Page 64 of Single Mom's Secret Diary
“What’s that?” He points. Concern narrows his eyes.
I spread the papers out, hastily uncrumpling them. He reads, and the anger boiling inside me is mirrored on his face. “Plastered all over Avery’s office door.”
Ezra stands very slowly, hands planted on the edge of his desk. “Who did this?”
“I don’t know. I’ll hit up IT to access the cameras. This cannot stand.” I’ve never been a particularly violent man, but the urge to put my fist through something is overwhelming.
“Has Avery seen it?”
That sends a cold wash over me, deepening my initial anger into something much more dangerous. “I don’t think so.”
Ezra meets my gaze, and I’m glad I’m not alone with my reactions. “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
I nod, gathering the papers again with a little less rough handling, and ease my way out of his office. My purpose hasn’t dulled, but I need to put on the appropriate air in this office. I don’t want to tip anyone off, don’t want the gossip to get ahead of me before I figure out who has the gall to attack Avery this way.
It takes minutes to make my way down to the IT office. It’s a small crew, three employees running the whole shebang. They’rehoused right beside our customer service people and HR—or Pam, as it were.
I should stop in with her as well. After we search for who’s vandalizing office doors.
Jared nods at me, so I go to him, the papers still bunched in my fist.
“What’s up, man? We don’t usually see you down here.” He glances at the papers, brows rising in curiosity.
“I need you to access the cameras upstairs. The footage from this morning. Please.” I hate that I only just thought to tack that please onto the end. I’ve always prided myself in being cordial. Polite. To the point of flirting.
I sigh, but he’s already typing and clicking on his computer. Setting the papers on the empty spot near his desk, the top unfurls, and his glance makes him jerk. His focus homes in, and I’m grateful.
After a minute, he’s frowning and clicking more frantically. He waves Jeremey over.
“What’s going on?” I lean in to see the screen. A few windows are up, the video feeds around the office part of the building.
They bend over the keyboard together, each trying something.
I work to hold my patience, running a hand through my hair as I wait.
Jeremey shakes his head. “It’s not there.”
My hand hits the papers a bit harder than I mean to. “What’s not there?”
Jared grimaces at me. “The footage of the upstairs hallways is gone. For an entire hour.”
Of course, it is.
“Just for those two hallways?” I ask. How could someone without access to the cameras or computers make the recording stop? Unless they have someone else doing it for them.
I examine the three IT people. None of them are fidgety or squirming. No one is acting out of the ordinary.
“Yeah. Just the upstairs hallways.”
“What about the stairs or elevator cameras for that time?” Jeremey suggests.
Jared points at him and goes back to clicking around on his computer. It takes another five minutes for him to wave me closer to look.
Right when the cameras go out on the second floor, Laurel enters the stairwell with a file folder under her arm. She’s got a little black remote in her hand before she steps out to the upstairs offices. Twenty minutes later, she’s in the elevator—no remote or folder on her.
It could be a coincidence. She could have been dropping something off… but to whom? Laurel works directly under Wyatt. She doesn’t need to seek out Ezra or myself for anything…
My intuition says she’s the culprit. Given the things she’s said to Avery to create trouble, and the accusation made against Avery, too, who else had anything to gain from getting her out of the way?
