Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Walking into the station with Wyatt from hopefully their last call of the day, Avery hoped to clear her desk and relax for a few minutes. “Wyatt, are you going to update Captain Barnes?”
“Yeah. Give me a minute to pull up all the paperwork on my computer and I’ll see if he’s available. Want to come in and talk with us?” Wyatt asked as he rounded his desk.
“I’ll let you take care of that, and I’ll finish filing the last of our paperwork for the week. Can I get that stack out of your drawer?” When stuff kept disappearing off her desk, she and Wyatt had decided to move the to-be-filed stack into a file at the back of his bottom drawer.
“Divide and conquer. I love it. Much better idea. We might almost get out of here on time if we each cover one last task,” Wyatt suggested as he sat down and pulled open his desk to retrieve the file.
He fumbled in his desk for a few minutes and looked up at her. Wyatt’s face had hardened into a scowl. “It’s not here, Avery. Check your desk. Maybe we put it in the wrong desk.”
Immediately, she searched and found nothing. “What’s going on? Why is anyone messing with the files?”
“I don’t know but I think you should come with me to talk to Trace,” Wyatt suggested, standing and grabbing his computer.
Avery nodded and followed him. She’d tried to limit her interactions with Trace at work, keeping everything completely professional to prevent anyone from having any proof that their relationship affected their jobs. The vast majority of the side looks and whispered conversations had died out due to Trace’s impeccable leadership skills.
Wyatt knocked on the open glass door to grab Trace’s attention. “Captain, do you have a minute? We’ll update you on that case you assigned us.”
“Of course, come in,” Trace welcomed them into his office and waved at the chairs in front of his desk.
After running through the updated file information, Wyatt leaned forward to add quietly, “Captain, we’re still having problems with paperwork disappearing.”
Trace immediately focused on Avery. “It’s disappearing from your desk again?” he asked.
“We’ve both made an extreme effort to eliminate any unfiled papers before we leave the squad room. Just as you sent us out on today’s assignment, a stack of sensitive records were delivered for the case I need to testify at next week. Wyatt stashed it in his desk in a file labeled recommendations and awards.”
“It’s not there now?” he asked.
“The folder is empty. He even took the certificates and letters I’ve gathered throughout the years,” Wyatt confirmed.
“So this just happened today in a roughly two-hour span.” Trace’s gaze narrowed as he pinpointed the occurrence. “And in a squad room filled with detectives coming in and out as they accomplished their duties.”
“Correct,” Avery confirmed.
Trace held up one hand and lifted the phone. “This is Trace Barnes. I need the video surveillance footage for the detectives’ squad room for this afternoon from noon until four. Can you send it to my computer immediately, please?”
He was quiet as he listened to the officer on the other end of the connection for a few seconds before adding, “Thank you. I’ll look forward to seeing it in approximately ten minutes.”
Looking up at Avery and Wyatt, he apologized. “I’m sorry. I should have asked for the footage before. This is such a specific time span, we should be able to fast forward through the video to discover what’s happening.”
“Social time, starting before the mandatory meeting?” Ed grumbled from the doorway.
“Wrapping up one case and investigating another, Detective Barlowe. Did you need to see me before the debriefing?” Trace asked without a hint of annoyance.
“Just checking to make sure it starts on time,” the older man informed him.
“I promise to have you out of here at the designated time so you can catch the second half of that game,” Trace answered evenly.
“Thanks, Captain.”
Trace’s computer dinged, drawing their attention from the man who still lingered in the doorway.
Ed continued talking. “I did want to draw your attention to the email I sent after lunch. Everyone had cleared out and I’d come back to the squad room to find the custodian behind Wyatt’s desk. I thought I heard a drawer squeak closed but he said a spill had been reported on the floor and he was there to clean it up. Something about it just didn’t seem right,” Ed reported.
“I haven’t cleared out my emails yet. Thank you for following up on your message. Believe it or not, Avery and Wyatt just reported something missing from Wyatt’s desk. The security footage just arrived,” Trace shared.
“I’d love to see it,” Ed suggested, moving closer.
Trace rotated his screen to display it to everyone in the room and clicked a button on his keyboard. The desk area was in clear view. Moving at the usual speed, they watched the detectives walking around, working, and chatting.