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It was an hour into our day so the elevator was empty the whole way. Most everyone was either hard at work or heading to meetings at that point. The elevator came to a noisy stop on 17, and the doors slid open. I paused for a moment, looking at the dusty dim area in front of me. Drop cloths covered the floors, and the lighting flickered a bit. There were detached lights clamped down the hallway and I assumed they had the main power shut off in that part for construction.
I followed the directions Shelly had given and headed down to the office, finding the lights working in that part of the building. The door to the admin room was closed and the lights were off, so I assumed that the maintenance guy had left already. I wasn’t sure what he was sent to clean down there considering everything would just be covered in construction dust ten minutes later. I wasn’t even sure the door would be unlocked, but as I touched the doorknob, the door creaked open.
There was a nervous ball in the back of my throat, feeling like I was in a whole other building. I peaked in, hearing a faint sound in the back of the room. “Hello? Ernest? I’m here from testing to pick up my badges…Shelly said…to come down…”
I stepped inside and slid my hand over the wall, looking for a switch, but it wasn’t there. The light from the frosted windows gave me enough light to make my way over to the counter, but there was no metal bin. I was about to leave when I caught sight of it sitting on the table behind the counter. With a sigh, I walked behind the counter, putting my hands out so I didn’t trip and fall. I took a step and caught my foot on something heavy, stumbling forward. I caught myself on the copy machine, and pushed back, feeling something wet on my hands. In front of me on the wall was the light switch. I reached up and clicked on the overhead lights, blinking my eyes to get used to the halogen glow.
Looking back down, I found my hands covered in a red liquid. The same red liquid that was dripping down the copier. My first instinct was an ink spill, so I look right and left trying to find some paper towels. As I stepped back, my foot hit something and I turned, looking down. Everything moved in slow motion, the air drying my throat as I sucked in a deep breath. On the floor was a man, a ring of keys in his hand, blood on his forehead and across his chest, exposed by his ripped shirt.
I stumbled back several feet and looked down at my hands, immediately starting to breathe heavily. I bumped into the copier and realized almost instantly. It wasn’t an ink spill. It was blood.
A loud scream echoed in my ears, over and over again, as I pressed my body against the table, trying to claw myself away. Everything began to spin, the screaming echoing in my head over and over again. Construction workers came racing into the room, smears of yellow hard hats and orange shirts in my vision. It wasn’t until one of them grabbed me by the arms that I realized I was the one screaming at the top of my lungs.
“Ma’am,” he yelled. “Are you hurt?”
“What?” I choked out, staring at the man on the ground.
The worker shifted my vision to him. “Are you hurt?”
He glanced down at my bloody hands. I shook my head. “No. No…it’s not…mine.”
He nodded and led me from behind the counter to a chair. “Sit here. Okay? Security is on its way up. Try to breathe. What’s your name?”
“Si…Sicily…I…I work on the 25th…I came to get my badge…I….”
He nodded. “Okay, Sicily. Just take a deep breath for me. I’m going to go meet the security detail at the elevator but there are people here with you, okay?”
I nodded, my eyes falling on the foot of the man sticking out from behind the counter. I could hear people milling all around me, someone mentioning my name, but the whole room was spinning. The only thing that straightened my senses was the sound of Daniel’s voice. My head shot up and we locked eyes. Instantly I could feel the tears falling down my cheeks.
What was happening? Who was the man dead on the floor?
Chapter Seven
Daniel
“If everyone could just settle for a minute,” I said, feeling the pressure in my temples as I stood in front of the testing team. “I know this has been very trying, very confusing. Everyone should have had a statement taken already from the police. How this is going to work is everyone is going to be scheduled with a time to sit down with me, Shelly, and Adele, our legal lead, and talk. This is nothing super formal, we just want to touch base with everyone. It’s going to start this evening, and then pick up tomorrow. The office will be closed until noon tomorrow, tentatively, and then we will try to get back to work. I sent out the schedule to everyone so you know when you need to be here. You’ll meet here on this floor in the conference room. Make sure to bring your badges and ID as we have heightened security and you’ll have to show all these things to get through. If you have any issues, have them call up to us.”
Shelly hurried in the room and handed me a copy of the appointments for that evening. “I’m going to read off the appointments for tonight, and everyone else make sure to check the schedule for tomorrow.” I looked down at the paper. “Sicily…” Her name came out quiet, and I realized the heaviness of speaking with her first. I cleared my throat. “Sicily, you’re scheduled for four pm, if that’s okay with you.”
I searched the crowd until I found her face. She gave me a nod. I noticed she was wearing Clint’s company windbreaker, and remembered the smear of blood across her white top when I went to the scene of the crime earlier. She had been shaking like a leaf. All I wanted in the whole world was to put my arms around her and get her out of there, but the police escorted her from the room before I could get to her. When her eyes had locked with mine, my heart broke for her. I knew she was initially questioned and cleared of all wrong doing, but it was never a question in my mind. She looked broken, somewhere deep inside.
“Chuck, you’re five this evening. Andrea you’re six, and then everyone else will pick up in the morning.” I set the paper on the table in front of me and took a deep breath. “I know that this has all been…hard. It’s hard to understand, to feel safe, to feel comfortable. But I promise you we have the best of the best working on this, we have tripled our security, searched the whole building, and it is our utmost priority to keep every single one of you safe. Shelly has also sent out information for counselors on call at any hour to speak to any of you. Please don’t hesitate. As for now, feel free to collect your things and go home to your families and friends. Thank you all from all of us here. We will get through this together.”
As everyone filed out, I tried to find Sicily, but couldn’t see her among the crowd. Shelly and Adele walked up next to me. Adele cleared her throat. “Daniel, I think it would be best if we meet at twenty to four in the conference room. Just get on the same page. Sicily was the one who found the body, so we want to be gentle and supportive.”
I nodded. “Understood. I’ll see you then.”
I headed to the elevator and as the door opened, a security guard nodded to me, standing to the side. “Top floor, sir?”
“Yes, please.”
He controlled the elevator, his hand on his weapon as he watched the floors go up. When the doors opened I nodded in thanks and stepped off, another guard putting up his hand. “Badge. Name.”
I patted my pockets, taken back by the lack of communication with the guard in front of me. My assistant hurried over. “It’s okay. This is one of the owners.”
The guard eyed me and nodded, standing to the side. My assistant walked next to me down the hall. “The others are in Guy’s office. They’re waiting on you and Mitch.”
“Thank you,” I said stopping at the door. “Why don’t you pack up and go home too. Take care of yourself a bit.”
