As he headed off, she felt her phone buzz and checked it. Hannah had texted.
Cops didn’t find anything suspicious. One is staying outside our apartment. Another is downstairs in the lobby with the guards. The other one left.
Jessie texted back:
Thanks for the update. Still working the case. Running out of leads for the night but don’t wait up just in case. Tell the cops we’ll relieve them when we get back.
Hannah texted her back with a thumbs-up emoji and she walked back inside to rejoin Ryan and Jamil, who looked even more downtrodden than when she’d left.
“Why don’t you head home, Jamil?’ she suggested. “You’ve done so much for us today and you look like you’re about to collapse on your keyboard.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “I have tomorrow off so I don’t mind. This is more interesting than anything I’ve worked on so far this year. I kind of don’t want it to end.”
“Sick puppy,” Ryan said, chuckling slightly. It was the first time Jessie had seen him smile since she’d returned to the station.
“We’re all a little messed up to keep trying to get blood from this stone,” she said. “But I was going to try just a little longer, if you guys don’t mind.”
“What do you have in mind?” Jamil asked.
“I was just talking to Sergeant Breem and he mentioned that there was a change of leadership at the company a few months back. He didn’t seem to think it was all that noteworthy. But sometimes there are skeletons in seemingly boring closets. Maybe we do a little spring cleaning?”
“That sounds stunningly tedious,” Ryan said forlornly. “I’m definitely going to need a coffee break before diving in. What about you, kid?”
Jamil nodded and the two of them went to the break room, leaving Jessie alone with her pitiless screen. She sighed deeply, blinked a few times, and then dived back in.
First she went to the “news” tab of the company website and searched through the press releases. As she scrolled through, she noticed something odd. In the last four months there were only three of them, all related to sales figures and upcoming product rollouts. And in the period from about six months ago going back five years, there were a total of eleven releases, all of a similar nature, with occasional updates on promotions and expansion.
But from January 17 through February 2 of this year, there were thirty-one press releases on everything from online sales in Argentina to a new air-conditioning system in the company’s Torrance production facility. No topic was too small to earn a news item. At no other time but during this two-week window did such minute changes or updates get such exhaustive discussion.
It’s almost like the public relations team was trying to flood the site with inconsequential information in order to hide some real news they hoped might get missed.
All of a sudden, Jessie felt a renewed sense of energy. She started printing out all the releases from that period. By the time Ryan and Jamil returned, she’d placed ten releases on each of their desks, along with highlighters.
“What’s all this?’ Ryan asked dourly.
“Welcome back, boys,” she announced happily. “We’re about to do a deep dive.”
“Into what?” Jamil asked with more enthusiasm than Ryan had expressed.
“I’m not sure yet. But this company is desperately trying to hide something and we’re going to find out what.”
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
It was Jamil who found it.
Jessie had given them a few more instructions before they started: they were looking for a press release that included actual news, not just puffery. It would probably be bad news hidden among positive updates and made to look like it was just business as usual. It was likely personnel related, referencing a promotion, lateral move, retirement, or resignation. The press release Jamil identified had almost all of that.
“It’s dated January twenty-second and titled ‘New Design Addition Expected to Spur Growth in International Markets,’” he began. “The release runs three pages, the bulk of which touts the latest hire in the Creative Design team, Massimo Torini, formerly of the Italian women’s wear company, Max Ultra.”
Jamil skimmed the page before continuing.
“There’s a long description of his accomplishments, as well those of two other designers he’s bringing with him. It mentions several additional promotions and department shifts, foremost among them the promotion of Greg Petrie to head of the design unit. Lastly, it notes that the now-former Head of Design Pierce Cunningham will move to an