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his jaw and not a hair out of place. He
wore another expensive suit with a crisp yellow tie and silver
cufflinks peeking out from the jacket sleeves. He wasn't
smiling.
    "I don't like being late."
    Reece stood in front of a glass wall with his
name on it. Behind the wall was a large area with a desk, a single
droopy potted palm and some modern artwork on the walls. A lounge,
two chairs and a low bookshelf made up the rest of the furniture.
The bookshelf stood against a wall of polished wood beside a door
that led through to another office. It must be Reece's.
    "Welcome," he said, opening the glass door
for me. "Since you're early, you have time."
    "Time for what?"
    "To make me a cup of coffee before my first
meeting."
    I set my bag down on the desk and looked
around. "Where's the kitchen?"
    "Behind that wall." He touched a panel and
waited as it silently slid up to reveal a kitchenette. "Black, one
sugar. Make one for yourself as well."
    Gee, thanks.
    He left me before I could ask any questions,
shutting his office door with a firm click. I quickly assessed my
workstation. A password was written in a loopy, childish scrawl on
a sticky note attached to the monitor and stationery was placed
neatly in the drawers. A set of keys sat on a notepad and a snow
globe held down a stack of papers in a tray. Inside the dome was a
white polar bear, a forest of firs behind him. It was cheap, the
sort of thing that would cost a couple of dollars at a tourist
store. I wondered if it had belonged to Ally and whether she'd left
it behind on purpose or not. It seemed out of place amid the sleek
polished wood of the desk and the expensive furniture.
    I set to work making the coffee then knocked
on Reece's door. He opened it, his cell to his ear, and signaled me
to enter. I set the cup down on his desk and was about to leave
when he hung up.
    "Wait," he said, picking up the cup. "Don't
knock next time. If I'm on the phone and can't answer, you could be
waiting there for hours. Besides, there's no need for formality
between us." Was it my imagination or did his voice just lower a
notch?
    "Is there something I can do for you before
your meeting starts?"
    He sipped then set down the cup. "Grab your
notebook and pen to take notes. Do you write shorthand?"
    "Of course."
    He nodded in approval. "They'll be here in a
minute."
    I took that as a "Hurry up" and returned to
my desk. I managed to make myself a coffee and re-enter his office
just as his first executive walked in.
    I soon learned that most of the senior
employees at RK Financial Group were under forty like Reece. Not
all wore expensive suits. One had no tie and his shirt sleeves
rolled up and another wore jeans. He winked at me as he
entered.
    "So you're Reece's latest victim," he said
with a grin.
    I grinned back. "Temporarily."
    "Yeah? No wonder he hired you."
    I didn't know what that meant, but laughed
along with him until I caught Reece's icy glare out of the corner
of my eye.
    "Everyone, this is Cleo Denny. Cleo, these
are my most trusted staff. You'll learn their names as we go."
    So much for making me feel comfortable. He
seemed to be going out of his way to make me feel like an outsider.
I could deal with that. I was an outsider, and planned on
keeping it that way where the rest of the staff was concerned.
    "I'm Austin," the jeans guy said, holding out
his hand to me.
    I shook it. "Nice to meet you," I whispered
as I sat.
    The meeting was short and to the point. It
consisted of each man reporting on his department and answering
Reece's questions. Even the cheerful Austin spoke with no-nonsense
precision. It turned out he was in charge of all the computer
systems.
    It wasn't until after the meeting was over
that I realized there were no women in the senior group. I tried
not to read too much into that as I set to work typing up the notes
and getting to know the databases, the files, and the current
projects. Ally had left the filing in a bit of a mess and there
were some gaps in the