for almost twenty years. He worked a number of years in Plant Support Services… originally part of our janitorial staff. He eventually moved into the warehouse and has been on driving runs for us for the last six years.”
He did not need to look over at Alex to know that his partner was taking meticulous notes. Kyle wrote when necessary, but his handwriting was chicken scratch and Alex was faster. “And Joe Parson?”
“He’s forty-two years old and has been with us for seventeen years. He began working in the warehouse, eventually moved to forklift driver, and about five years ago became a delivery driver.”
“Any problems with either of them? Any concerns?”
“Detective, I assure you if I had concerns, they would’ve already been addressed. Neither Charlie nor Joe have ever had a blemish on their employment records.”
“Okay, let’s talk about your routing system for deliveries.”
“For that, you’ll need to speak to Tammy. She’s been doing the delivery routings for us for many years. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to her.”
A moment later, they stepped into a much smaller office, greeted by an older woman who bounded toward them, shaking their hands with enthusiasm. “Detectives, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Tammy Rutgers and if you’ve got questions about routing, I’m the person to talk to!”
Once seated, Kyle began. “If you could just tell us—”
“Routing is so different than when I first started. I’ve been at Kilton since it began twenty years ago and started as a secretary. Back then, that’s all they let me do. We weren’t called fancy things like administrative assistants. No, sir! We were just secretaries. But I was tickled to be working in a big factory, so I didn’t care what they called me. I worked for the man that did the routing, and we used to have a big room with maps all over the tables. That’s how it was done back then. We just handled the local deliveries, and let me tell you, that took all our time!”
Leaning forward, he said, “I’m sure. Now, if you could just tell us about—”
“I used to work for a man named Sam Billings. Now, he was old and old-school. I started figuring out some ways that we might make the routing easier, but no, no! He was a nice man, but he wasn’t about to have a woman tell him what to do. Well, one day he had a heart attack—God rest his soul—and everybody here ran around like chickens with their heads cut off! But not me. I knew what to do, and I took it over. I ran the routings for almost a month before someone finally said should we hire somebody to take over the job. I tell you, detectives, I jumped to my feet and told them that I wasn’t going to train anybody that was going to come in and be over me. I’d been doing it for years and they could pay me to keep on doing it or I was walking!”
He shot a glance to the side, seeing Alex fighting the smile that was threatening to erupt. Deciding Tammy was better off talking than just answering questions, he leaned back and nodded.
“I had things running smooth as silk, but oh, my Lordy, when the Internet came along and we ended up with Google maps, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven! Our drivers ended up with GPS systems that eventually went straight to their phones. We could plot out the quickest routes for our pharmacy and hospital deliveries. I even won employee of the year! That’s my plaque right up there on the wall!”
Kyle’s gaze moved from the bright-eyed face in front of him over to the wall where he was greeted with a large, framed picture of the same bright-eyed face staring at the camera while shaking hands with Robert Kilton. Shifting his gaze back to her, he smiled, murmuring, “Congratulations, Ma’am. That’s quite an honor.”
Hearing the slight snicker coming from beside him, he fought the urge to kick Alex the way he used to kick his brothers under the table. Clearing his throat, he said, “If you could give us an idea how Charlie and Joe’s route works and who else knows about it, that would be such a great help to us.”
He seemed to find the magic words that appeased Tammy’s sense of assistance when she whirled her laptop around and exposed her screen.
“Oh, Detectives, I’ve stayed in this job long enough to see