Bare Witness by Katherine Garbera

another check on her to make sure we didn’t miss anything the first time. She seems clean.”
    Nigel felt a little better hearing that information. He still couldn’t relax, but he did like knowing that the company he’d hired to vet Constance had done a good job.
    “If you think of anyone who might have a vendetta against you, let Justine know. I’ll be in touch when I have more information.”
    “Thanks, Sam,” Justine said, disconnecting the call. Her phone beeped a second later and she handed it to him.
    “Text message from Anna about Constance.”
    Constance’s phone is still sending out a signal that matches Piper’s GPS. There’s no indication that the phone isn’t working. Should we attempt to call? Would you call if you were panicked?
    He pulled out his mobile and sent her a quick text message.
    Piper okay?
    There was no response, but he hoped that she might be able to respond at some time.
    “Should we call?” Justine asked.
    “Yes,” he said. “What if Constance doesn’t answer?”
    “Then you’ll know who your enemy is.”
    “I wish I knew who we were dealing with,” Nigel said.
    “Probably a disgruntled employee,” she said. “It’s definitely someone without the guts to confront you directly.”
    “That’s true,” Nigel said, thinking back over the employees they’d let go in the last six months, though no one jumped out at him. He didn’t actually fire many of the employees, though he signed all the exit interview materials so that his executives didn’t have to deal with any situations like this one.
    “I’m going to call Constance,” he said, knowing now that her phone was okay.
    “Just pretend that you’re at the safe house, and want to know what’s up with them.”
    “I will.” He dialed Constance’s number, and this time the phone rang instead of going to the service interruption message. There was no answer though, and it clicked through to voicemail. “This is Nigel. We are at the house. Where are you?”
    He hung up feeling frustrated and angry. What kind of a man played this type of game? The world was supposed to be civilized, and in a civilized society no one made war on children. And that’s exactly what this person was doing.
    Nigel couldn’t wait to remember a face or a name. He knew that time was running out. “I’ve got an idea.”
    “What is it?”
    “I’m going to have my VP send me a list of everyone who’s been fired in the last year, and then we’ll have Anna run a check on them and see if anyone would be behind this.”
    “Good thinking.”
    He dialed Derrick’s number and the VP answered on the second ring. “It’s Nigel.”
    “I’m glad you called. I had to handle a minor problem this afternoon with some of our middle managers drinking during business lunches.”
    “Does it need my attention?”
    “No, I don’t think so. What did you need?”
    “Can you compile a list of everyone who’s left the company in the last year, and email it to me?”
    “I’ll get HR to do it. Do you want just those we let go?”
    “No. Anyone who has left.”
    “Is anything wrong?”
    “I’m not sure yet. But I need to review the list.”
    “I’ll get it to you first thing tomorrow.”
    Nigel realized it was after ten. Not that late but certainly not a decent hour. “Sorry for disturbing your evening.”
    “It’s okay. My wife and I were just enjoying a glass of wine.”
    Nigel hung up a few minutes later. He checked to see if Constance had responded to his text. She hadn’t.
    “Derrick is going to get the list together in the morning.”
    “Good. I sent a text to Anna telling her to expect it.”
    Nigel thought about the people who worked for him. He’d always had a high ranking as a good boss. He demanded a lot from the people who worked for him, but he was fair.
    “Could anyone on the board be out to get you?” Justine asked.
    “I don’t think so. Why?”
    “Just that the Barons can’t be trusted,” Justine said.
    “How