“Not if he changed the locks while you were folding laundry,” Clara said.
She reached across the table and took my hand, her palm warm and dry.
“We need to find out exactly what he did with the accounts,” she said.
The lobby of Hollis Transit Systems smelled of rain on the old limestone steps outside. The heels of my black pumps clicked against the polished marble floor as I walked toward the receptionist desk.
Paige Ellison, our thirty-five-year-old communications director, stood by the glass counter holding a thick stack of glossy press releases.
She wore a tailored red skirt that she smoothed down with both hands as I approached.
“Adrian is in a private meeting, Mrs. Lane,” Paige said, her voice a sharp, hushed whisper. “We are managing some very delicate corporate shifts today.”
“I am here to see my husband, Paige.”
“He is very busy with the board,” she said, her eyes lingering on my plain woolen coat. “The company has to move forward, and some roles simply become redundant.”
I looked past her to the double doors of the executive suite, the ones with the gold lettering
“I helped clear the first bus route through Fairfax County when you were still in college, Paige,” I said.
“The past is a very small part of a growing business,” Paige said, tapping the edge of her press releases against the glass counter. “We have to think about the future.”
She turned her back to me, her red skirt swaying as she walked toward the copy room.
I stood alone in the lobby, the damp wind from the street catching the heavy glass doors behind me.
The receptionist, a young woman named Brenda who had only been with us for three months, avoided my eyes.
She kept her head down, typing rapidly on her keyboard as if she were invisible.
“Brenda,” I said, stepping closer to the desk. “Is Adrian’s afternoon schedule completely full?”
“He has the county commissioners coming in at four, Mrs. Lane,” she said, her voice tiny. “And then Mr. Crane is returning.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I sat down on the leather sofa in the waiting area, watching the rain start to streak the high glass windows of the lobby.
Ten minutes later, the double doors of the inner office opened.
