they walked to the department, Anne saw that a courtyard was set up outside for people to take breaks and eat their lunches. Wrought iron tables and chairs were set up for the employees. Several people were already outside enjoying the sunny day as they ate their lunches. Flower boxes filled with red geraniums and multicolored flowers flanked the edges of the exposed concrete patio, and several Japanese maple trees dressed up the grassy areas.
The R & D department looked much as Anne expected with several offices and a central lab area. Although Anne was only allowed a quick glance into the lab through the door, she could see several scientists were still at work. One man was busy typing on a computer while two other people, a man and a woman, were busy working with beakers and Bunsen burners. Out by the offices, there was a small lunchroom with vending machines. It was empty except for a woman who was at a microwave oven heating her lunch. Anne could smell chicken, and her stomach growled. On the far end of the office area was a conference room complete with a digital whiteboard and a table that sat at least ten people.
After the brief tour of the R & D department, Ms. Tomlinson walked Anne back to the HR Department by way of another glassed in walkway that connected the two white buildings. As they walked through the third building, Anne was told that manufacturing took place behind the office areas of that building but that they would not be touring there because it was restricted. Coming back into Building One, they entered the HR Department after walking past the Sales and Marketing Department and the Customer Service Department. The Accounting Department, the Information Technology Department, and the Executive offices were located on the second floor, Anne was told.
"If we decide to call you back for the final round of interviews, the final interviews will be held with Mr. Winfield, Dr. Rudolph, Benjamin Stanford, our CEO, and I. Final interviews will begin on the eighteenth. There are five applicants being interviewed this week," Ms. Tomlinson informed her as they walked back into the HR Department. "I understand that you will be staying with family in the Seattle area?"
"Yes, I will," Anne said as she walked beside Ms. Tomlinson into the HR lobby.
"Good. We have your cell phone number in your file. You will be called to return again to meet Mr. Stanford if we decide to call you back. Have a nice stay in Seattle, Dr. Conner. It was a pleasure meeting you." She shook Anne's hand warmly before leaving Anne to check herself out from the front reception desk.
With the rest of the day free from interviews, Anne walked out to the rental car, took off her jacket, and steered her car north for the three hour drive to Orcas Island. She stopped only once to grab a burger and fries from a fast food restaurant along the interstate.
Chapter 3
Anne arrived at the Eagle's Nest Inn around three thirty that afternoon, dropped her suitcase on the bed of her old room in the family's separate residence, changed into shorts and a tee shirt, and went in search of her mother. She found her mother in the inn's large kitchen discussing the meal for the upcoming wedding that was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, only six days away. Not wanting to interrupt by drawing attention to herself, she waited by the door and watched her mother and their chef, William Becker, discuss the menu details and final head count. It sounded like the wedding would be a smallish affair with about eighty guests. If the menu was anything to go by, the wedding was also going to be an expensive affair.
Anne had learned a few weeks ago from her mother that the inn was fully booked with the wedding party and guests, most of them coming up from Seattle, and they were taking up the majority of the main building's rooms. Island vacationers took up the remaining rooms and the cottages along the water's edge. The bride, Lily Carlson, chose to have her wedding reception at the Eagle's Nest because she used to come up to the inn as a child and then returned last summer with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend proposed to her here at the inn. It all sounded romantic. Anne was happy for the couple. She was also happy for her parents who had, over the years, built