Page 19 of His Ex's Little Sister
8
Reid
By the timeI walk into my apartment and log on to my office computer via the company’s secure network, everything is ready to go. Except I didn’t count on having to review a minimum of three hours for each of the six video feeds with footage covering different angles of the section of the building where the fire started. Doing the math, it’s not quite ten at night, so I can expect to be finished tomorrow afternoon. But not when strong coffee and the fast-forward feature are myfriends.
It takes me almost all night to review a video footage, but by four in the morning, I have a lead. There’s one clip that shows a man lurking near the air conditioning unit that started the fire. The image is not as clear as I’d like it, taken from outside the building. The person must also have had some knowledge of the camera locations, because he managed to avoid showing his face on any of the footage, and covered his head with abaseballcap.
I send an email with the details to Geoff, asking him to do his best to enhance the shot. If we can get a closer look at his face, we may be able to get Mason’s people to identify who it is and whether the person was authorized to bethere.
Satisfied, I kick off my shoes, strip out of my shirt and pants, and head to bed. I double check my alarm too. Three hours of sleep isn’t near enough after such a long day, but I’llmakedo.
I’m halfwayto the office when I get a text from Leo telling me that Mason wants to meet at the ranch. That requires me to double back through rush hour traffic. The only way I’ll make it there on time is if I get the hell off the highway and take one of the ranchers’ access back roads nearby. I’m taking a chance, as I can end up stuck driving behind a piece of slow-moving ranch equipment, but the road less traveled is a better bet this timearound.
Lady luck is in a good mood today too, and I get to the ranch ten minutes early. Leo is already here, waiting beside his truck that’s parked in the semi-circular driveway in front of the mainhouse.
“Is Geoff coming?” I ask him as I jump out oftheSUV.
“No. I told him to keep working on enhancing the images you found. Let’s get this over with. Mason is our biggest client, but he’s not our only client. I’ve got two more meetings thismorning.”
“My day’s packed solid too,” I tell him, following him to thefrontdoor.
A middle-aged dark-haired housekeeper answers the door and leads us through the large, stately home to Mason’s study. She knocks on the door, only opening it when she hears Mason’s invitation for her togoin.
“Mr. Connelly and Mr. Atkinson from Allied Force Security are here to see you, Mr. Mason,” she announces from the half-open mahoganyslidingdoor.
“Come on in.” Gerald Mason waves us in with his tablet computer in one hand, continuing to read as he sips on a small cup of espresso. “Would you gentlemen like some coffee? Orbreakfast?”
“Good morning, Mr. Mason,” Leo greets him. “Thanks for the offer, but we’re fine, thanks.” We’re short on time asitis.
“Tell me you have an updateforme.”
“I know you’re a busy man, so we’ll get to the point. There have been three suspicious fires on your various properties in as manyweeks.”
Mason, as we like to refer to him, briefly glances up from whatever he’s reading. “Notfour?”
“No. The fire investigators ruled out the grease fire at the Mirabel Resort as accidental, so that makes three.” Leo opens the letter-size envelope he brought with him and pulls the blown-up photograph of the unknown man in the baseball cap from the video feed. “Video surveillance captured this man near the location of last night’s fire. We suspect he has some knowledge of your operations, because he came on and off the premises without being noticed, and managed to navigate the grounds while keeping his face from being captured by the CCTVcameras.”
“Interesting.”
Leo passes the photo to Mason. “As you can see here, he covered much of his face with a baseball cap. This image is not clear, but it’s the best one from all the camera feeds. Does he look familiaratall?”
Mason studies the image for a while, and then he shakes his head. “It’s way too blurry. But he’s got to be staff… or formerstaff.”
“How do you know thatforsure?”
“We gave those monogrammed baseball caps to all our employees at last year’s family day event. Not that this information can help much. I have close to two thousandstaff.”
“Good point. But…roughly how many of them lost their jobs during the last two company downsizing initiatives sincethattime?”
“Claire from HR can give you an exact number, but I’d say it’s about four hundred. Except… not all those staff had access to this ranch. Only a couple dozen of the downsized senior and mid-level managers would have had business dealings here.” Mason smiles and gets to his feet, heading over to the large mahogany desk at the far side of the study. “I see where you’re going with this. Let me facilitate this search so it’s a little easier for you.” He makes a call from his cell phone and turns on thespeakerphone.
“Good morning,” someone answers. “Mason Industries HR Division. This is Claire Regent. How may Ihelpyou?”
“Hello Claire?Geraldhere.”
“Good morning, Mr. Mason,” Claire chirps. Her tone is more formal and high-pitched now that she’s aware it’s her boss on this end of the line. “What can I doforyou?”
“I need you to go through the staff records and pull up a list of all the senior and mid-level managers we let go over thelastyear.”
