“Alright, then,” Knix stood up and offered me his hand. “Let’sgo.”
I took the offered hand, but frowned at him. “That’s it?” Iasked.
He nodded. “That’s it.” Knix tugged me towards the door. “Most of the guests are either in their rooms or downstairs at breakfast right now. We’re going to meet with everyone in Texas’ commandcenter.”
“Commandcenter?”
My legs worked to keep up with Knix. He didn’t release my hand as we moved down the hallway, passing several doors and Island Employees dressed in the same blue shirt and white pantsuniform.
“It’s the room they gave him to work on the security cameras and computer systems,” Knixreplied.
We headed towards what was obviously an employee hallway. The doors were plain with no gold ornamentation, and some were left open as if the occupants had left in a rush. From what I could discern, peeking into the rooms as we rushed by, there were two or three single beds smooshed together in each, with dressers and no other fancy décor that would have been basic forguests.
Stopping in front of a similar door at the very end of the hallway, Knix knocked twice before turning the handle. The darkened interior surprised me, but as I entered I saw that Texas was sitting like a king on his throne in front of a wall of monitors and boxes with wires peeking out and extending in every direction. He leaned back with rope candy hanging from hismouth.
“Everything good?” Texas asked, raising a brow. Knix and I both nodded inresponse.
“Tell us what you’ve found,” Knix ordered, catching the back of a rolling chair, positioned on the other side of Texas, and pushed it towardsme.
I looked down at it for a moment before tucking my skirt beneath my thighs and sitting down. Marv leaned against the wall behind me and Bellamy, dressed in an employee’s uniform much like Knix and Texas, stood across the room fromus.
“Okay, so here’s the deal.” Texas swung his chair back to the wall of monitors and to my left several of the dead screens lit up. One revealed a long empty hallway, the second two displayed a luxurious dining room filled with the guests, including Mr. and Mrs. Foster at differentangles.
“Here are all of the guests and we’ve established that the thief or thieves – if there are multiples – aren’t employees,” Texasbegan.
“They can’t be,” Bellamy cut in. “Not if this has happened repeatedly over several different functions and there are new employees eachtime.”
“But each time before, employees have been blamed, right?” Marvasked.
“Have any confessed?” Knixasked.
Texas shook hishead.
I sat back and watched them, amazed by their keen intellects bouncing ideas off one another. Texas said that Knix was the boss, and I could understand that they followed his lead as a unit, but they were a team and like Marv had said before, none were a burden to the others. They worked surprisingly well together despite theirdifferences.
“Harlow, what do youthink?”
I was shocked out of my thoughts by Marv’s question. I looked at him before turning to look at the rest. All eyes were on me. I bit my lip and contemplated. If employees were being blamed and none had confessed, but Sweratt had hired all new staff for each event, then it would make sense to consider that the thief or thieves were more than simple maids and butlers andwaiters.
“What about the managers?” I asked. “There must be someone with the company that has to run everyevent.”
Texas turned to a monitor on his other side, and after tapping on his keyboard for a few seconds, he pulled up a picture of a balding man with bright, cheery eyes. He scooted out of the way so that we could all see theimage.
“This is Donald Carrigan,” he said. “He’s an accountant for Sweratt Inc. He’s in charge of thisevent.”
Texas leaned over and clicked a few more buttons causing several more faces to pop up alongside Donald. One was of a sharp looking woman with dull, brown eyes and flat blond hair in her thirties. The rest followed suit, all different, and all apparently connected withSweratt.
“That’s Marybeth Donnelly, Rodrick Redfield, Olivia Briggs, and Roger O’Leary,” Texas repeated each name while pointing to the corresponding picture. “Each of these people have managed events here and each hold a position within Sweratt’s actualcompany.”
“So, they don’t have the same managers each time either,” Knix said. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes and sighed. “This is getting more and morecomplicated.”
There was something else, though. There was a set of people we hadn’t even considered yet. My eyes were drawn to the monitor of the luxurious dining room as the idea formed in myhead.
“What if,” I began hesitantly. Maybe it was ridiculous, but the longer I thought on it, the more the idea made sense. Who else could it be? Every employee for the event was new. There was no way it could be one ofthem.
“Harlow?” Bellamyprompted.
I turned back to the group. “What if we’re looking at this all wrong,” I said. “What if it’s not the employees, but one of theguests?”