Chapter 6

“Ro, it’s lunch time. You coming?” Izumi appeared next to her, her red hair hanging around her face like a curtain.

Ilana glanced up from her computer screen with a soft frown, as if she wasn’t desperately waiting for this for half an hour now.

“Oh, no, thank you. I think I'll skip today. My stomach doesn’t feel right.”

“Oh, is it something serious? You can take a day off if it is,” she said, her forehead decorated with lines of concern.

“Nothing serious. But if it does get unbearable, I'll think of going home early.”

“Good,” she nodded. “And do let me know if you need anything.”

“I will. Thank you, Izumi,” she said, forcing a smile on her face.

She kept her eyes on the computer screen but her ears strained. She picked up the scuffles of shoes on the floor, hushed gossips and whiny complaints.

She waited until most of the voice had faded before looking up. The floor was empty. Well, as empty as it could get.

Ilana had worked with worse.

She walked out the glass walls of her unit and into the main area. She glanced around. The few people, who hadn’t left, all inside their own units, had their heads bent over their screens, not paying her any attention.

The main area was empty but if anyone of them looked up, they could easily see her sneaking into Adam Meyer’s office.

So, she kept only a mildly guilty expression on her face and a solid excuse in her head.

She pushed open the door of Adam Meyer's office, letting it stay open. Less suspicious that way.

She unstoppered her earring, rolling it under a small shelving cabinet right next to the door.

She inhaled, walking towards his desk, her ears straining for any sort of sound.

She'd already made the decision to skip the shelving cabinet. It would take too much time and she'd guessed he wouldn't keep anything personal in there.

She pulled open the top drawer of his desk. It was only stationary and a few loose pages of a notebook.

The second drawer was filled with files. She glanced towards the half open door before pulling the folder out.

She flipped through the pages stamped with Meyer's Enterprises stamp. It was all office work. She still took out her phone and snapped quick, almost blurry pictures.

She could hear the sound of her heart thundering. This part, no matter how many times she did it, never got any less nerve wrecking.

It was the sitting still that made the task so hard. She wanted to get up and run. She wanted to feel the familiar press of a blade against her palm. Sitting still wasn’t a good release for all the adrenaline running through her nerves. It made her jittery. It made her hands shake violently, searching for a way out of her body.

She pushed the papers back inside the drawer once she was done, moving onto the last drawer. It was locked.

She pulled out two lockpicks from the pocket of the huge coat she’d worn, inserting them in the lock. She took a breath, forcing her hands to stop shaking.

She brought her ear closer to the lock, her fingers moving almost on muscle memory at this point. She had done this a thousand times. 

Lockpicking wasn’t ever her speciality. It was one of the things that had led to her being caught a lot in some of her earlier cases. But with enough practice, you learn even the hardest of skills. And Ilana had gotten tons of practice.

She heard the click and she slipped the lockpicks back into her pocket. This drawer also had a thick folder with sheafs of papers peeking out from it but Ilana was sure it was something important if it was under lock and key.

She pulled the file out, going back to the arduous task of snapping pictures. There had to be something important here. She felt around the back of the drawer or a key or anything that she could have missed but there was nothing.

“Hello?” She heard a voice call and her heart stopped. She was on her knees and on the other side of the desk so she was hidden from view.

She slowly and carefully slid the folder back into the drawer, trying her best to not make too much noise.

She stood up and intentionally hit her head against the desk, using the sound to mask the noise of the drawer snapping shut.

“Ow,” she said, rubbing the top of her head gingerly as she stood up to her full height.

“What are you doing in Mr. Meyer’s office?” the man asked. He brushed the blonde curl from his forehead, his mustache bustling.

“Oh god, I know what this looks like but I was just looking for my earring,” she said, her fingers touching her empty earlobe.

“Your earring?” He asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Yes. I was here to see Mr. Meyer earlier and it fell off and it’s really important to me so I was just looking for it. I asked Mr. Meyer before coming in. You can ask him if you want. I wasn’t sneaking around.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, looking a little annoyed.

“Can you…um, can you help me look around? I don’t want to be here when Mr. Meyer comes back. It’ll just annoy him.”

“I…” he paused, glancing back towards the half open door unsurely. “I have to get back.”

“Please? I’ll owe you one,” she pleaded, doing her best impression of puppy eyes.

“Oh, okay fine,” he said, throwing his hands up.

“So, what were you doing here? You wanted to talk to Mr. Meyer?” she asked, kneeling back behind the desk.

“Err.. no. I was walking past and I saw the door open so I came to check. He always locks the door when he leaves the office.”

Ilana frowned. “Oh? But the door was unlocked.”

“Well, you said you asked him to search for your earring. Maybe that’s why he left it unlocked.”

She cocked her head to the side, collecting all the information in neat little boxes.

“Yes, maybe,” she said, moving onto the bookshelf.

“So, you’re new here?” 

“Yes, very. It’s only my fourth day.”

“Then, what did Mr. Meyer want with you?” He asked and the envy in his voice was all the clue she wanted.

He wasn’t capable of ratting her out.

“Well, it was mostly a prank. He hadn’t asked for me. But I was here and he was really nice.”

He nodded in her direction.

“Oh, I think I've found your earring. Is this it?” he asked, holding up a small pearl between his fingers.

“Yes,” she squealed. “Oh my God, thank you so much.”

“It’s no worries,” he said, looking sheepish.

“No, no, really. I appreciate the help.”

He waved a nonchalant hand, looking uncomfortable. 

“I think we should leave now. Wouldn’t want anyone to see us sneaking around now, would we,” she joked and watched with satisfaction as he paled a little, turning to stare at her questioningly.

She allowed herself a secret smile before walking away.