Fractured by Wendy Byrne Page B

Schmidt.”
    Probably closer to sixty than fifty if the preponderance of grey hair and lines on his face were an indicator. A couple of photographs of a wife and some grown children, maybe grandchildren, were displayed along the credenza behind his desk.
    Because she knew he’d be on edge if she didn’t sit down, she took one of the brown leather chairs in front of his desk and tried not to fidget. She was always at the top of her game when pacing, but she needed to keep Mr. Schmidt loose and cooperative and a detective stalking around his office would no doubt have a deleterious effect.
    â€œI didn’t know about any burglaries in the neighborhood, Detective Sanchez. Where were they?” He had a pen and paper in hand to jot down notes, which was pretty unusual for an everyday Joe kind of guy. There was an off chance he had a law degree, which would make him more tuned into the details, or he might be the meticulous sort.
    â€œA couple of blocks from here, but we’re widening the scope of our investigation to see if any businesses in the area have had any unusual incidents within the last couple of weeks.” She had backed herself into a bit of a corner in order to get in. Now she had to figure out a way to ask about Lou and this mysterious Sergio character. “What do you do here?”
    His eyes narrowed and he gave her a suspicious look, but the moment passed quickly. “Packaging supplies. We distribute everything from corrugated boxes to bubble wrap to those annoying Styrofoam peanuts that everyone hates.” He gave her a forced smile.
    â€œYou make those products on the premises?”
    â€œYes. It’s an interesting operation. Unfortunately I can’t give you a tour today as my time’s a little tight. But I could set something up for later.”
    â€œI might take you up on that. How’s business been?”
    â€œCan’t complain. More and more people shop on-line these days, which is always good for my business.”
    If business was so good why did Lou get laid off? Something wasn’t adding up. “Do you have a lot of new employees?”
    â€œAre you saying you think one of my people is doing the burglaries?” His voice pitched slightly higher and he shifted in his seat.
    She shook her head. No sense getting him all paranoid about his workforce. “Not at all. I’m only trying to get a sense of the dynamics. I’d like to see if there’s any common ground between what’s happening.”
    â€œI hire an average of two to three people a month.”
    â€œWow, business must really be doing great. Most companies around here are experiencing layoffs because of the economy. It’s good to know it’s not affecting your business.”
    Somebody was lying. Although she’d like to believe it wasn’t her cousin, she had a feeling she was wrong.
    â€œI haven’t had to lay off a single person since I took over the business from my father fifteen years ago.”
    Her stomach did a nauseous flip, but she trudged on. She scanned through her notepad, examining an imaginary list of questions while she regained her composure.
    â€œDo you have anything unusual to report? Any suspicious activity in or around the area?”
    He shook his head. “None that I can think of.” He clicked his pen a couple of times. “When are the burglaries occurring? Is there some sort of a pattern?”
    â€œThe usual middle of the night kind of thing. They break into the office and steal money out of the safe. Do you keep a safe on the premises?” Even though she tried to keep focused, her mind kept drifting back to Lou and the reasons why he might lie.
    Sure she expected a lot of him. But he had a wife and child. While that unfortunately didn’t mean a lot to some men, to Lou it did.
    He nodded. “In my office. But nowadays we don’t keep a lot of money around. Most of our business is in checks, credit