Page 44 of Iron

“What can I do for you?” I asked as he stepped up to my desk but didn’t take a seat.

“Might be nothing, but I noticed that Midori was a little shaken up after her last meeting with Mr. White.”

I blinked as I thought about what he said.

“Did she say anything?” I asked, wondering why she hadn’t come directly to me if there was a problem.

“Um, no, ma’am.” He cleared his throat. “She seemed upset though. When I asked her if there was something that I needed to take care of, she brushed it off.”

“But you feel like something happened?” It may have come out as a question but it was clear that he did.

He shook his head, his eyes going to the side as if he was trying to think of how to put whatever it was into words.

“She seemed upset,” he repeated as his eyes slid back to meet mine. “I got a feeling.” His shoulders rose and fell like that should have been enough of an explanation.

“I’ll watch the video and see if I can find anything odd.” I was already pulling it up as I spoke the words.

“I watched it. There wasn’t anything that I found.”

“Yes,” I said as I cut my eyes over to him. “But sometimes I can catch things that you don’t.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded his head letting me know he wasn’t going to say anything more. “Let me know if I need to handle anything further on the matter.”

My eyes narrowed as I scrutinized every little thing about his expression. The tapping of my nail against the wood of my desk rang out but he didn’t even take his eyes off of me to watch the movement.

“Anything else you care to tell me?” I asked him with a raised brow and hard eyes.

His lips tipped up in a smirk that was on the verge of flirty. He really was an attractive man when his face wasn’t hard and serious. But that was not what I needed from him when he was here. I needed him focused and intimidating.

“No, Petra,” he replied but there was almost a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Your problems are your own to deal with,” I started. “But when it affects my business then they become mine. And I don’t like problems. So if there is anything you need to tell me, now would be the time.”

“You’re absolutely right, my problems are mine to deal with.”

“Keep it that way.”

“I have to.” There was almost a sadness in his tone and though it wasn’t like me, I wanted to press him for more of an answer.

I was his boss and as long as it wasn’t going to cause problems, then I didn’t really need to know. I was simply going to have to let my curiosity die out on this one.

“Let me know if you catch something I didn’t,” he said, then with a nod of his head, he left my office.

I watched the footage from the last time Midori was in a room with Mr. White. I noticed nothing out of the ordinary on his part.

I kept watching even after they both had left the room, my eyes scanning over everything as best as I could. I figured there wasn’t a clue to find but I wasn’t going to let it go until I was sure.

Elsa entered the room and started stripping the bed. Not once did she pause as she cleaned, letting me know that she hadn’t found anything unusual as well.

Momentarily, I let myself think about Alina. She had been the one that cleaned the rooms before I hired Elsa to replace her. Alina had been with me for years and she seemed as if she never wanted to leave me.

My lips twitched, threatening to tip up at the corners as I thought back to the day I practically forced her to retire. I set her up with a house on the beach in the southern part of California. It was my plan to have her far away from here where she wouldn’t try to come back. She’d been happy at the time, even when she’d said her goodbyes.

I pulled out my tablet and made a note to get in contact with her. It had been nearly a year since I’d checked up on her and it was long overdue.

Blinking myself back into focus, I sat up straight.

Then I rewound the footage and watched it again.