Executive

…76

The first email Alex saw when she opened her work laptop was from Angela Prescott, addressing the entire staff. She had to read it twice.

At first, Alex could not comprehend the fact that Janet was gone. Then, she struggled processing the poor taste of a companywide death announcement naming the victim a drunk driver. Afterward, she felt a wave of sadness come over her. Janet was young and full of life — wanted a beautiful Rottweiler puppy — was afraid — was afraid to be seen talking with Alex. Why?

Alex tried focusing on other emails, but a rebel thought, a faint memory, stuck somewhere at the edge of her brain, kept bugging her. After a while, the fog lifted and she remembered.

"Oh, no, unfortunately I can't touch any alcohol for another twenty days; I'm on an antibiotic regimen after gum surgery."

Janet had told her she couldn't drink! When was that? More than a week ago? She struggled to remember, and then realized she had received a text message on her private phone that day, advising her that Janet was approaching the breeder's home. She pulled the message and looked at the date: July 7. No way she could have been a drunk driver last night. I gotta go back to the plant, she decided, grabbing her stuff.

On her way out of the building, she ran into Bob Foster, the infrastructure manager who had trusted her to deliver his precious bomb-dismantling robot to the plant.

"Hey, boss, in a hurry?"

"Yeah, and I'll take your robot to the plant today, right now, I won't forget this time," she said, heading for the elevator.

Bob took out his cell phone and speed-dialed a number.

"She's going in," he said, then flipped the phone shut.

In the downstairs lobby, she ran into Sheppard.

"Leaving us so soon?" he hissed.

"Personal emergency, but I'll be back before lunch, I hope," she said and stormed out the main door, against the solid inflow of employees coming to work.

Sheppard took out his cell and dialed a number.

"She's on her way," he said, and put the cell in his pocket.

On her way to the plant, she remembered to stop by her house and grab the robot's remote from her other jacket. She had no idea why she wanted to go to the plant. It was just a hunch. Her gut was telling her that the plant held the answer to Janet's death and hopefully to a lot more.