Alex Harris 00 - Armed

because of stealing. To be fair I think she got branded guilty by association. At any rate, they strongly suggested she quit and she did.” Mr. Absher paused. “I began to think Elvira and I were on a witch hunt and it didn’t sit well with me. But Elvira really thought Emmanuelle was up to no good.”
    “Do you know if she confronted Ms. Roberts on any of this?” John asked.
    Mr. Absher shook his head. “I’m not sure but I think she planned to. She hoped a confrontation would force the woman to quit.”
    I interrupted. “No, I’m sure she must have confronted Emmanuelle.” They all looked at me and I told them about the yelling match Sandy Knap overheard.
    “My dear Elvira. Why couldn’t she just come to me with this problem from the onset?” Mr. Poupée asked.
    “Mr. Poupée, from everything I’ve heard, Mrs. Scott protected you. She felt you had more important things to contend with than what she perceived as petty office politics.”
    “Yes, but great Scott! This may have gotten her killed!” Mr. Poupée looked shaken at the inappropriate pun but nonetheless he had expressed what I thought.
    Mr. Absher reached for the glass of water again. After several small sips, he continued, “When there was no response to my calls to Elvira, I became very worried.” He reached down to his case and pulled out a large package. “When I returned home yesterday I found this postmarked the day Elvira died, though I didn’t know it at the time. It’s from her.” He passed the box to Mr. Poupée. “I think you should take a look.”
    “This must be the extra box on the receipt. I gave Elvira four packages to mail but the postal receipt showed five.” Mr. Poupée tore the brown wrapping from around the package and looked inside. “I don’t understand, Oliver. Why are you returning a box of eyes?”
    “There’s a letter taped to the inside of the box.”
    Mr. Poupée opened the envelope and removed a piece of paper, read silently then handed it to John who read it aloud.
    William, I didn’t know whether or not to give this to you at our meeting. I want to see what your reaction is first and of course I really haven’t any proof this is indeed the handy work of Emmanuelle. If it’s not, then we have more problems than even I imagined. I know Oliver will keep it safe and make sure it gets returned properly if anything should happen to me. Oh, dear. I really sound like a paranoid old woman. Of course, if I’m being foolish, I will turn this over to you myself in front of the police, I should think. Elvira
    “But I still don’t understand. How did she think a box of eyes could implicate Emmanuelle in anything ?” Mr. Poupée asked looking into the box again. “It’s just a box of multi-colored eyes.” Mr. Poupée stopped talking and shook is head. “And what did she mean by wanting to see my reaction? It sounds like she suspected me of something.”
    “Wait a minute. I may have the answer to that.” I jumped up and went into the outer office. A few moments later I returned with the computer printout from my purse. I explained the significance to Mr. Absher and spread them out on the desk.
    “Something bothered me about all this but I couldn’t get a handle on it. This last sheet shows the breakdown of the orders by mannequin style. Look at this customer, Schwartz & Co. Judging by the size of these orders, they like the mannequins with the interchangeable eyes.”
    “My firm likes them as well,” Mr. Absher said.
    “Now look at this second sheet where the orders for eyes are listed separately,” I said, momentarily distracted by a sound in the outer office.
    “What’s wrong?” Mr. Poupée asked.
    “Oh, nothing. I thought I heard something.” Everyone returned their attention to the printout again and shrugged. “Don’t you see? Schwartz & Co. buys an awful lot of eyes.”
    “Yes, but they buy a large quantity of the Eyes Have It model and there are four different color changes at the moment. We’re adding more colors for the upcoming year,” Mr. Poupée argued, looking bewildered.
    “Four or five sets of eyes for each mannequin, okay—but fifty ?”
    “Let me see that, Alex.” Mr. Poupée studied the two sheets. “Why would Schwartz & Co. buy all these eyes?”
    “If Emmanuelle’s an embezzler or taking kickbacks or some such…” I paused, not sure of the terminology for these kinds of transactions, “maybe she sold tons of eyes at substantially reduced