Chapter 16: Suspended

I didn't sleep much.

Felix didn't either.

At two in the morning I found him in the library, at the old man's desk, with the windows account open on his laptop.

"No silences," he said, before I could ask. "I'm reading every transfer since August."

"Find anything?"

"Your login. Monday the twenty-fourth. Four-ten in the afternoon."

"Monday the twenty-fourth I was in the workshop all day tuning reindeer. You brought sandwiches."

"I know. I was there."

"So?"

"So I believe you." He shut the laptop. "And tomorrow I'm going to say that, and nothing else."

"Nothing else?"

"You told me in my kitchen. If I fix it, it's my store and you're my wife who complained." He rubbed his eyes. "I'm not going to make you that."

At eight the atrium was full.

The store doesn't open until ten, so the whole staff stood under the skylight in their uniforms and name tags.

Salesclerks from cosmetics and gloves and shoes. The tea room cooks in their whites. Security. Stockroom. The old doorman in his long green coat.

Evangeline's Selby Home stand sat in the corner, all cream boxes and fake snow, its ring light dark.

My crew stood together near the fragrance counter in their work boots.

Laurence stood halfway up the grand staircase, so everyone had to look up at him.

He wore a gray suit, and his gold watch was back on his wrist.

He had a microphone.

"Good morning, everyone," he said. "I'm sorry to bring you in early. I believe in transparency."

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