Peter Holland pulls the tied garbage bag out of the can. Since you’re clearly not here about a construction job, this conversation is over. I must insist that you leave immediately. I have a meeting to get to.” He shoos us out of his office and locks the door behind him. “I’ll see you both to your vehicle.” He’s certainly set on making sure we leave.
“Mr. Holland, is there a reason you want us gone so badly?” I ask.
“I have no idea who you are or what you want with my ex-wife, but it’s no concern of mine. I have a business to run, and that’s what I plan to do.” He motions for us to exit the building.
“Have a nice day,” Natalie calls to us.
I get in the passenger seat of Cam’s SUV and tell him to drive down the road and pull into the gas station.
“I thought you’d want to follow Peter Holland,” he says.
“No, I have a better idea.” Of course, my idea is likely to cost poor Natalie her job. I do feel guilty about that, but she’s probably better off working elsewhere anyway. Peter Holland seems like a jerk, and he’s definitely hiding something big enough to make him act so evasive with us. “Go back to Holland Construction.”
“Why?” Cam asks, turning back onto the road.
“Because we need to chat with Natalie some more.”
“You think she knows something?”
“Maybe, but if not, I think we can get into Holland’s office.”
“How?” He turns to eye me before focusing on the road again.
I pull my phone from my pocket and dial the number I find online for Holland Construction. Then I put the call on speaker. “Pretend to be Holland, and tell Natalie you sent us back there to get something he left in his office. Tell her she should let us inside.” I’m banking on her having a key. If she doesn’t, my plan isn’t going to work.
Before Cam can protest, Natalie answers the phone. “Holland Construction. This is Natalie speaking.”
Cam is silent, so I nudge his side. “Natalie, it’s Peter Holland.”
“Mr. Holland, you sound funny.”
“I’m on the road. Reception isn’t good.”
“It makes you sound nicer. I like it.”
I roll my eyes. This woman is something else. I wave my hand at Cam so he keeps talking.
“I left something in my office. I’m sending the two people who were just there back to grab it for me.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“I don’t remember if I locked the office behind me, so they might need you to let them in.”
“I have the master key in my desk for emergencies, just like you told me.”
“You can give them the key then.”
“Okay.”
I can’t believe she isn’t questioning any of this.
“Bye,” she says before hanging up.
“I’m a little concerned by how easy that was,” Cam says.
“Hey, we deserve to have something go easily for a change. We’re doing a good thing helping Quentin with this case. Maybe we’re getting good karma points or something.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice.” He pulls into the parking lot.
“Hey, doesn’t it strike you as odd that Natalie and Peter are the only two people here?”
“The other employees are probably all workers out on job sites. They might check in at the end of the day, though, so we need to watch the time.”
We get out of the SUV and walk into the office.
“Hi,” Natalie says. “Can I help you?”
Did she seriously forget us already? We were just here like two minutes ago.
“Mr. Holland said he called to tell you to expect us,” I say. “We need to grab something from his office.”
“Oh, right. I didn’t recognize you.” She smacks her forehead. “Did you get a haircut or something?”
If Peter Holland is the type to keep a lot of secrets, I can see why he’d hire Natalie. She’d never remember anything if she did overhear a sensitive conversation.
“Mr. Holland said you’d have a key for us,” Cam says.
Natalie holds up a finger before going behind her desk and opening the top drawer. “It’s in here somewhere.”
“Take your time,” I say, even though I don’t mean it. We have no idea if Peter Holland really did have a meeting to go to or if he was trying to get rid of us and will be returning any moment. That would ruin everything and probably end with Cam and me at the police station for questioning.
“You’re so nice. Mr. Holland yells at me a lot. I don’t have the best memory at times.”
“Would you like me to help you look?” Cam asks.
“Would you?” Natalie smiles at him. “I just got a manicure on my lunch break, and I don’t want to mess it up.”
Cam walks around the desk. “Oh, I see it.” He pulls a key from the drawer. “Is this the right one?”
Natalie bobs her head.
“Great. We’ll return it as soon as we’re finished,” Cam tells her.
We hurry toward Holland’s office.
“What do you think we’re going to find in here if Holland already shredded files?” Cam unlocks the door and pushes it open.
“I don’t know. I’m hoping he left the folder itself and that it’s labeled.”
“He was in a hurry, so I suppose it’s possible.”
“You check the filing cabinet. I’m going to check his laptop and appointment book.” I tap the touch pad on the laptop to bring the computer out of sleep mode. “It’s password protected,” I say.
Cam flips through the top drawer of the filing cabinet. “No empty file folders yet.”
“Keep looking,” I say. I go to the appointment book on the desk and flip through it. There’s no meeting listed for today’s date. That’s not good. But maybe we spooked Peter Holland enough that he won’t come back here today at all.
“Here’s something.”
I turn around to see Cam is looking through the bottom drawer of the long filing cabinet now. He removes a file and opens it to show me it’s empty.
“It says DeShawn Washington.”
“Who is that?” I ask.
“I’m not sure.” Cam takes a picture of the name on the folder before placing the file back into the cabinet and closing the drawer. “That’s the only empty file.”
“So then it must be the file Peter Holland emptied and shredded earlier.”
“We should go,” Cam says. “We’re really pushing our luck here.”
“But we don’t have anything concrete to go on. We need to keep looking.”
“For what? We can’t get into his laptop. That has to be where the only other evidence is of whatever it is he’s trying to cover up.”
For a split second, I debate taking the laptop. We did tell Natalie we had to get something for Peter Holland, and it would make sense that he’d need his laptop in a meeting—if that’s really where he went. But that would be stealing. I don’t want to do anything that could potentially get us in trouble with the police.
“Maybe Natalie knows the password for the laptop,” I say.
“I’m not sure Natalie knows the password for her own phone.”
I shake my head at him since her phone probably opens with facial recognition.
“She’d never give it to us anyway. When I was pretending to be Holland on the phone, I only said we were getting something for him. There’s no reason why we’d need to be on his computer.”
“Unless he has a file on here that he needs us to send him,” I say, thinking quickly. “That’s faster than us bringing the laptop to him.” I get an idea. “Follow me.” I hurry back toward Natalie’s desk.
“Hi, welcome to Holland Construction,” she says as if she’s never seen us before.
“Remember us? Mr. Holland sent us to get something from his office?” I ask.
“Oh.” She laughs. “Sorry, I get distracted easily.”
“Right, well, Mr. Holland just called me because he’s in a big hurry. He wants me to send him a file from his laptop instead of bringing the laptop to him, but he forgot to give me the password, and when I tried his number again it went straight to voice mail, which means he’s turned his phone off so he’s not disturbed during his meeting. You don’t happen to know the password, do you?”
“The password?” She furrows her brow. “I don’t know any passwords.”
My stomach sinks. It was a long shot. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get my hopes up like that. “I’ll just try to figure it out on my own. Thanks anyway.”
We go back to Holland’s office.
“We have to let this go, Jo,” Cam says.
“I guess you’re right.” I place the laptop back on the desk. “But what if Peter Holland is the killer, and by not seeing this through, we allow him to get away with murder?”
Cam places his hands on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. “We aren’t police detectives, Jo. We can’t get a warrant to search the laptop or make people talk to us. There’s only so much we can do. You have to understand that.”
“But we know Quentin isn’t doing anything. He’s at the hospital. Someone needs to solve this murder, and I’m afraid if we don’t, no one will.”
Cam lets go of me. “We don’t know anything about Peter Holland to even begin to guess his password.”
“I know.” I’m at a complete loss. I have no ideas. “I wish Mo was here.”
“We don’t have time to ask her to come here,” Cam says.
I grab my phone. “Maybe she can walk us through it on the phone.” I dial her number.
“Hey, what are you making for dinner?” she answers. “Wes is working late, and I don’t have dinner plans. I thought I’d come by to help with the case in exchange for a meal.”
“Mo, stop talking. Cam and I are in Peter Holland’s office, trying to access his laptop, but it’s password protected. Can you help?”
“Whoa, Jo, what are you doing? You’re trespassing. I’m assuming he has no idea you’re there.”
“Would I need you if Peter Holland was here?” I ask her.
“I’m not helping you do this, Jo. It’s going too far. Get out of there, and call Quentin with whatever it is you think you know that’s making you act this crazy.”
“You’re really not going to help me?”
“No. It’s one thing when Quentin gives me the go-ahead to hack a deceased person’s accounts, but this is different. This guy could press charges. I’m not going to help you get a one-way ticket to prison. Please get out of there before something really bad happens.”
I guess I have no other choice. “All right. I’ll see you at my place soon.” I end the call and pocket my phone.
“Let’s go,” Cam says, shutting the laptop and checking out the office to make sure it looks like it did when we got here.
Everything seems to be in place, so I say, “I think we’re good to go.”
We start for the door when we run smack into Peter Holland.
“Mr. Holland, we’re glad your back,” Cam says. “We were hoping to talk to you some more.”
“Really? Because my assistant just told me a very unusual story.”
I force a laugh. “What did she say.”
“She said I called her and told her to let you two into my office. Except I didn’t call her. And I would certainly never tell her to let anyone into my office when I wasn’t here.”
“Why is that? What are you hiding, Mr. Holland?” I ask, but he’s not the least bit intimidated by me.
“I’m not the one who needs to answer questions. That’s you two.”
“I think we’ll just go. Obviously, there’s been a misunderstanding,” Cam says, and he tries to push past Peter Holland to no avail. The man doesn’t budge.
“You’re not going anywhere. I’ve already called the police. They should be here any minute.”
I can’t believe this is happening. Things couldn’t be worse right now. I need to figure out a way to get out of this situation. I come up with a plan, but I’m not sure it’s going to work at all. “Good. I’m glad the police are on their way. I think they’re going to have quite a few questions for you as well, starting with why you rushed to shred and get rid of files. You’re hiding something, and it’s connected to your ex-wife, which means it might also be connected to Simon Porter’s death.” I cross my arms.
“You think you know so much, don’t you?” Peter Holland takes a step toward me, but Cam steps between us.
“Don’t you dare try to intimidate her,” Cam says.
Peter Holland laughs. “I don’t need to. I’m sure the police will do fine in that department. I’ve got you on breaking and entering with intent to steal.” Peter smirks.
Natalie appears in the doorway. “The police are here, Mr. Holland,” she says with a smile as if all of this is perfectly normal.
“Go back to your desk,” Peter says, his tone not pleased at all with his employee. “I’ll deal with you after I get things squared away with these two.”
I look through the window at the patrol car out front. I was wrong. It’s about to get much worse because the person getting out of the patrol car is none other than Quentin.