Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,30
that much stuff coming and going then from your building?” Johan asked her.
“That depends what you mean by ‘that much stuff,’ I suppose,” she said. “I don’t deal with a ton of the shipping. That would be more for our purchasing officer and the accountant to reconcile between themselves.”
“And yet a truck was unloading, a big truck. Unloading boxes with three forklifts down there.”
She twisted around in her seat to stare at him. “Three forklifts? Why would they need so many supplies?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. What exactly are they unloading here, and do people realize what’s coming in and what’s going out?”
Joy shook her head, her eyes wide.
“It’s also possible,” Galen said, “that you’re dealing with one company, but the building is shared by another company, and the one company owns it.”
“Meaning, the one I work for is an umbrella company?”
“Exactly. They could be dealing with some shipping import-export company on the other side or something.”
“Well, that makes sense,” she said, “particularly if it’s related to their research.”
“Maybe we need to look at that more deeply,” Johan said. “It should have already been mentioned though, if that were the case.”
“I don’t think anybody here volunteers any information,” Galen said. “They’re all stuck on sticking to themselves, heads in the sand, ignoring whatever is going on there.”
“Unfortunately that’s very true,” she said. “I was really surprised when Phyllis went off on her tirade today and explained all that about her relationship with Barlow.”
“And that in itself is unusual, correct?”
“Well, I’ve shared an office with her for six weeks now, and she’s been barely civil,” she said. “But she’s barely civil to Doris too. So I think the argument today that you guys had with Edward set her off.”
“Interesting.”
“Very.”
Johan sat back, thinking about what they didn’t know, and wrote down more notes to send to Levi. “We still don’t have an awful lot of information,” he said. “It would sure be helpful to get someone to open up to us.”
“But is that cooperation necessary for you to investigate anyway?” she asked.
“Maybe not,” he said. “Either we find out the information now, or we must find it later. Personally I’d rather get the information now, so I have what I need to know before I head into any dangerous situations.”
“What is dangerous though?” Joy asked. “If there is a secondary company working within the same building, then it easily could have been just a mix-up in inventory.”
“So, in that case, why didn’t somebody just tell you or us about the second company?”
“I don’t know,” she said, pulling up her phone. “I almost want to call James and ask him.”
“I wouldn’t,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. You don’t know what else is going on out there. James could be just a middleman.”
“But 240 people work for this company,” she said. “So it doesn’t sound like there’s room in this building for more than that. Granted, a bunch of the employees on file could be those who work at the main lab research facility down the block. I’ve never really done an employee canvass.”
“But, if it’s an umbrella company, maybe they work for someone else?” Galen offered.
“Lots of people think they work for one company,” Johan said, “but legally, on paper, they’re working for somebody else.”
“I guess,” she said. “It’s kind of sad though that I’ve been there for six weeks, and I still haven’t figured out any of this.” She settled into her passenger seat, again facing forward. “But back to Phyllis. I sure wouldn’t want to be in her shoes.”
“No. I can’t imagine that she’s taken the whole thing very easily.”
“And yet I want to find her guilty of something, but she hasn’t stolen anything that we know of, and I think that’s wrong too,” she murmured. “Surely James is guilty of something, right?”
Galen laughed. “You’re beginning to sound like us.”
“We’ll find out who’s behind all this,” Johan said.
“If there even is any this,” she muttered. “So far it’s just one case of ketamine missing. Although Phyllis did mention Chelsea today.”
“Good! What did she say?”
Joy quickly relayed the little bit that she’d heard. And then said, “But that’s really not definitive either.”
Just then Galen pulled into a parking lot of a park. Johan unbuckled his seat belt, hopped out, and opened her door. She looked up at him in surprise, but he was busy searching the area.
“So, are you trying to be gallant?” she whispered in a low voice, as she stepped to the ground