Logan straightened out the picture on his office wall, stepping back to see if it was level. The sunlight shining in through the large windows glinted off the glass that held the picture in the black frame. He wasn’t one for decorating, but this picture was one he’d always loved as a kid and his mother had given it to him many years after he’d moved out, right after he’d completed the police academy. It was a Norman Rockwell photo called “Runaway.” Just a police officer sitting next to a kid at a soda shop from the 50’s or so. It was generic enough not to blow his cover.

Satisfied it was straight enough, he looked around the small office for his coffee mug, he’d a bad habit of putting it down and forgetting where he left it. He spied it sitting on the top of his desk, a puff of steam still coming from the top, the strong aroma filling the air.

He sat in the plush leather chair and made a face as he tried to get comfortable in it. He’d originally grabbed one of the old metal and fabric chairs from the storage area for his office, but Gertie had insisted he use one of the new chairs she’d bought for all the offices.

They’d also argued over his desk. She had all these contemporary funky ones for the offices. Glass and metal, very sleek. But Logan had spent years with the standard police issued gun metal steel desks and there had been a few in storage, and Gertie had finally let him use one of them. The chair and desk didn’t blend well together at all, but he didn’t care. He was here to work, not to win a prize for office decorating.

He picked up his coffee mug and used his sleeve to wipe at the wet ring that had formed under it. He turned his computer on and took a big gulp of coffee while waiting for the PC to fire up. His mind drifted to Harper and how she’d seemed nervous when they’d met earlier. That was always a tell-tale sign of a guilty person when they were nervous. But his gut was telling him she wasn’t guilty. He hoped he was right.

He entered his password then maneuvered onto the main server, so he could access all the files that every employee had uploaded. He clicked on the history for the file Harper had worked on and looked it over. She’d entered all the information as she’d said, and had gone back again the next day, but no changes had been made to the file. Must have been double-checking it maybe? Wait. What do we have here? Someone had accessed the file that same day. The login came from a computer located in the basement, where they keep the inventory. If Harper was the perp, why would she bother going down there to make the changes? Or was she smart enough to know it would throw up a red herring?

He leaned back in the chair and grabbed the warm coffee mug, pondering over Harper’s innocence. He always trusted his instincts, and they were telling him she wasn’t the one who had messed the addresses up.

He grabbed the manila file that held the details on the background check he’d run on her and looked it over. Hmmm. This is kind of an odd coincidence. Harper is related to that guy Tanner who seems sweet on Gertie. The same guy who had tried to pull some shenanigans on Gertie’s wedding reception event last month. That was the reason Logan had been hired in the first place. Some strange things had been going on at O’Rourke’s Signature Events, and according to Gertie it wasn’t all by Tanner’s hand. Tanner had confessed to a few things but there had been more that had gone unexplained.

He closed the folder and stared at the now empty mug then gazed over at the picture. Whatever was going on here was a bit more complex than he’d first assumed, that was for sure. It was time for him to do some more digging.

Harper waited for the elevator impatiently, eager to leave for the day, even if it was only four o’clock. Hardly anyone in the building used the elevator aside from the employees with offices on the upper floors, so why was it always so damn slow? She tapped her foot as she pushed the button again and mulled the day over. She hadn’t heard back about Logan finding out who changed the addresses. Then again, it was also possible he’d been the one who had changed it, and he was going to tell Gertie it was her. Then she would probably lose her job. Better to come up with evidence against him sooner rather than later so she could prove to Gertie what he was up to.

Turning around she headed back into her office, tossed her purse and coat onto her desk, then stormed off down the stairs to the basement area to see what exactly Logan had been doing with those lights.

She walked briskly through the storage area and into the room with the lights. She looked them over, paying close attention to the cords. Nope, everything seemed fine. Well, there might be a light missing. That would be odd though, and she wasn’t sure since she hadn’t counted them all when she’d been in here before. Besides, what would someone do with one light?

As she left the room quietly she caught Ben and George inside one of the small storage rooms out of the corner of her eye. They had a cart with a computer on it, piquing her interest. She approached them slowly, thinking what she should say. Maybe they knew who had access to the files on the server. Or, maybe one of them was trying to screw things up.

“Hey, guys. What’s going on?” she asked them casually, nodding towards the computer.

“Nothing exciting here, just entering inventory,” Ben replied in a bored tone. “It’s never ending.”

Harper took his lack of enthusiasm as a good way to pick their minds about the inventory system, which of course would lead to how they store the info on the server, who has access, and anything else that might help her figure out who had messed around with the file. She knew people loved to listen to themselves talk when they were asked for their opinion on something, no matter what it was.

“Really? That’s pretty cool. Is it efficient? It seems like maybe just using paper and pen would be just as good, and you wouldn’t have to worry about pushing that cart around and making sure there’s power for the computer and all that kind of stuff,” Harper said.

“Well, I guess it’s efficient, it would take time to do the inventory for this place no matter what,” Ben said.

Harper walked into the cube, making a show of looking at the computer setup. “My first job here was managing the inventory. But we didn’t have this new system you guys have. Basically, I just had to keep track of everything manually, which was kind of a nightmare.”

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely better than doing it all manually, like with a paper and pen,” George piped in. “We just enter it here, then once it’s in the system, it’s all set, and anyone can access it to make changes.”

Harper watched as George showed her how he entered the quantity of each item into the database, quickly clicking through the screen.

“Have you guys ever used a scanner? You know, like bar codes?” she asked.

“No, but Gertie’s mentioned it. The only issue with that is when we have temporary equipment, like this fashion show stuff, putting the bar codes on isn’t really ideal.”

Harper nodded her head in agreement.

“So, you guys can pretty much access all the files on the server, right?” Harper asked, using her most casual innocent tone.

George gave her a funny look. “Huh? Why would we even want to? We just go into the inventory program and update it. It’s faster if one person does the count and reads it off and the other person enters the numbers.”

“Yeah, I only know how to access the inventory program. The less I know how to do stuff in this system the better anyway, I don’t do too much work in it. Leave that to the computer guy,” Ben mumbled.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you had access to everything?” Harper asked, baiting them a bit. She knew it was a stupid question, but she was also playing the part of the dingbat office worker. Well, at least she was trying to.

George and Ben both looked at each other and shrugged.

“Not really,” they replied in unison.

Noah appeared suddenly, handing a piece of paper to George.

“See, look here,” George said, holding the paper out so Harper could see it. “This is how it all works. We input the inventory items into the system, then Noah makes a master list and turns it into a diagram. It’s like a cool blueprint of where everything is physically located.”

“Yeah, but I only know how to do that part, really,” Noah said, looking at Ben. “Ben does most of the entering, like this morning you spent a lot of time on it didn’t you?”

Ben looked at Noah weirdly. “Umm, well, yeah. The stuff has to be entered, like constantly. Usually, at least twice a day.”

Harper nodded her head enthusiastically, said a quick thank you and headed back up on the elevator. It didn’t sound like any of them had the know-how to change that file, was one of them putting on an act about not being very tech savvy? If so, which one?

As the elevator stopped and the doors whisked open she stepped out into the hallway and almost collided with Sarah.

“Ah! You scared me!” Sarah laughed, stepping to the side, and grabbing her chest.

“Sorry! We should really stop meeting like this.” Harper laughed. “Feel like grabbing a quick iced coffee? We got some new flavors in that are pretty good.”

Sarah nodded yes, and the two headed inside the spotless room.

“So, how are things going?” Harper asked, as she poured herself some vanilla mocha iced coffee from the container in the fridge. Since Sarah had confided about her problems with Raffe, Harper was feeling a bond with the girl. It wasn’t that long ago she’d had major man problems too. Now she was past the hurtful stage, she found herself wanting to help Sarah through that too. Maybe Gertie’s tendency to help those who were down-and-out was rubbing off on her.

“Okay, I guess. Gertie made me an offer to work here and I’m happy about that. I know she’s super picky. And, based on the clientele, I will be able to make some great creative dishes and ones that are different for every event, instead of the same food off a menu, with an occasional special. But Raffe wasn’t exactly thrilled when I broke the news to him I was leaving. I guess I assumed he knew this would be coming, but he seemed shocked. It threw me off guard and left me questioning my decision to be honest.”

Harper nodded her head sympathetically, knowing all too well how it felt to question your decisions. “Follow your gut instinct. You’ve had the feeling for a while that working together wasn’t good for your relationship.”

They both sipped from their iced coffees in silence, the ice from the ice maker in the corner clinking loudly and breaking the silence.

“Overall, I think it’s for the best. Change is good, plus I’ll be able to see TJ more,” Sarah finally said.

Harper could sense a “but” coming by the way Sarah was speaking.

“But, I’ll be working with Veronica. And I don’t really know if that’s the best idea. We do have a bit of a history.”

Harper was aware they’d had some problems in the past, but she hoped they could leave it there. Veronica could be a bit harsh, but deep down she wasn’t that bad. Plus, Harper certainly didn’t want any catty drama around here.

“Well, maybe getting to know her better will give you the opportunity to see she’s good for your brother,” Harper cheerily said, trying to be positive and upbeat.

“Working with her before wasn’t exactly the best experience,” Sarah said dryly.

“Well, maybe she’s changed. I’ve only worked for her a short time but she’s really not that bad.” Harper was stretching the truth a bit, but that was okay. “The past is all over and done with. Don’t dwell on it. Veronica’s done some really good things since she’s been here. She did go above and beyond to make sure Marly’s wedding was perfect. And earlier this morning she circumvented another big problem for the fashion show. I don’t think she would have done either of those if she was the same person who wanted to cause problems, right?”

“Yeah, you have some good points there,” Sarah reluctantly said. “And Marly trusts her now, which is saying a lot. She says she has been really great with the fashion show planning. I guess I should just trust her too and not jump to conclusions about her intentions with TJ. It probably doesn’t help I feel my relationship with Raffe is on its last leg. Maybe I am just taking out my negativity about relationships on Veronica. I don’t even know what I want anymore, to be honest. Maybe I’m just not destined to find love.”

Harper wondered the same thing about herself when it came to being negative about relationships. Truth be told, Logan was the only guy she’d felt even a small spark for since the big breakup, and she found herself hoping he wasn’t doing something wrong in that room with the lights. But he was the IT guy, and as far as she could tell, there were no computers or servers in that room. So, what in the world had he been doing in there?