Alex Harris 00 - Armed

the police, no, I didn’t kill her. I told them yesterday and I’m telling you. But am I sorry she’s dead?” Joanne abruptly stopped. She took a few deep breaths and seemed to calm down. “I’m sorry she died. But I’m not sorry she’s gone.”
    Her dark brown eye bore into my lighter ones. That eye definitely unnerved me. Actually, the other eye, the one not looking at me, was the unnerving one.
    “You do have my curiosity up,” I said. “I’ve worked with Mrs. Scott on many occasions and she always seemed very professional and efficient.”
    “Humph. That’s because you didn’t work with her every day.” Joanne jumped up and pulled open a file drawer. “See this? I’ve got all the employees coded so their supervisors know when they’re up for a raise or promotion.” She indicated small colored tabs on the edge of each file. “Of course I’ve updated the system and now I’ve got everyone entered into our new database so we can track salary history, insurance benefits, changes in status. Did I ever get the credit for this?”
    I figured this to be a rhetorical question but I thought I might as well humor her. “Let me venture a guess. No?”
    “No. I did not. We didn’t have vision insurance for our employees when I started but we do now. And our dental plan covers more than the last plan. You know why?” Joanne shut the file drawer with a clang and walked toward me.
    “Because old Elvira liked the status quo. She used the same insurance broker they’d been using for years. She never even went out for quotes at renewal time. Can you believe that?” Joanne put out her hands in question, her voice raising an octave. “But has anything ever been said to me? Any thanks? No. And you know why? Because she took the credit. That’s why.” Joanne paced very quickly in front of me. “She’d send out notices announcing we had new dental or new this or new that. Always made it sound like she had worked on it.”
    “Looks like your back feels better.” I smiled up at Joanne.
    She stopped abruptly and reached her arm around and rubbed the small of her back with her hand. “It comes and goes.”
    “You seem to have a lot of anger toward the woman.” I raised my hand at Joanne’s attempt to protest. “So let’s say you’re telling the truth and you didn’t kill her. What are your thoughts on who might have? Maybe she stabbed a lot of other people in the back.” I hoped this would illicit some dirt on the tension between Elvira and Emmanuelle.
    Joanne regained her composure, smoothed her hair again, and considered this for a moment. “I assume we’re assuming the killer is one of us?”
    I nodded.
    Joanne stood straight, and rested a hand on the corner of the desk. “Then the only person I can think of is Emmanuelle.”
    Bingo.
    “They didn’t get along very well. And no,” Joanne held up a hand, “I don’t know why. Elvira and I didn’t socialize as you can guess and Emmanuelle keeps to herself.”
    Damn.
    “If you can push the blame on Emmanuelle because they didn’t get along, you can imagine what I’m thinking right now at your own outburst toward Mrs. Scott. I wonder what the police are thinking.” I stood up and started my own pacing. “I’m curious about something. If Mrs. Scott took all the credit, why didn’t you ever go to Mr. Poupée? You don’t have any trouble telling me, a total stranger, about your feelings.”
    “Mr. Poupée always took her side. He’s a nice enough old guy, I guess, but the two of them didn’t have a clue about technology. Let’s just say in Elvira’s case she outlived her usefulness. It took her a long time to get the hang of new stuff.”
    “So you thought she should go and you should have the job.”
    “Well, why not? “Joanne said defiantly. “She didn’t want to part with any of her responsibilities, she micro-managed everything and took credit for stuff I did. Hell yes, I thought she should leave.”
    I spent another five minutes trying unsuccessfully to get back on the subject of Emmanuelle and then returned to my office.
    “She hasn’t learned yet, has she? ‘If you mean to profit, learn to please’,” I said shaking my head, as I walked into the office.
    “Winston again?”
    I jumped and my heel slipped on the plastic chair mat. I caught myself just in time by grabbing onto the side of the desk. “Jeez! I didn’t see you. You scared me half to death!”
    Detective Van der Burg jumped off the couch and took hold