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The call was so persistent it frustrated us, and I just had to check. As Holden slipped out, I could still see how hard he was, but that was going to wait. I picked Ryan’s call, and his voice reverberated in my ears like a raging thunder.
“The prankster’s struck again.”What?My mind didn’t immediately drift to the happenings of work. “And this time he struck at our office! You need to get here now!”
ChapterSeven
It was pretty crazy. I had to slip into my work clothes— my tapered linen-blend pants, a checkered top, and a double-breasted blazer I had hurriedly purchased last season. I knew I could look chic even when I was in a rush, but, still, my hair, was ragged. I just concluded I would attend to that in my car before I stepped out.
Holden looked at me like he was waiting for something. Probably a kiss, but I felt that would have been too soon. Or, I was just not in the mood to be that mushy just yet. But, at least, I trusted him to lock up my house.
“You could come give me my keys by the office.” I blew him a kiss instead. A short, and not really intimate one. He could tell. He didn’t seem flushed in the slightest.
Getting to the office, I didn’t know what to expect. Ryan had sounded really upset, like the office was on fire or something. But, I hadn’t heard any ruckus around him that would suggest that. Rather, it was all placid. So, on getting there, I was not surprised when I saw him alone surrounded by a pile of mess. Cabinets, agog. Office documents, scattered all around. Even our desks had been searched, and vandalized. And, our computers had been hurled to the grounds. It was all just a faint attempt at riling us up, so we would act in haste and do something we would regret further. But my perception on that changed as soon as my eyes got a glimpse of what they’d had etched on the walls in spray paint. It was the worst vandalism of all, the prankster had written: “Get the hell out, slutty Mayor.”
That was what Ryan was staring at when I entered. “Oh my God,” he said, out of breath.
“Has Luca seen this?”
“No, he hasn’t come to work yet.”
“This is terrible, really.” I was so terrified for him. It seemed like the person could’ve been after his position, or worse, his life. I screamed in my head, because I knew how grave this was. To threaten someone this deeply. I looked over at Ryan. “Do you know who could do this sort of thing?”
“Not really.”
“Maybe a rival or something?”
“You know what? Now, I’d think of it. Stella ran against Luca last three years and lost, you know, badly.”
“Stella?”
“Oh, you don’t know her? She was just here for the board meeting. On your first day, actually.”
“Oh, red-haired lady. She seemed nice, yet a bit sketchy. Like, she’d badly hurt you if you so much as came close to taking what was hers.”
“You got that right.” Ryan squealed somberly, and sat on his desk. “She grew up here. Has lived here all her life. Went to university here. Got married here. Bitch, can you just leave here, for once? She wants to control everything, and everyone. From the schools to the businesses to those in positions of power.”
“So, you think she did this.”
“Well, I’m no detective, but I think she just has something to do with it.”
As soon as he said that, Luca marched in, with two police officers. I didn’t want to acknowledge how hot that was, their arrival, like they’d pulled out a couple pages from my sex dreams, so I just stared and thought of the smartest thing to say if they asked me any question. Plus, this was serious. It wasn’t a crime scene, but the person that had done this could have meant serious harm.
One of them, the bulkier one, examined the door knobs. “This was not a break-in.” He seemed too sure of himself, like he had experienced many of this in his days. He seemed very young, too, younger than the other; like he should be in college and not already, a cop. “I suspect it was an inside job.” The temperature dropped a few degrees when he said this.
“What do you mean?” Luca said.
“Well, it means, someone with a key broke in. Maybe it wasn’t one of you, but someone with access into the building. I think you should check that out.”
Ryan’s eyes quickly darted to me. The tension in them explained it all. We were probably right. Maybe, Stella was behind all of this after all.
“Is something wrong?” Luca asked, looking over at me and Ryan.
I shrugged, but Ryan snickered. I didn’t know if he was about to speak up, so I just did. “Well, we suspect Stella.”
“Of course, you do.” I didn’t sense any empathy or second-thoughts in his tone. It had really come to this. I guess we all thought Stella was behind this.
“But, do you think that was a strong enough motive?”
He looked at Ryan, like he was trying to confirm if he was the one who got me up to speed with the happenings around Stella. Ryan gave a suggestive glance that confirmed what he thought, and then, he answered. “Well, we can’t be really sure of anything, now, can we?”
