deep the veneer of niceness went.

“Do you think the assistant manager had anything to do with the missing woman?”

“Maybe he just wasn’t paying attention.” Jessica shrugged. “You know how it goes, sometimes. There are people who can work on their own without having someone looking over their shoulder, and then there are others who take advantage.”

Isabelle thought back to her own employment situation, when one of her coworkers had framed her. “And there are those who take it even further.”

Jessica gave her a quizzical look.

“Nothing. Just remembering when I worked at another company and one of my colleagues took advantage of a situation. In a big way. But that’s the past, and I’m actually better for it.”

“Isn’t that the way things go? Seriously. When I found out my lousy husband was cheating on me, I thought my world was going to fall apart. And here I am twenty years later, happier than I ever was. Funny thing about life.”

“Yep. You never know where the road is going to lead.” Isabelle turned back to her computer. “I’ve taken up way too much of your time, Jess.”

“Don’t be silly. Nice change of pace having a new face around.”

“Thanks.” Isabelle smiled and began to click away at the Eugene Cascade Inn’s spreadsheets. When no one was looking, she plugged in a flash drive and downloaded all of the Cascade files. She planned to send the data to Fergus. See if there was some kind of pattern. Meanwhile, she brushed up on the Eugene file in particular. First and foremost, she had to find the blueprints.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Later That Evening

The five o’clock whistle blew, signaling for the day shift to end. Isabelle thought it was quaint. She hadn’t heard one in a very long time. She took her jacket from the back of her chair and said good night to Jessica and George. “Thanks again for making me feel welcome.”

“Sure thing. Have a good night. See you in the A.M.”

George nodded. The man might have said six words all day.

Isabelle walked over to the transportation area and met up with Kat. “I guess we should grab some dinner and then bring our stuff here.”

Kat nodded. “Oliver gave me a set of keys for the outside door.”

“Not the inside?”

“Nope. That gets locked at five.”

“What if you need to work?”

“There’s a computer upstairs in the alcove. That’s where I’d log in.”

“Right. I remember seeing it now.”

The two walked through the cubicles, saying good night to their new colleagues. When they approached the parking lot, Kat mentioned there was a small office in the mill itself. That was for any overnight work that had to be done.

“Is there always someone on site?”

“If there isn’t a load in or load out, it’s supervised by two security guards. The mill doesn’t always run twenty-four-seven. And the other two divisions don’t require use of the mill.”

“You did your homework today.” Isabelle patted her on the back.

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