After I talked to Cassandra, I headed for Ophelia’s office. When I got there, I was a bit surprised to find the door open and the lights on. Walking inside the office, I saw a young woman sitting at the desk, going through some papers. “Find anything interesting?” I asked her.
The woman jumped like she’d been hit by one of Zeus’ bolts. “Holy…don’t you know how to knock?”
“Don’t you know how to stay out of the boss’ office?” I countered.
“The bitch is dead,” the woman retorted. “Good riddance.”
I was shocked. This was the first time I had ever heard anything negative about Ophelia. “Didn’t like her much, I take it?
“No one liked her.”
“Would you mind answering a few questions for me?”
“Are you planning on making a pass at me? Yeah, I know who you are, Ares. Every woman in this building knows who you are. Your reputation precedes you.”
“I am trying to turn over a new leaf, as you mortals like to say. What’s your name?”
“Just plain ol’ Jane.”
“Well, plain ol’ Jane, let’s do this: you trade places with me and answer a few questions, and I won’t tell whoever is going to be in charge that you were rifling through the desk.”
“I’m the one in charge now,” Jane replied as she stood up and moved around the desk.
“Good to know,” I told her. “So, tell me what you know about Ophelia.”
Jane sat down in one of the upholstered chairs across from me. “An entitled bitch who enjoyed the perks that went along with the job, but did none of the work.”
“I’ve talked to her several times, and I always found her competent.”
“I didn’t say she couldn’t do the job; she just didn’t want to do the job.”
Opening the bottom left drawer of the desk, I searched through the files. “Any idea why?”
“She had something else going on. Something on the side. No, I have no clue what she was working on, before you ask me.”
I found a thin, black leather binder in the very back of the drawer. I held it up to show Jane. “Any idea what this is?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen it before.”
Placing it on top of the desk, I opened it. As I read the top pages, my eyes widened. I’m pretty sure that a few choice words turned the air blue, too.
“What did you find?” Jane asked me.
She started to get up to look, but I slammed the binder closed. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I replied, standing up. “One last question: did you ever see Ophelia talking to anyone that she normally wouldn’t talk to?”
Jane thought about it for a minute. “There was a really grungy looking guy that came around once in a while. When I teased her about it once, she told me that he was her brother.”
“Do you know his name?”
She shook her head. “Oh, and I saw her with that guy from the forge…what’s his name? Charlie! Yeah, him. He’s really nice. Maybe I’ll ask him out now that she’s out of the picture.”
“Hope you don’t mind a long-distance relationship,” I told her as I headed for the door.
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking puzzled.
“He’s currently hanging out at the Sulfur Springs Resort, and that’s a one-way trip.”
Ares is written by mystery writer Teresa Watson, author of thirteen books. She loves all things that involve sports and war movies.
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