A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 30

When Stephanie and Tom arrived at work, Tom insisted that Stephanie sit at her desk while he went to explain their lateness to Brick. He was in Brick’s office for only ten minutes before both of them came out, and Brick made an announcement to everybody, telling them to gather in the common area for a meeting. As the staff began to gather, Tom took a few minutes to pour himself and Stephanie some coffee, and he handed her a mug, taking a seat next to her.

Brick stood in front of the group and addressed them. “Right, if everyone is here I’ll begin. Some of you may now be aware that Stephanie and Tom have been working together to unravel the Carlton scandal. They have made some progress, but now I fear that safety had become an issue, and if we don’t find out more about Hugh Carlton soon, the whole thing could blow up in our face. With this in mind, I have decided that we should all pull together on this story, and I want everybody to take time to figure out a pattern in these recent crimes that have occurred around the city. If we can get enough information on the Carltons, then we can turn it over to the police, ensuring our safety and getting the story that every other newspaper in the city wants.” He looked pleased with the idea. “Tom, I’m leaving you in charge of dividing up the cases and allocating them. If any of you need any more background information, I suggest that you ask Stephanie. She’s put a lot of work into this, and knows all there is to know on the subject at the moment.” He paused and then dismissed them with his hand.

"Well...get to it!"

Stephanie collected a handful of files and returned to her desk while Tom spoke to a number of the reporters. She began to study the files containing mostly information on a variety of different burglaries which had taken place over what seemed to be a wide area. She sifted through the pages, organizing them on her desk in a way that enabled her to glance at multiple crimes in one go. A frown crossed her face as she sat staring at the pages, lost in concentration.

“Found anything interesting yet?”

She looked up with a start to see Tom staring down at her desktop.

“You know this is really odd, there doesn’t seem to be any connection here at all. Quite the contrary, these burglaries are completely random.”

He picked up a few pages and scanned them. “Come on then,” he said, gesturing for her to pass him some files. “Brick seems intent on having us all do paperwork today, so I guess I had better do my share.” She passed him a wedge of files and he moved to the PC across the room.

Over the next few hours Stephanie studied the files in more detail, concentrating on the type of burglary and the items that were reported taken. None of the offenders seemed to have shown any sign of aggression, even those who were caught in the act. She was also perplexed to see that there was virtually no information on the items that were taken. She sat motionless, contemplating the pages. Hmm, courteous thieves…all around the city. It made no sense, and why on earth was Carlton involved in all of this? Eventually she threw her pen down on the desk in frustration. Glancing up, she noticed that Tom was watching her from across the room. She paused for a while and then mouthed.

“Any luck?”

He smiled and mouthed back, “Nothing so far.”

She glared at him.

“So… keep looking.”

His smile widened and he saluted her with two fingers, turning back to the computer.

She reorganized the papers on her desk, slipping them back into the corresponding files, and stood up to get some coffee. Tom’s eyes followed her, watching the way she moved, but swung back to the computer when she glanced over her shoulder in his direction. Pouring a strong black coffee for herself and Tom, she joined him at the computer.