“You feel confident enough to narrow it? What if we miss something?”
“Take a chance. We don’t have a lot of time.” Bennie set down her laptop and shifted over. “I don’t think the answer is in my emails. I think it’s in the recent stuff.”
“Okay, I’m filtering the leftover emails now.” Mary typed away, and in the next moment, the screen turned white except for a single email with the subject line Quality Control. “Whoa.”
“Let me see.” Bennie leaned over and read the email:
Ray, Did you talk to anybody at PowerPlus about the wiring yet? Susan at Jarrat keeps asking and I want to give her an answer. I know you’re busy lately but can you please get back to me on this? Flickering in the wiring can be a real problem, not just for people with migraines. What if it sparked or started a fire? You can’t negate those possibilities, and Susan is already voicing concerns about that. So please get back to me.
Mary frowned. “I never saw this email before, either. This should have been included in the production. Todd is copied on it.”
“So it was also intentionally omitted. They hid it from us. They never knew we’d compare.” Bennie sensed that her hunch was correct. “And we know there was no response because it would’ve been filtered in.”
“Right, but why?” Mary looked over. “So where are you going with this?”
“Fire, like Simon said.” Bennie was thinking out loud. “Let’s think about it logically. They took out the emails concerning wiring issues and Jarrat. The fact that it’s about Jarrat doesn’t matter, but what matters is the issue. The big problem with bad wiring isn’t that it causes migraines. That would be a problem peculiar to Jarrat. The real problem with faulty wiring is that it causes fires.”
“Right,” Mary said slowly.
“So we know that they hid these emails from us. Simon was telling Todd and Ray that there were wiring issues in the cubicles. He put them on notice that something bad could happen and the most likely thing that would happen is a fire.”
“Oh my God, you’re right.” Mary’s eyes flared open. “So maybe Jarrat had a fire?”
“Not Jarrat because Simon would’ve known that. We would’ve heard about that. But another account. All of the cubicles at OpenSpace contain wiring manufactured by PowerPlus. Any one of the accounts could have had a fire and if any of those accounts had a fire, OpenSpace was put on notice by Simon.”
“I get it!” Mary said excitedly. “He’s a whistle-blower, but he doesn’t know it.”
“Right, because he doesn’t know about the fire. So there must’ve been a fire. Or at least it’s a working theory.”
Mary turned to her laptop, her fingers poised above the keyboard. “So what do we do? How do we find out?”
Bennie’s thoughts raced. “You have a list of the accounts, right?”
“Right.”
“We know it’s not on Simon’s accounts or we would’ve heard it. So start with Todd’s.”
“That would make the most sense!” Mary started typing away. “We should start looking in the file that has Todd’s accounts, which they produced to you.” She looked over with a slight frown. “What if they omit the account we’re looking for from the list? That would be the thing to do if they were going to hide it, wouldn’t they?”
“No, they would have no reason to do that. Remember they don’t know we can compare, and also, at that point, they just wanted to show a complete listing of sales numbers.”
“Here we go.” Mary leaned back as a spreadsheet of Todd’s current accounts filled the laptop screen, with the company names running down the left side. “Larkspur Graphics, LLC. Deal Town Dollar Stores. Bethlehem Bank. ITTemps. Swarthmore Senior Services. Quorum Public Relations…”
“Remember, Todd keeps the accounts that are repeat business or opening branches.”
“Right, good point.”
“So we have to see if there was a fire in any of those accounts. We could Google it or look on the company website.”
“If we Google it, we can plug in ‘fire’ and the company name.”
“But that might not get anything if it wasn’t a fire, or if there was a fire but it didn’t reach the newspapers. I would start with the company websites, see if there’s a mention of any kind of any incident, whether it’s fire or not, involving electrical wiring.”
“Okay. You take the first ten accounts, I’ll take the second ten.”
“Go for it.” Bennie navigated to the website for Larkspur Graphics, then the About Us page, which went on about the graphic design franchise that helped people create their own websites, now opening offices in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Marlton, New Jersey.
“Nothing so far,” Mary said, typing.
“Same.” Bennie navigated to the next website, Deal Town Dollar Stores, which seemed equally innocuous, a line of dollar stores opening in Delaware and West Virginia. “Todd’s territory extends pretty far.”
“Agree, I’m seeing that too. Tot’s Togs makes kid’s clothes and it’s in northern Virginia.”
“Keep going.” Bennie plugged in Bethlehem Bank, and as soon as the company website popped onto the screen, she sensed they had struck paydirt. “Mary, look at this.”
“You got something?” Mary leaned over, and they read together:
We at Bethlehem Bank are devastated by the fire which took place in our newest branch in Manassas last month. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of our Adele Watson, a bookkeeper who perished in the blaze. We thank God that there was no further loss of life. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, and the branch will be closed for the near future. We hope to rebuild and reopen again soon, to serve the wonderful community of Manassas, Virginia.
“Oh no,” Mary said, hushed. “It was a fatal fire. Somebody died.”
“I know.” Bennie scrolled down, and at the bottom of the page was a small photo of a sweet-faced older woman with a funereal black frame around the picture, under which it said, ADELE WATSON.
“This is it.” Mary met Bennie’s eyes, her expression turning grave, the shadows harsh from the overhead light. “Let’s spin it out together. Bethlehem Bank buys cubicles from Todd, who has been put on notice only a month before that the electrical wiring is faulty. And Ray is on notice too.”
“So OpenSpace is liable, and not just for the damage to the building.” Bennie felt the weight of her words. “They’re liable for the death of the woman. It would’ve been broad civil and criminal exposure. Remember, Simon had problems with the wiring at Jarrat and also with Crowley Medical.”