Circle of Shadows (14 page)

“Well, if you’re sure, I’ll go
back and start the paperwork. I’ll be in the office if anyone needs me.”

“Damn waste of time, anyhow,”
Arthur grumbled to Ralph as Lili walked away. “They
ain’t
gonna
know a bit more, no matter how many times we
count this stuff.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that. Why,
you can figure out lots of stuff with these new computers. You should come over
some time and see all the tricks I can do with mine.”

Arthur stared at him. “I thought
you just used that for games and stuff.”

Ralph shrugged, embarrassed.
“Sure, I play games on it with my buddies, and show off to the girlfriends. But
it’s good for lots of other stuff, too.”

“Like what?”

“Like math and stuff. Just
because I didn’t graduate from high school doesn’t mean I never learned to
count to ten, you know. I’ve read every book I could find about my computer.
I’ve got a modem and everything.”

“You have, huh?” Arthur looked at
him with new interest. “What’s a modem for?”

Ralph puffed up importantly.
Arthur was always calling him the high-school drop-out in front of the girls
who came in to talk to him. It was nice to show off for a change.

“It’s for sending information
from one computer to another over the phone lines. I can call up mainframes and
dozens of databases and download information from them. I was talking to one in
California, last night.”

“Maybe you’d show me how it all
works when we get done here tonight, huh?”

Ralph’s smile faded and he looked
away. Then he shrugged indifferently and said, “Sure, Arthur, I can try to show
you. But you can’t learn something like a computer in one evening, you know.
PC’s are all different, besides.”

“Yeah, I know. But the new boss
might put in a new-fangled computer scale, and I’d like to know a little bit
about computer stuff, just so I don’t sound stupid, you know?”

“Yeah, okay,” Ralph said.
It
would serve that smart-assed playboy right to have Mr. Mills think he was
stupid. I should have said no. Well, Arthur can’t learn much in one night.

Ralph grinned.
I’ll throw so
much detail at him that
Arthur’ll
never remember it
anyway. The dumb car-jockey. I wonder how he made out with the boss’ classy
secretary. Bet it didn’t take her long to get his number.
Ralph shrugged
and went back to wrapping trays of oranges.

***

By evening tempers were short,
and Lili insisted everyone go home at their usual time. “We’ll finish
tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll get more done with a fresh start in the morning.”

She went home, put rose scented
bubble bath into her tub and filled it with hot water.

Luxuriating in the fragrant
water, she leaned back in the old-fashioned tub, thinking about Ken. Lately
he’d been acting so cold toward her, not even kissing her. Pride kept her from
asking why, so she suffered in silence. If he wanted their relationship only on
a businesslike basis, she had no choice but to agree.

Why had she started to care about
him anyway? He was way out of her league.

On the other hand, he continued
to see her at the store almost on a daily basis. Perhaps he was spying on her.
No, that wouldn’t explain his going swimming with her at the pool.

She needed her exercise, to get
rid of some of the mental stress of the days, and had gone back to her former
habit of a nightly swim at the heated motel pool. More often than not, Ken was
there, or arrived shortly after her. They usually swam laps together in
companionable silence, then shared a few minutes with a soft drink on the
chairs before she politely took her leave. He would make no effort to detain
her, yet she would feel she was somehow abandoning him; condemning him to a
lonely evening at his lake house.

That was a ridiculous idea; he
had moved there by choice. It had nothing to do with her.

They were spending more time together
now than ever before, but instead of feeling closer, she was feeling isolated
from him. Come to think of it, he seldom touched her now. Before he had touched
her hand or put his arm around her at every opportunity. Why had he grown so
cold?

Perhaps she should have gone to
the pool tonight, and swum until she was exhausted, instead of soaking in this
hot bath. Her bath was now cold, she realized. Sighing, she rinsed the fragrant
bubbles off under the shower, toweled off and went to bed.

***

The report on that inventory
turned out nearly the same as the others and just as confusing. Tightlipped and
cold, Ken said, “We’ll wait for the next one.”

So they went through it all again
the first of the next month. In the intervening weeks, the summer weather turned
hot, but nothing much warmed up between Lili and Ken. Lili felt as though a
block of ice had settled on her heart, but did her best to pretend nothing was
wrong.

When the report from the next
inventory came back, Lili and Ken sat in her office, each with a copy in their
hands and her desk between them. It was a symbol of their problem, she thought
grimly. They were always together physically, yet a wide gulf separated them on
an emotional level. The strain of being close to him without daring to touch
him was driving her crazy.

The fact that he showed no sign
of being affected by her in a like manner was the hardest for her to bear. It
could only mean that he didn’t care for her the same way that she had grown to
care for him. How could she go on seeing him on such a regular basis, while
knowing he was indifferent to her?

How could he remain so
businesslike when her heart was doing flip-flops because they were alone
together, even if it was only in her office with lots of people nearby? How
could he have made love to her and given her those sizzling kisses if he cared
nothing for her? It didn’t make sense. She’d never understand the man.

“Are you listening to me, Lili?”

She flushed and willed her mind
back to the matter at hand. “Yes, of course. You were talking about the
possibility of vendor theft.”

Ken glared at her disbelievingly,
then went on, “Yes. Well, let’s have another staff meeting and go over all the
security procedures again.”

“But we’ve done that,” Lili said.
“I’ve reviewed everything from the way they check in the semi load from Allied,
to the pop, dairy, and potato chip drivers. I don’t see any reason to think
that is the problem. Under our system I don’t see how they could get away with
a package of anything, let alone enough to skew our bottom line to this
extent.”

“We’re obviously missing
something, or we wouldn’t be seeing these figures,” Ken insisted. “I’ll get Tom
to bring out some new videos to make the meeting interesting. We’ll try to get
more discussion going, to see if we can get any ideas from the others.” He
picked up the phone and began dialing.

“All right,” she agreed
tonelessly. Her thoughts remained glum as she listened to him explain the
problem to Tom. He set up the staff meeting for the next Wednesday evening.

She was sure Ken thought her
management inept. She felt like a failure, and she had no idea of what to do
about it.

“Come on,” he said kindly,
standing up. “Put that report away and let’s get some dinner and go for a swim.
The exercise will make you feel better.”

She forced a smile and obeyed. As
they moved down the hall, Anna came out of the storage room and walked towards
them.

When Lili stopped and asked her
to set up the staff meeting, Anna’s face looked worried. “What’s wrong? Didn’t
the inventory come out good this time, either?”

“No, it didn’t, Anna,” Lili
admitted.

Anna hesitated, shifting from one
foot to another.

Ken looked at her suspiciously.
“Is there something you want to tell us, Anna?”

Her face pale, Anna licked her
lips and nodded. “I’ve meant to tell you several times, Lili,” she said
apologetically. “But I was afraid....”

“What is it?” Ken demanded
grimly.

Lili glared at Ken. Couldn’t he
see the older woman was scared of losing her job at her age? Where was his
head, anyway? She said quietly, “
It’s
okay, Anna. Just
tell us.”

“You remember the day I couldn’t
find that case of beans for the firemen’s picnic,” Anna said, her voice low.

“Yes.”

“Well, that wasn’t the first time
things have been missing. It’s been happening more and more.”

“I see. Yes, you should have told
me immediately.”

Anna frowned stubbornly. “Ralph
says I’m getting senile, but I know what I know.”

“We believe you, Anna. And we
certainly don’t think you’re getting senile,” Ken told her. “Who else knows
about this?”

“I haven’t really told anyone.
But Billy and the other stock boys have helped me move boxes around to look for
things several times. And I’ve asked Ralph and Arthur if they remembered
unloading something, so they knew I couldn’t find it.”

“And what did they say?”

Anna frowned, thinking. “Just
asked if I was sure it even came in on the truck, whether I checked off the
load. But I did. I always do. I even check off each item, not just take a box
count like the driver says that some stores do.”

“That’s good. But Anna, we had
all the locks changed. Has this happened lately?”

“Yes. But not as often as a few
months ago.”

“Well, don’t say anything more to
anyone. Just leave this to us, Anna. Thanks for telling us.”

***

“What does it mean?” Lili asked
over dinner.

Ken countered, his eyes searching
hers, “What do you think it could mean?”

“I suppose it could mean someone
is getting in at night to steal. But how? There’s never been any sign of a
break-in other than that one night,” she said. She unconsciously rubbed the
spot on her forehead where she’d been hit.

“Or it could mean she didn’t
actually get what she was supposed to, was shorted by a driver.”

“No,” Lili said, shaking her
head. “This is too big a problem to be explained by something like that. At
least three people help with unloading the semi, and one of us always checks
off every item on the invoice after it’s in the storeroom.”

“How about shoplifting?”

“Ken,” Lili said, “Our customers
are by and large local, church-going family people. This isn’t the ghetto, or
even a town full of tourists, except for a couple of months in the summer.
Besides, only shoplifting on a massive scale would explain this, and I know
that’s not happening.”

Ken nodded. “I agree. Anyway,
what Anna is talking about is full cases of stuff from the back room. That’s
not the kind of thing you usually miss with a shoplifting problem.”

“Except when it’s an inside job,”
Lili said grimly. “That’s what you mean, isn’t it, Ken?”

“I know you don’t like the idea.
But, yes, I don’t see how I can come to any other conclusion.”

Lili felt ill. He was right. One
of her own, trusted employees was probably a thief. One who had a key and could
come and go as he, or she, pleased.

Ken sat at a back corner table in
the truck stop across from a tiny man in jeans and a bright green John Deere
cap.

He felt like a heel. But he’d had
to do something. He knew without asking that Lili would consider his actions a
sign of his lack of faith in her. She would be right.

At Tom’s suggestion, Ken had
hired Curtis to keep an eye on the store each night, without, of course,
telling anyone who worked there about him. He had ordered Curtis to just watch
from a distance, then write down and report any nighttime activity of any kind
at the store. If anyone carried out anything that looked like merchandise from
the store, when it was supposed to be closed, Ken was going to know about it
immediately.

Hiring Curtis was decidedly
under-handed and unfair to Lili. However, he reasoned, if she was innocent, his
actions would prove that as well as, God forbid, the opposite. Ken shifted in
his chair and listened to the chain-smoking private detective.

He was still a heel. It was three
weeks since they had taken the last inventory, and he knew nothing more than he
had after the first one. So, he’d hired this little weasel of a man as a last
resort. Even the way Ken had to meet him in secret at this truck stop half-way
to the Twin Cities felt sleazy and cheap. But there was nothing cheap about the
fees Curtis charged for his services.

“Anything new this week?”

Curtis shrugged. He was making
his third weekly report. “Nothing that looked out of the ordinary to me. The
young gal with the long, strawberry hair....”

“Lili.”

“Yeah, Lili. She was there long
after closing three nights again this week. But like I told you the other
times, she never takes nothing out with her, ’
cept
her purse. Just gets in her car and drives straight home.”

Ken nodded grimly. He’d asked
Lili about it the first week, without letting on how he knew she was working
late. She’d just shrugged and said she was behind in her office work.

Curtis sent a sly look at Ken.
“Or sometimes she goes to the motel swimming pool.” He paused and grinned.
“Sometimes you’re there, too.”

“Never mind, that. Anything at
all, Curtis? Nobody went in or out of the store?”

“Well, yeah, just after closing,
Arthur, I think his name is, the big bald-headed guy that always wears a white
paper hat?”

“Yes, that’s his name.”

“Well, anyway, he loaded a big
cart full of meat and groceries into his car. I could read the labels on the
boxes with my binoculars. But other employees were still in the store. When he
wheeled the carry-out cart back inside, I could see them talking to him, so I
didn’t call you, cause I thought it must be okay.”

“Did you follow him like I told
you to check on where anything went that left the store after hours?”

Curtis nodded, and lit another
cigarette from the stub of the last one. “Yeah, I did. He went right to that
fancy Alfredo’s Steak house and unloaded part of it, then took the rest of it
to the Lutheran Church on the south side of town.”

Ken sighed. He’d gone over all
Lili’s accounts with her. Both the restaurant and the church had standing
charge accounts and were among the store’s best bulk customers. He had taken
Lili to the Lutheran Church’s ham supper himself this week, so he’d known they
were getting a large order.

“Anything else?”

“Well, the bakery truck arrived
at the front door at six, yesterday morning. He waited in his truck awhile. Then
Lili came and opened up for him and then she went home again after he left.
Allied’s
semi came in at five o’clock on Tuesday morning.
Three guys and Lili were there from then on. I could see them unloading stuff
into the back storage room from where I was. I left when the store opened, like
you told me.”

“Yeah, go on.”

“Then last night the two teenaged
boys stayed about two hours after everyone else left. I drove past the front
windows
so’s
I could see what they were up to. Store
was lit up and it looked like they were pushing big machines around, maybe
scrubbing and waxing the floors.”

Drumming his fingers impatiently
on the table, Ken nodded and drank some more coffee. Lili had told him that the
stock boys did that on a regular schedule after hours.

“They didn’t let anyone in or out
the back way, did
they
?” he asked, considering that
possibility.

“No way. I’d have seen ’
em
from where I was sitting.”

“Are you sure that you stayed
awake the whole night, every night?”

Curtis blew smoke into a ring
over his head and frowned at Ken. “Hey, I’m the best there is. I never sleep on
the job.”

“Sorry. But you have to admit,
you’re not finding out much.”

Curtis snorted, “Can’t see
nothing if there’s nothing to see.”

Ken sighed. “I know that. Well, keep
watching. If there’s anything suspicious, call me, no matter what time it is.”

“Sure, boss. But, one thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Sunday’s my ma’s birthday. Ma’s
gonna
be eighty. I
gotta
have
Saturday and Sunday nights off so I can drive down to Iowa to go see her and my
sisters, or my
name’ll
be ‘Mud.’”

Ken sighed. This surveillance was
getting nowhere anyway. What did it matter? “Okay, Curtis.”

“See you next week, then.” Curtis
crushed out his cigarette, doffed his farmer style cap, and sidled out.

Ken waited a while before
leaving, just in case anyone was watching the restaurant. Then he picked up the
check, paid it and drove off to finish his schedule for the day.

By the time he pulled into his
own driveway, it was past six, but not yet dark thanks to the long days of July
in Minnesota. He carried his briefcase to his office and checked his answering
machine and fax for messages.

But the message lights were not
blinking, in fact, no lights were on
on
the machines
at all. Had the power been off?

Then, as he looked about, he
froze, realizing that someone had been in his office. Were they still here? His
ears strained to hear any noise, but heard nothing.

He was a neat man, but now his
office was a mess. Papers on his desk were askew, his locked file cabinet had
been pried open. Some folders lay out. Both the answering machine and fax were
unplugged and the power strip for his computer was unhooked from the wall plug.
Various CDs were lying about, as though someone had known he wouldn’t be home
for hours and was looking at the various files of information on his computer.
But who?

Walking quickly through the
house, he found no one. Downstairs, he found the side door lock broken. The
intruder had apparently entered there.

Returning to his office, he
plugged in the phone, breathing a sigh of relief when he heard a dial tone. He
reported the burglary. While he waited for an officer to arrive, he tried to
figure out what was missing, but found nothing.

He spent another half hour
talking to the officers.

He remembered that Lili had told
him that Ralph was a computer nut, even though he’d never finished high school.
Was this connected to Adams’ Foods’ problems? Or was it only a burglar?

But a burglar wouldn’t be
interested in his files or the workings of his computer or fax machine, would
he?

Had Renee sent any messages that
could have been intercepted? He called her to see, and to tell her about the
break-in.

“Ken! I haven’t heard from you
for hours,” she scolded. “Really, it’s long past time for you to get a cell
phone.”

“I think you’re right, Renee.
Order one for me.”

Dead silence. Then, a happy
squeal. “Really? I never thought I’d see the day. I’ll do it first thing in the
morning. But, Ken, why wasn’t your fax working? Did you unplug it or
something?”

“No,” Ken said, and explained
about the break-in.

This time it was Renee who got
upset. After he calmed her down, he said, “I think I have it all connected
again. Try to send your messages again.”

But after a couple of failed
attempts, he said, “I’ll just have to have the fax machine repaired or
replaced. Read me the important messages.”

“But what if your phone is
bugged? If someone was interested in your computer and file cabinets, they
might also have tapped your phone line somewhere.”

Ken thought a minute, then
shrugged, and said, “This job looks too amateurish for that. But maybe you’re
right. I’ll pick them up in person in the morning. Keep me posted by phone, and
I’ll let you know where I am.”

As he began the job of
straightening up and re-filing the folders, he noticed that the ones out were
all labeled ‘Adams’ Foods.’ Going to his computer, he saw that the disks that
were out of order were also on Adams’ Foods.

Now there was no doubt in his
mind that there was a connection between the store’s problems and this
break-in.

Could Lili know about this?
Certainly not personally, he couldn’t see her doing this herself. Besides, she
wouldn’t leave such a mess. Perhaps the thief who might want to find out how
much he had learned?

He had to see Lili. And he needed
to see her face when he told her about this. He dialed her house and she
answered immediately. “I need to talk to you, Lili. Did you go for a swim
tonight?”

“No, I just got home a while
ago.”

He frowned. She was still working
late at her office.

However, this wasn’t the time to
scold her for it. “Do you think the pool is still open?”

“I believe it is, until eleven.”

“Then, how about a swim?”

“Fine. I’ll meet you over there.”
Her voice had been cautious and only mildly curious, and friendly enough.

She certainly didn’t sound like
someone who knew about a burglary and was afraid someone would find out. His
imagination was over-working again.

She was already doing laps when
he joined her in the water. Luckily it was late enough that they had the pool to
themselves.

The sight of her lithe body
moving smoothly through the water made him ache for her. But he couldn’t allow
his personal feelings to interfere with business. He had to keep his distance
until he cleared up this mess at Adams’ Foods.

If she’s involved, his conscience
reminded him, you won’t ever get a chance to make love to her again. If she
isn’t, she’ll never forgive you for thinking she might have been. He groaned.
His goose was cooked, either way.

After swimming for a while, they
got dressed and returned to the lounge chairs beside the pool. He bought them
each a can of soda from the machine and sat down across from her on a lounge
chair.

“I won’t be able to meet with you
as scheduled in the morning,” he said.

She looked surprised. “Why didn’t
you just tell me over the phone?”

“I’m afraid my phone may be
bugged,” he said, and was pleased to see a shocked reaction on her face. He
told her about the burglary and damage to his fax machine.

He walked her to her car, and for
a moment almost weakened and kissed her goodnight. He longed to be able to
touch her, to put his arms around her and make love to her. Being so close to
her without touching her was like hell on earth. How long could he keep this up
without breaking apart?

He jammed his hands into his
pockets to control them, said ‘goodnight’ and watched her drive away.

At five the next morning, he was
awake again. He made coffee, then stood at the window drinking it and staring
out across the lake. Dawn was breaking, but since his house faced west, with
evergreens to the east, he couldn’t see the sun rise.

On impulse, he grabbed his
jacket, rod and reel and tackle box and went down to his boat to try his luck
fishing.

The morning was chilly, but the weather
forecast was for another hot July day. The sky was already blue overhead, and
he knew that the sun would soon be visible over the trees, bringing its warmth.
Fishing would be best before the heat of the day.

His small fishing boat was still
tied at the dock, ready for his use on a moment’s notice. He set his gear
inside and grabbed the nylon rope off the post, then threw the switch to start
the engine humming.

In moments, he was well on his
way to his favorite fishing spot a quarter mile from his house. It was so
peaceful and beautiful out here in the early morning. It did him good just to
breathe the clean, fresh air and see the birds swooping over the water looking
for their own breakfasts. He could rest his soul and forget his troubles in a
wonderful spot like this. He still couldn’t believe his luck at living here.

Suddenly he felt something cold
on his feet. Looking down, he saw that his boat was filling with water.

“What the hell!” he said aloud,
immediately turning the wheel towards shore and giving the motor full throttle.
To his amazement, instead of responding, the motor sputtered and died. After
several tries to restart it, he checked and saw that the gas tank was empty. So
was the second tank. Both should have been full; he had filled them after his
last time out.