Lady Of The Island

Her Office (IV)

The workers at Allcroft Studios were hard at work, scribbling down key notes of the current stage of development for Thomas And The Magic Railroad. All, that is, but Alice. She was secluded in her seasonal office. It was well kept, with everything organised, bar the empty bottle on her desk.
There was a knock on her door.

"Alice." A tired voice came from the door. "Did you meet the deadline like I asked?"

Alice turned her head and yawned, seeing an older man leaning against the doorframe - promptly causing her to knock the bottle off onto the floor and shattering.
"No, sorry David. I've been...occupied, obviously."

"Ah, right yes...Tasha. You can't let that get in the way of your work." David slapped the door. "Britt may be giving you a bit of leniency, but I'm not. Listen, I get it. Your friend and coworker went missing, we've done all we can do."

"A memorial outside the bathroom is not 'all you can do'. Outside the BATHROOM for gods sake! Not even in the breakroom!" Alice snapped, tearing her pencil into two.

David shook his head.
"Fiesty this evening, aren't we? Why don't you have an extended break? My treat?"

"Fuck off, David." Alice called sternly. "Actually fuck off. My best friend is MISSING."

He held his hands up.
"Hey, don't get all mad at me! How about you go looking for her tonight? It's only been - what, two days?"

"Three weeks." She muttered.

"Tomato, Tomato." He sighed. "Get your work done and on my desk by tonight, or I'm firing you."

And with that, he disappeared into the corridor.
"Shows how much he cares."
She then got up and walked into the hallway. It was now empty.
There was usually a laugh coming from the office across from hers, yet there was an eeiry silence. Then she noticed something...odd.

The door was cracked open.

"...who's been in there?" She asked herself, touching the doorknob. She shouldn't touch it. She knew that she shouldn't touch it.
Yet she slowly opened the door.

She was met with a similarly eeiry office. Nothing was moved, nothing adjusted at all. It was like Tasha had just clocked out and not come back, which was partly true. However, her computer's monitor had power running to it. Tasha always turned off the power. Someone had been here. Someone had gone through Tasha's personal space. Burnett was too sloppy to leave no trace. It was someone who clearly had their own office space and knew how to keep it tidy.
David.

"That son of a..." She trailed off. "DAVID!" Her words slurred. She was not usually one to drink, especially on the job.

David shoved the door with quite a great force.
"What is it? I'm trying to work."

"You call this work? Snooping through people's private documents and offices?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." David stood up straight. "Genuinely."

"Sureeee...." She eyed up a ripped up piece of paper on the desk. "What's this?"

"...oh you don't want to look at that." He urged.

"Well, now I'm going to look at it."

She picked up the paper, looked at it and froze. She muttered several words under her breath and looked all around.

"You....You fired her? Two days AFTER she went missing? What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Stop swearing so much, woman!" He scoffed.