Clash Into Clasp

CHAPTER 10 - Defended

On the seventh floor, Carl took a sip from the coffee that Laura just brought in. He frowned when the taste was bitter. Did the secretary alter her coffee mixture?

He sipped again but it was really bitter for his taste so he set it aside as he could not do anything about it. Laura already went out.

Seeing the list that Mrs. Cole gave him, he pressed the intercom to call her. "Can you ask if Alexis was finished with the Spears' design?"

"Sure," the reply came back.

After a while, Dorothy's voice came in. "Alexis is not at her table so I paged her. She'll surely come up soon."

"Okay," he replied and pulled on a document he needed to review.

After some minutes, a soft knock disrupts the silence.

"Come in," he said and the door opened. He looked up and was puzzled to see Alexis in a gloomy aura, her head hanging low.

His eyes narrowed. "How's your work?"

Alexis looked at him and her reddened eyes didn't escape from his gaze. "Sir, I finished it, but it was deleted." Her voice was low and filled with touches of melancholy.

"What?" his voice was raised but controlled.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I'll work on it again and try to bring it to you as soon as I can," pain trailed her cracked voice.

Carl looked at her. Is she telling the truth? Before he could reply, the woman already turned and left.

Confusion filled him. Having only one option to prove her honesty, he stood to check on the CCTV footage at Mrs. Cole's desk.

His secretary met him as soon as he opened the door. "What's wrong with Alexis this time?" Dorothy asked in concern.

"She claimed that the design she worked on was deleted," he walked past her. "I'm gonna check on the cameras."

"Really?" Dorothy exclaimed and followed him.

Soon, they're in front of the monitors that were in the room inside Mrs. Cole's desk.

Since he became the president, he had cameras installed around the building. He knew there were a lot of liars and thieves and that surveillance was needed. The CCTVs were installed secretly on a holiday that only the security guard and Mrs. Cole, knew about it. Making it secret was his idea since he wanted to test the honesty and genuineness of the employees without them knowing the presence of surveillance cameras.

Dorothy clicked and the video showing the fifth floor was enlarged. She clicked some more and soon, they were watching the recorded scene backward.

They saw how Alexis entered, stormed out, stood instantly, and looked around with clenched fists, how she relaxedly drank coffee, distributed coffee to the men, entered with a tray of coffee, went out, and how a woman went into her computer when she was gone.

Dorothy stopped backtracking and the video played normally, showing how Troy was talking to Alexis. After, she stood and went out. The next showed how Pauleen went near and did something on Alexis' computer. She went back to her table before Alexis came back.

"There's a conspiracy that happened. That's why Alexis was so sullen," Dorothy commented.

Carl's emotions were mixed up. He heard what Dorothy said but his eyes were focused on how Alexis distributed coffee to the men. He wondered why the two women were not included.

"Do you think Troy was involved?" Mrs. Cole glanced at him.

He shrugged. He seemed to be the reason why Alexis went out.