Harper Sullivan clutched the GoPro hidden inside her tote bag as she darted off the elevator and stepped into the dim basement. It was eerily quiet, and the silence gave her the creeps. The elevator doors whooshed shut behind her, causing her to jump a little and move quickly to the doorway a few feet away.

As she pushed open the heavy, old wooden door leading into the giant storage area her heart raced. She switched the lights on quickly while telling herself to calm down. The overhead fluorescent lightbulbs slowly came to life, each one creating a low humming sound as it went on, the lights soft at first then intensifying as they warmed up. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness she stepped further into the room and surveyed the transformation that had taken place over the last few weeks.

What was once a large storage room with smaller rooms off to each side had now become a staging area for one of O’Rourke’s Signature Events most ground-breaking affairs, a fashion show debuting a clothing line for wheelchair-bound people.

Created by Draconia Fashions, with key input from Gertie O’Rourke herself, this line was sure to garner a ton of attention from the press, so it was beyond critical everything went smoothly. The entire staff here at O’Rourke’s had been working extremely long hours prepping and staging the basement area, and Harper was happy with how it had all come along so far. As the newly promoted Assistant to the Events Manager she wanted to make sure this was a huge success, especially since her new boss, Veronica, hadn’t seemed exactly thrilled when Gertie announced Harper’s promotion.

She walked slowly towards her destination, looking over the changes made so far. Most of the smaller storage rooms located off the giant main storage area had been turned into makeshift dressing rooms. Each one furnished with a giant mirror, along with an area for makeup and hair. Harper had also added some personal touches like placing plants in each room along with a few colorful contemporary floor vases.

Since the basement was the only part of the vast mill building that hadn’t been modernized during the renovation, Harper had felt it was important to make the rooms seem as beautiful as the rest of the building upstairs, even if they were only being used for the models to get changed. The rooms looked somewhat shabby chic now, with their exposed brick walls and old, wood floors. Veronica had even complimented Harper on them, which was rare. Veronica wasn’t big on handing out compliments.

The actual runway for the show had been staged in the wide-open main storage area. It was monumental and intimidating, and after seeing how much work went into constructing it, Harper had a whole new sense of respect for the people involved in these fashion shows. The runway had to be a certain height, with lighting strategically placed all around as well as above it. As the models for this show were in wheelchairs, this runway had been built wider than standard ones, and the end was also in a U-shape instead of the normal square type. This was so the models would have enough room to circle around.

Because it was nonstandard, they'd set up the runway inside to test it out and work out any kinks before they set up the final version outdoors for the actual show.

As she continued to walk towards one of the storage rooms in the rear of the open area, she heard a noise behind her. She stopped short and turned to look behind her, clutching the bag with the GoPro inside to her chest.

“Hello?” She was unsure she'd heard anything, maybe she was just being paranoid.

Ugh. She didn’t like being down here alone! It was so big, and even with the lights on, it still made her jumpy for some reason. She picked up her pace and practically jogged down to the room.

Turning the doorknob slowly, she pushed open the door and entered, then switched the overhead lights on. It was one of the larger storage rooms, probably big enough to hold fifty people or so, but since it was in the basement it would never be used for an event and was perfect for holding all the huge lights needed for the show.

The lighting was lined up on the floor in long rows, each one having a note in front of it designating where it belonged on the runway. The lighting designer had spent hours with the lights, placing each one inside a metal holder that attached to different areas of the runway. As a key part of the fashion show, everything depended on the lighting being as perfect as possible. There were even a few giant spotlights to light up the sky over the river during the show. It had been repeatedly said by Edward Kenney, the owner of Draconia Fashions, how important the lighting for the show was and how critical it was they “don’t screw it up.” After all, if people couldn’t see the runway models then what good was a fashion show?

Looking around the room, Harper tried to figure out the best location to place the GoPro. What could someone do to ruin the lights anyway? Smash the bulbs? Cut the cords? Her Uncle Tanner had said if he were going to screw things up he would ruin the lighting. He should know since he'd tried to sabotage Gertie’s last event and had enlisted Harper’s help to do so. Thank God he'd had a change of heart at the last minute and hadn’t gone through with what he’d intended.

She gave up on thinking about all the different scenarios someone might use to ruin the lights and settled on a corner to hide the device, setting it up strategically behind some papers then creating an opening for the lens. When she was satisfied it would record a large section of the room, she turned and snuck out quietly.

She glanced at her watch quickly as she walked away. There were a few minutes left before she was supposed to meet Uncle Tanner at his restaurant for lunch, so she headed towards the loading dock at the other end of the building. There had been a small black and gray tabby cat hanging around there the last few times she’d signed for deliveries, and before leaving for work that day, she’d grabbed a can of tuna from her kitchen for it. She knew she probably shouldn’t encourage the cat to hang around by feeding it, but she also felt sorry for it. Besides, one can of tuna wasn’t going to hurt.

Stepping outside onto the loading dock, she peeled the cover off the tuna can and set it down on the cool concrete ground, calling out for the cat as she looked around. She heard a faint “meow” come from an overgrown area beyond the chain-link fence that ran along the property. The black and gray tabby darted out from between the tall green and yellow weeds and ran over to the can of food. She reached down and patted it as it eagerly ate the tuna, its tail swishing in the air.

The cat seemed well fed for a stray, she—or he—wasn’t all skin and bone and its fur was shiny. Maybe she was wrong, and it wasn’t a stray after all. Maybe it just liked to hang around here. She looked past the chain-link fence to the abandoned mill behind it. Maybe it lived in there? The building looked like it hadn’t been active in years. Harper gave the tabby one last pat on the head and left, heading back towards the lobby.

Once inside the building she hesitated as she walked to the elevator giving one last glance towards the storage area where she'd set the camera up. She knew she was doing the right thing by trying to find out who was screwing with Gertie’s company, but at the same time it felt weird spying on the people she worked with. It felt like she was invading their privacy. Especially since she'd been the one who had caused issues with the last event. Kind of hypocritical making it her mission to catch this person.

At least she hadn’t done anything horrible. She hadn’t ever let it get that far. Common sense prevailed, and she’d put her foot down and refused to go along with Uncle Tanner’s plan. In the end everything had worked out fine. The event had been a huge success. Uncle Tanner had confessed and righted all the wrongs he’d instigated.

She stepped onto the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby, determined not to let her anxiety take over. She knew Gertie trusted her. If she didn’t, then she wouldn’t have promoted her. The old woman could be hard to please at times, but Gertie really was an amazing woman. She reminded Harper of her dear Aunt Emily, with her sassiness and never-give-up attitude. Harper had learned so much from Gertie over the few months she’d worked there and was very grateful for the continued opportunities and the trust Gertie had placed in her.

As she walked into the lobby she held her head up high. She was determined to stop whoever was trying to sabotage Gertie; no matter what.

Logan Carter eased back in the cushy, fabric banquet chair and closed his eyes, enjoying the silence in the basement. He liked it down here, it was a good place to escape the hectic office upstairs, even if it was only for a few minutes. Hardly anyone came down here and he could usually grab a few minutes of alone time when he needed. Not that this new job was crazy compared to being a cop, but he was used to being on his own, or with a partner, in a car as opposed to having an office full of people buzzing around him constantly. Unfortunately, the fashion show setup had meant more people in the basement to ready the dressing rooms and tend to the staging, but they usually were done before noon.

Hearing footsteps approaching made him jolt upright and he bolted behind a huge wooden beam to avoid being seen by whoever was down there. He watched in silence as Harper scurried out of the room housing the fashion show lighting. She looked on edge, glancing around as if to make sure no one was watching her before shutting the door and bolting away towards the shipping area.

He waited until the echo of her footsteps died down before stepping out from behind the wooden beam. He’d assumed the person Gertie hired him to catch would try to screw up the lighting, but hadn’t pegged that cute redhead, Harper, as the perp.

He didn’t know her well, but she seemed like a sweet girl. Kind of timid. Not the kind of girl who went around sabotaging fashion shows. She didn’t talk too much and hustled around a lot making sure things got done. Maybe she was in the room for another reason, after all, her job did require her to come down here. Or did it?

He glanced around to make sure no one else was around. The last thing he wanted was for someone to see him and ask why the new head of IT was skulking around in the basement. Not that he wouldn’t be able to give a good answer, as a former cop he had the ability to think fast on his feet, and he could always come up with something believable. He was also pretty good at sneaking around, which was probably one of the reasons Gertie had hired him.

She’d called him after getting his contact information from a mutual friend, asking him to catch whoever was trying to ruin her business. At the time, Logan had thought the old woman was crazy. Who would want to mess with an event planning business?

When he’d asked Gertie why she thought someone was trying to ruin her business, her reply had been it was up to him to get her the answers if he wanted the job. After mulling it over for a few days he’d accepted, coming on board undercover as the IT Manager.

He’d still thought Gertie was probably being paranoid, but figured worse case, he’d stick around and keep an eye on things to reassure her everything was okay. After being here for a week though, he was starting to think Gertie was right. She wasn’t a crazy old lady at all, in fact she was pretty damn smart. And he had to admit, he’d developed a fondness for her. He wanted to make sure her suspicions weren’t correct.

Gertie was also extremely insightful, almost to the point she made him feel she could see right into him, and that scared him. The one question that kept popping into his head was why she'd never asked him about the circumstances that had forced him to quit the police force. Not that he would have answered her, that was a subject he didn’t talk about at all. Ever. Still, it was funny she accepted he would do a good job with no questions asked about his former failures.

He walked towards the lighting room and entered it slowly, flicking on the overhead lights. The large lights were all lined up in a row and he could see some wires sticking out from behind several of them. He reached out and grasped one inspecting it closely. It had definitely been mucked around with. Almost to the point of being cut in half. The way it was now, the light would still work, but after a few minutes of being turned on it had a high chance of sparking and causing a fire.

These weren’t average light bulbs, they were high intensity. And the metal holders they were in consisted of a lens and a reflector. If the break in the wire didn’t start a fire, the jolting electricity could cause a bulb to blow and that could cause the glass lens to burst. Lots of potential for disaster here. Just like Gertie was afraid of.

He walked slowly down the row, checking each light. Almost half of them had the same problem. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. An amateur would have fully cut the wires to render the lights useless. Whoever did this, wanted these lights to be used. They wanted them to think nothing was wrong until it was too late. They wanted to cause harm to the fashion show or, worse, to cause harm to someone involved in the show. The wires could easily cause a shock to whoever plugged them in, never mind a fire.

Maybe that cute redhead wasn’t as innocent as he thought. He left the room, making a mental note to contact the lighting specialist and have the bad lights replaced as soon as possible, it was too risky even to have them rewired.

He paused as he shut the lights off, rubbing the day-old stubble on his chin. Should he tell Gertie about this? He didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, and he wasn’t positive Harper was responsible for cutting the wires. She hadn’t been inside the room very long and cutting the wires the way they were required a little time and patience. Unless she knew exactly what she was doing, she wouldn’t have had time to cut them. Maybe running a complete background check on her was the next step before mentioning this to Gertie.

On the way back to his office he took a detour, walking to the loading dock located at the opposite end of the storage area. On his first day at work he’d fed some of his tuna sandwich to a black and gray tabby cat that had shown up as he sat alone on the brick wall next to the loading dock. It had sat with him for a while after devouring what Logan fed to him, so he'd bought some cat treats that night but had forgotten to bring them into work, until today.

As he stepped outside onto the loading dock he noticed an empty can of tuna on the ground, licked clean. Someone else must be feeding the cat as well.

Meow!

The tabby came trotting over from between a gap in the nearby chain-link fence. Logan crouched down and reached into his pocket, grabbing a few of the treats. He held one out to the purring cat and it rubbed up against his leg then gently took the treat from between his fingers.

As he crouched down to pat the cat, his eyes wandered to the overgrown area it had come from. The gap in the chain-link fence separating the two properties needed to be repaired, it was big. While the building that housed O’Rourke’s Signature Events had been completely renovated by Gertie and was now a gorgeous trendy mill on the waterfront, the abandoned mill next to it was the complete opposite. Gertie had set her space up so all the function rooms faced the water and not the old mill, but that didn’t eliminate the fact that vagrants liked to frequent the mill.

The cat meowed loudly for another treat, rubbing its head impatiently against his hand. He reached for another and scanned the empty building. It had been a grain mill over a hundred years ago and had a huge waterwheel in it. The wheel probably hadn’t moved in a hundred years, but it was still mostly intact, although the iron cogs were all rusty and a few of the giant wooden paddles were missing or cracked. The water powering the wheel was still inside the mill, and over the years had become a murky black mess. More than once the police had pulled out the body of some drunk or drugged-out vagrant who had stumbled into it. Logan knew because he'd been there on those calls.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw someone approaching via the alley out of the corner of his eye. As they walked closer the tabby got spooked, jumped down off the loading dock and ran back through the chain-link fence. It paused briefly to look back at him as if to say thank you before it disappeared under the fence.

“Hey, Logan, umm you have, I mean, looks like you made a new friend, huh?”

It was Ben, one of Gertie’s maintenance guys. Logan had talked to him a few times since he’d started working there. He seemed kind of nervous. Why was he skulking around in the alley and stumbling around with his words?

“Yeah, what can I say. I’m a sucker for animals. What were you doing in the alley, anything good down there?” Logan asked him nonchalantly. He didn’t want to come off as suspicious but was curious why Ben would be in the alley.

“Oh, just taking a quick smoke break. Gertie hates smoking so I walk over to the alley to do it, so she won’t see me. Umm, you won’t rat me out, will you?”

“Your secret is safe with me. I’m just the IT guy, it’s none of my business what goes on otherwise.” Logan faked a smile.

“Okay, thanks. I wouldn’t want Gertie to be disappointed in me, about smoking. You know how she is. Anyway, I better get back. See ya.” Ben walked past him and headed inside amidst the scent of aftershave and peppermint candy.

Logan watched Ben disappear into the building, catching him quickly turn his head to glance back at Logan before vanishing.