Alex Harris 00 - Armed

of my arm. “Are you okay?”
    I shrugged his arm away. “I’m fine,” I said through clenched teeth. “What are you doing here?”
    “ I’m investigating a murder. I think the question is what are you doing here?” He nodded his head in the direction of Joanne’s office.
    “I’m trying to clear my name and find the real killer.” I gave him a so there look and immediately felt foolish. “I wanted to talk with Mr. Poupée but I can’t to find him. Have a good day.”
    He strode out of the office leaving me fuming.
    As soon as I heard him go into the factory, I went to find Millie’s neighbor Sherry.
    “Millie said something to the effect that strange things are going on out here,” I said.
    “Oh, not strange really. I may have been embellishing a bit. Just a few things happening that usually don’t.”
    “Such as?”
    “Well, let’s see. I think I told Millie about closed-door meetings. That’s a little different. Things are pretty opened around here.” Sherry paused a moment to blow on a steaming cup of coffee.
    I felt guilty using up the woman’s break time with a lot of questions, but I wanted to get it out of the way.
    “The supervisors like to make sure if there are any problems we can come in and discuss stuff,” Sherry began again, after taking a few tentative sips. “A few people who usually work on assembly have been pulled off and sent to help out in another area. They won’t say what they’re working on. The only thing I can think of is it may have to do with the museum contract, but that’s not really supposed to start until January.”
    I thanked her and went back to my office thinking I hadn’t learned much. Just another dead end. I had hit quite a few of those.
    I heard Mr. Poupée in his office and knocked on his door. And knocked. I gritted my teeth and walked in.
    “Alex, come in. How’s it going?” Mr. Poupée asked as he adjusted his hearing aid.
    What good did it do if he never turned it on?
    “Okay. Most everyone seems willing to talk once I get them started. Not that I’ve found out much. I did hear some factory employees are working in other areas.”
    “Hmmm.”
    Hmmm? What the heck did that mean? I waited a few more seconds but Mr. Poupée didn’t elaborate.
    I didn’t have much else to report on the investigation and decided to spare him the unpleasantness I had heard about Mrs. Scott. I found out a lot about office gossip and backstabbing employees but I didn’t think he wanted to hear that. Eventually I would have to make some things known to him.
    “Before I leave I wanted to ask if it would be normal for Mrs. Scott to have an employee’s file in her desk. I know they’re usually kept in Joanne’s office.”
    “Oh good, you’ve met Joanne. No, it’s not normal. Joanne handles most of the personnel things, but then again, it’s not really unusual either. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, we don’t have a personnel department. Elvira handled benefits and such but I assumed she passed most of that on to Joanne. Whose file are you referring to?”
    “I found Emmanuelle Robert’s file in Mrs. Scott’s desk.”
    Mr. Poupée sat forward and clasped his hands together. “Well, now, that is a bit odd. She would have nothing to do with Emmanuelle. Richard hired her and any evaluations or job-related problems would be handled by him and her benefit package would be administered by Joanne. But with Joanne taking time off, maybe Elvira took over. Is it important? I could ask Emmanuelle.”
    “Oh no, Mr. Poupée. Don’t bother. I just wondered how things worked, who handled what. I can ask if I think it might be important.”
    I didn’t tell him Emmanuelle had the file. Let Joanne find out and track it down. After assuring him I would be in the next day, though not until the afternoon, I went to find Sandy.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

    By time I left the factory the sky had become overcast again. Traffic was unusually light so I let my mind drift back to my talk with Sandy. I hoped our conversation would shed light on the exact context of the yelling match between Emmanuelle and Mrs. Scott, but Sandy spent most of the time telling me about the running of the order desk. Sandy handled orders for the mannequins while Monica handled orders for spare parts, eyes, wigs, and touch-up kits. Monica also entered new clients and issued client numbers.
    An initial order for the Eyes Have It mannequin shipped with one pair of eyes. Subsequent orders for eyes got