Burnt Sienna (Hemlock Grove // Roman Godfrey AU)

Spying

I kept my eyes on Maria Stauffner the moment I knew she had come to the institute the next Monday. She didn't come every day, and when she did, I had to try not give anything away. 

To my misfortune, she decided to grace herself before Pryce and me at Pryce's lab. 

"Ms. Stauffner, may I ask what brings you down here? Or who guided you here in the first place? Usually board members are not seen wandering around these parts of the tower," Pryce said. 

"Why, yes. I found a map and figured out it would be good to see what exactly goes on inside the Godfrey Institute. You are the magician behind all the profits after all," Stauffner said. 

"Science and research, Ms. Stauffner. Hardly any of this comes from luck or magic. We have a dedicated group of researchers and bright minds involved in all that goes on here."

"May I ask about your latest advancements?" Maria Stauffner asked. 

I stood there listening to Pryce explaining to Maria how he was doing something with carbon and phosphorus. I knew she wasn't slightly interested in Pryce's work. She came here for something else. But what. 

I did catch her looking around several times, as if she was trying to find something. Thoughts of what she was looking for pestered my mind. What does she want?

After a while, an almost disappointed Maria fake-smiled as she left the lab. 

"Sienna, go after her," Pryce told me. He seemed very, very concerned. 

"May I ask why?" I asked. 

"I will tell you later. But go after her," Pryce said again. I nodded and went to the elevator. The elevator screen showed it stopped on the 50th floor. What on earth would Maria be doing there? The elevator stayed there for 30 seconds, then started going down, when it stopped. Then it went back up to the 50th floor, and was going down. So Maria went to the 50th floor, didn't find what she was looking for, and was headed down. I had an inkling of where she would go. I left the elevator and decided to take the stairs instead. 

The hallway was completely empty. Strange for a work day. I stayed behind a pillar and noticed the elevator 'ting' open. Out came Maria Stauffner with fear of getting caught and concern drawn all over her face. She walked the opposite way from where I stood. I calmly just observed her. 

Once her figure disappeared, I wanted to walk, but I heard a "Ugh. Where has he gone!" from Maria. She came back and clicked the button and went all the way down. She would be signing out now. 

I thought it was safe to go 10 minutes after her. So I did. I was met downstairs with Madeliene at the reception, looking joyful as always. Honestly, what a ray of sunshine she was. 

"Maddy, hi again," I said. 

"Oh, hey Sienna. What's up."

"Did Ms. Maria Stauffner sign out?" I asked. To make everything less suspicious I added in, "She was in the lab today and since she's new, Pryce wanted to make sure she figured her way around."

"Oh, oh yeah. She signed out just now. She seemed a little flustered."

"Did she ask you anything?" I asked.

"Actually, she did. She asked for some Daniel guy." Madeleine brought a picture up to the screen. 

"Him." My eyes grew wide as I saw the picture of the man Roman had killed because he needed to feed. I tried to pretend there was nothing wrong. 

"Stauffner wanted to check his records for some reason. And what's weird is, on Friday, Daniel came in but hadn't signed out. But of course I left earlier on Friday. But I'm pretty sure he did check out. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did. Where else could he have gone, right?"

I nodded. "Of course. He must be around. I did hear him talk to another person once about transferring somewhere. Maybe he did?" I said. I was so, so thankful I had remembered that piece of conversation I overheard once. 

"I guess so," Madeliene said. "You need to get back to work." 

"Right. See you," I told Maddy and headed to the lab. 

"So?" Pryce asked. 

"Confidential," I told Pryce. He nodded and we both went to his cabin. I locked the door and sat down. "Okay, she was looking for that man Roman killed. I don't how she knows he's missing. She asked the front desk about him. Also, she was looking for something, maybe clues as to where Daniel was. She went to the 50th floor first. But tell me this. Why did you send me after her?"

"Sienna, we wouldn't give a map to a board member. They do not have any business in this section of the building. It's strange, is it not?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," I said. 

I didn't tell Pryce that Destiny, Peter, and I already figured out something was loopy with Maria Stauffner. And I did not tell Pryce that Roman of all people probably did know what was loopy with her.