The thought of walking into the office made Anna feel sick. She stood in the parking lot for at least fifteen minutes before she took a deep breath and walked towards the doors. Jarrod hurried around her and opened the door.
“I’ll just be out here if you need me. You only have to holler or call.”
Anna gave him a small smile before she entered the building. She had arrived later than she normally would have and was surprised to find it empty. Tiffany was not in sight so she headed towards Beth’s office assuming that was where she would find her, and she was right. The melancholy woman sat at her mother’s desk staring at the computer, a picture of Beth and her on the screen. Hoping she wouldn’t scare her, Anna knocked gently on the door frame.
Tiffany looked up. “Anna, I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Tiffany, I don’t even know what to say.” Anna wanted to tell her how sorry she was for the loss of her mother, but Tiffany shrugged and shook her head.
“Yeah, it’s hard to believe she’s gone.”
Anna was confused by the lack of emotion in Tiffany’s voice. “I know the two of you were close.”
Tiffany let out a loud laugh. “Ha! Close would be an overstatement.”
This was new news to Anna. “What do you mean?”
“My mother disowned me when I married my husband. She disapproved of him and warned me that if I married him, she would never speak to me again. I thought she was bluffing until the day of my wedding when she didn’t show up. We haven’t spoken since last year.”
Anna couldn’t believe it. She remembered the two of them being close and Beth spoke of her daughter all the time, holding her in such high regard. Before she could speak, Tiffany continued.
“She even threatened to cut me from her will, but as you can tell, she never got around to doing that, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here in her office.” She shuffled some papers around and leaned back in the chair.
“So, why am I here this morning and where is everyone else?”
“I gave everyone the rest of the week off to mourn their boss.” She pulled a file from a drawer. “As soon as I found out my mother was dead, I started calling the important people in her life to alert them of her death. When I spoke to her lawyer, he asked me to come to his office straight away. That’s when he gave me all the details of her will. Apparently, upon her death, the will was supposed to be fulfilled immediately so that the business didn’t suffer.
“I came here right after that and just sat. Maybe after an hour or so of just sitting, I started to familiarize myself with the employees and their projects. That’s where you come in.”
Tiffany pushed the folder to Anna. “This is the Sanders file. It states that it’s the most important project the firm has right now and that you are the designer on the project.”
“I was the designer on the project. Beth fired me yesterday morning.” Anna glared at the folder in front of her.
“I read that, too. But I’m going to un-fire you. I’d like you to finish the project.”
Anna was surprised to hear her say that. “Really? Why?”
Tiffany shook her head. “Because the house can’t be left unfinished and you’re the only one who knows the plans and homeowners. I can’t imagine why my mom would fire you mid-project, but it doesn’t surprise me. She’s never been a very nice person.”
Anna nodded her agreement.
“Once you finish that project, I plan to absolve the business.”
Anna couldn’t hide her surprise. “Why would you do that?”
“This was my mom’s thing, not mine. I have too much on my plate as it is. I’ll let each of the designer’s finish what they have and then close the doors.”
She was happy that Tiffany was letting her finish the Sanders home but sad she would be shutting down the business. Anna wondered if she would be able to take it over, change the name and make it her own.
“As for the projects everyone is working on, I’ve let them all know that they can either work from home or from here. I’m not making everyone come in if they don’t want to. Feels a little eerie, doesn’t it?”
Anna nodded. “The chair I’m sitting in is the exact same chair I sat in yesterday while we chatted and you…” She trailed off.
“Oh, no. No no no. This is not the same chair. As soon as I walked in here, I wheeled hers out and someone else’s in. Her chair is sitting in a corner in one of the conference rooms.”
Anna needed to start snooping for information and she needed to do it now before Tiffany dismissed her. “I don’t mean to pry, but how did they know it was Beth?”
Tiffany rubbed the back of her neck. “The officer that I spoke to said that it was dental records. Once they figured out who her next of kin was, they called to have me identify the body. Sure enough, it was her.”
“Shit, Tiffany. That had to be terrible. I’m so sorry.”
“It was surreal. I began thinking of my childhood and how amazing it was. She was kind back then. I actually blame her business for changing her. Once she gained a reputation for her designs, she started to stick her nose in the air and harshly judged everyone around her.”
“Do they have any idea what happened?” Anna hoped she wasn’t being too conspicuous.
Tiffany shook her head. “She was found stabbed and naked in Fountain Hills. Other than that, they refuse to tell me anything else.”
“Wow. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Please say that you’ll finish that project even though my mother was a total bitch to you? I don’t want my mother’s reputation to go up in flames. Even though she was awful, I’d still like her to be remembered as an amazing designer.”
Anna nodded. “Of course I’ll finish it. I would need my company laptop back in order to make that happen. She wouldn’t allow us to work on projects on our own computers.”
Tiffany rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t surprise me. She was a control freak.” She slid open a drawer behind her and pulled the black laptop from it. “I wondered why there was a random laptop in that drawer.”
“Thank you, Tiffany.”
“No, thank you, Anna. You could have said F you and left. If you have any questions, I’ll try to answer them. Just keep me updated on your progress so I know how long it’ll be before we close the doors.”
“Absolutely. I’ll check to see how far along the project is and let you know.”
“Perfect. We’ll talk soon.”
Anna smiled and left the room.
* * *
Ben arrived at the field, dread in his gut. He had come there today to ask his coach to put him on the ten-day disabled list so that he could get a handle on the situation at home. The dead body of a person associated with his girlfriend had become the final straw, and he needed to have the mystery solved before the media found out and turned his home into a circus. He spotted him inside his office and took a deep breath before knocking on his door.
“Ben, I was actually just thinking of you.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Should I be concerned?” he asked playfully.
The twinkle in his coach’s eye eased the anxiety he was feeling as he walked in.
The man chuckled. “Nothing to be worried about. I just wanted to check in with you regarding your personal life. Last I heard, you had some issues that needed to be handled. Has it been taken care of?”
“Well, that depends. Describe taken care of?”
His coach shook his head. “You know what I mean.”
“Honestly, it’s gotten worse.”
Ben went into full detail regarding all the events that had happened over the weeks but hesitated before he got to the part of the dead body being found near his home. He glanced up to find Bergie watching him closely. He looked like he wanted to say something but remained silent.
Ben finished his story and waited for his reaction. The man leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair. His continued silence made Ben nervous.
“In our last conversation, you said you could handle this situation.”
Ben nodded. “I did, and I still can.”
Bergie raised his eyebrows. “Doesn’t sound like it to me.”
“I’ve got a team of investigators combing through security tapes and doing extensive research into the lives of Anna and her co-workers. I am confident that they’ll be able to get to the bottom of this.”
His coach took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “What’s your plan?”
“Put me on the DL for ten days and I’ll make sure it’s taken care of.”
“And if it’s not?” Bergie questioned.
“Hopefully it won’t get to that. Everyone involved in the investigation has signed confidentiality disclosures and I can vouch for every one of these men.”
“Good. The last thing you want is for this to hit the media. It’ll become a shit show.”
Ben nodded in agreement. “I’ll let you know where we stand in a few days.”
He stood to leave but his coach stopped him.
“Take care of yourself, Ben. Hire extra security if you need.”
“Thanks, Bergie. I’ll talk to you soon.” And with that, he left his office without looking back.
An air of melancholy fell over him as he walked out of the locker room. There had been injuries in the past that had taken him off the roster but none that kept him from putting on his uniform. This would be the first time in his entire career that he would not put on his jersey and walk onto the field.
There wasn’t a teammate in sight, making him feel worse than he already did. He had hoped to run into Johnny, but he knew the guy didn’t like to come to the field early. What he needed right now was a friend to vent to, except he wasn’t allowed to divulge any information about what was going on. Which was the reason he kept Johnny in the dark.
Ben paused at the exit and looked back. He knew he was being dramatic about his short time off, but he had a feeling that life was about to change when this was all over, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready for it.