“Just once,” she answered, “and briefly. That also bothered Mr. Jeffries that the police didn’t spend more time in the office, seeing what they could find. I heard Mr. Jeffries telling someone that the police never thought the answers were here.”
Cindy and Mattheus followed her down a hallway to a door on the right. She took the key she’d brought with her and unlocked the door.
Paul’s office was a large room, overlooking a busy square, where people were walking, shops were open for business and cars driving here and there. The windows were shut tight and the air conditioning turned up high. It was so cold Cindy got a chill when she walked inside.
“He loved this office,” Peggy said sadly. “I haven’t been in it since Mr. Jeffries locked down. He was worried that something would be messed with or stolen.”
A large wooden desk stood in the middle of the room, with a comfortable leather chair behind it and two smaller chairs in front. The side of the room had filing cabinets, a small sofa, and old wooden book cases that were filled from top to bottom. Other than that, the walls were covered with large photos of Kendra and Nell.
Cindy looked at the photos, touched. “He must have really loved his family,” she said.
“Very much,” said Peggy. “Kendra called him all the time. So did his daughter. No matter what he was doing, he always stopped and took their calls.”
Cindy felt sad to hear that. She could only imagine what a loss it must be for both of them.
“Mr. Robbins always said to me, Peggy, remember one thing, family is first.”
Cindy remembered that Paul had trouble with his original family back home. That’s why Kendra and Nell must have meant so much.
“What else did he tell you?” Mattheus asked, walking around, going to the front of his desk, opening the drawers, poking around.
“About what?” Peggy asked confused.
“About himself, about life?”
“Not much,” she finally said. “He told me to always be on time to work,” she smiled a little. “He hated it when people were late. And he said to be polite to everyone who came in, including the worst looking ones. He told me over and over that everyone deserves a chance.”
“But he didn’t get it himself, did he?” said Mattheus.
Cindy was startled by the edge in Mattheus’ tone.
“In fact, it could have been one of these criminals that finally did him in?” Mattheus threw a side glance at Peggy.
Peggy jumped back. Mattheus seemed to be taking pleasure in purposely jarring her.
“It could have been anyone,” Peggy said quietly. “I have no idea. I don’t like thinking about it. I wouldn’t be able to come in to work here, if I did.”
Cindy wanted to step in between Peggy and Mattheus, but something in his eyes told her to back away. He was doing this for a reason.
“Was there someone who came in recently that you felt funny about?” Mattheus said.
Peggy’s eyes clouded over. “I didn’t pay much attention to the clients,” she said. “I didn’t feel comfortable with most of them.”
“Mr. Robbins did though?”
“He loved them,” she looked Mattheus straight in the eye then. “I used to hear him talking to them in the waiting room and also on the phone. He made them feel confident and protected. Seemed he always wanted to get them the best deal.”
This was hard for Peggy and Cindy could see it. But just then, the door to Paul’s office flew open and a tall, thin, agitated man walked in.
“What’s going on here?”
“It’s the police,” said Peggy nervously. “They’re investigating the case.”
“Jeffries here,” he turned towards Mattheus. “Who sent you to our place?”
“Private Investigations,” said Mattheus. “We’ve been hired by Mrs. Robbins.”
Jeffries cleared his throat. “I heard about that,” he said. “She’s desperate to clear her name.”
“We’re following any leads we can get now,” Mattheus looked him straight in the eye.
“Believe me, I’ve been over this a million times,” Jeffries said hastily. “Been through his draws myself, looking for something. There’s nothing there now. They’ve been emptied out by the police. What did they find? Nothing. No threatening notes, no love notes, no secrets numbers to a game. Nothing. The guy knew what he was doing. Nothing telltale left behind.”
“You worked together for a long time?” asked Mattheus.
“At least ten years,” said Jeffries, his voice catching. “Come into my office. We’ll talk.”
“Let’s talk in here,” said Cindy. She enjoyed being in Paul’s place, letting the vibration sink in, scanning his bookshelves, looking at the photos of Kendra and Nell. A sense of his life came over her here. The office showed a powerful man, successful, intelligent, attached to family. There wasn’t yet a kink in the armor that she could see for herself.
Jeffries turned to Peggy then. “You can go back to the front desk now,” he said.
Peggy nodded, turned and left.
“Okay,” he said to Cindy, “let’s sit down here, and talk.”