Page 73 of Exposed

Mary perked up. “To me, the logical place to start would be the two men who made allegations about Simon in the defamation complaint. Ernie and Ray. They were both willing to lie about Simon in the lawsuit and back each other up. That seems fishy, doesn’t it?”

“Agree. I met Ray at the interview. Kind of a close-mouthed, no-nonsense operations guy. And Ernie called Mike Bashir about the cops and the search warrant.”

Mary nodded, excited. “We should narrow in on them when we go through the documents and emails.”

“Okay.” Bennie got on the same page. “So what’s the plan of action?”

“In the morning, we go to the crime scene. I set it up for ten o’clock and I’d like you to go with me.”

“I will.” Bennie felt pleased.

Mary turned to Judy. “You stay here, okay? You make sure all the docs are boxed and that courier gets them. Do you mind doing all the Xeroxing tonight?”

“Fine with me.” Judy nodded, chewing away. “But I’m keeping the lid closed. I’m not a fan of radiation, unlike somebody we know.”

Mary blinked. “What lid?”

“On the machine. I don’t want a third ovary.”

“Forget it,” Bennie interjected. “Mary, you were saying?”

Mary faced Bennie. “I think you should take the sales info, and I should take the email. I’ll eliminate the emails that are irrelevant, then make a document index like we do on any big civil case, classifying the relevant documents by subject, using a keyword, and making it searchable by subject.”

“Right, do it down and dirty. Narrow it down to the past six months, for starters. I’ll learn everything about Simon’s sales and we can put our facts together.”

“Yes.” Mary rose with a smile. “I got a second wind!”

“Me, too.” Bennie stood up, opposite her. “Let’s get to work.”

“Can I have the last spring roll?” Judy asked, but the others were already leaving.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Mary slipped into bed at five in the morning, her sheets cool and her bedroom dark. She felt exhausted and depressed, having barely made a dent in Simon’s emails, and Bennie had felt the same way, since all she had managed to do was plot Simon’s call logs, purchase orders, and other sales information on Excel spreadsheets. They had both left the office to sleep for an hour or so before they had to get up, shower, and leave for the crime scene. Poor Judy had stayed behind to Xerox her heart out, make the deadline for the courier, and then go home and sleep in.

Mary pulled the cotton blanket up slowly, not to wake up Anthony, and her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness yet, so she could only see the outline of his shoulders, his body turned away. He must’ve been as tired as she was, since he had been at her parents’ house after the news broke about Simon’s being taken in for questioning. She had texted him to go over and try to keep her parents’ blood pressures in a normal range. She hoped he had succeeded. Otherwise she hadn’t had a chance to catch him up on anything.

Anthony stirred, shifting around to face her in the darkness. “Honey?” he asked softly, running a hand lightly down her arm.

“Oh, hi. I thought you were asleep.” Mary shifted closer to his chest, feeling the warmth coming off of his skin. She always said that he ran hot, like a furnace. “When did you get home?”

“About two hours ago.”

“Oh no, later than I thought. Were they upset?”

“Yes. My mother was there too. It’s a lot for them. I’m glad I went.”

“I’m glad you did, too, thanks so much.”

“You must be beat.” Anthony rested his arm around her.

“Not a great day.” Mary nestled closer to him, turning her head to the side.

“You want to fill me in? I can’t sleep anyway. I feel terrible for Simon. He’s the gentlest guy in the world. It’s impossible to think that he would kill his boss, or even hurt his boss. He’d never hurt anybody.”

“I know.”

“Is he okay? How is he?”