Broken Trust Read Online Free PDF

to see why? That seemed strange.
    Mark inserted a key into a heavy wooden door that was probably original with the house. He giggled as he pushed the door open and stood back for her to enter. He opened his arm with a flourish. “Ta da!”
    Nora inhaled and stepped into the office. The long walk, talk of a disappearing Financial Director, and locked doors had her expecting some kind of Exorcist moment with papers swirling through the air, maniacal laughter, darkness, and debris filling a sulfuric atmosphere.
    No overactive imagination there.
    Windows lined this large corner office. Lavender paint with mint-green trim brightened the walls. Plants sat on the window sills that accented a view down Boulder Canyon. A wicker chair with a chintz seat pad was tucked into a corner next to a cute patio table with a reading lamp. A large cabinet sat in the corner with the doors open. One side held shelves full of office supplies; the other side was a coat closet. The desk and work space filled up one wall. File folders, papers, notebooks, and documents jumbled across the sizable countertop workspace. After Nora straightened and filed and got the rhythm, the office would be comfortable and pleasant.
    Her pocket vibrated again. Never say die. Abigail.
    Mark worked her office key off his ring and handed it to her. He pulled a crumpled notebook page from the pocket of his white shirt. “Here are the system passwords. If you change them, let me know. Make yourself at home. I’ve got to run.” He sped away.
    “Well, what do you think?” she asked Abbey.
    He responded by plopping down next to a filing cabinet and watching her.
    “Go ahead and act exhausted, I’m the one lugging this plant around.” She eased the plant onto the corner of the counter, shoving papers aside.
    “So you’re going to replace Darla? Didn’t take Mark long to write her off.”
    Nora whirled around to see Fay leaning against the doorjamb. See? Normal colleague chatter. Not a threat. Remember casual conversation? “How long has she been gone?”
    Fay shrugged. “A week. Maybe Mark knows something we don’t.”
    Nora surveyed the room. Two painted white wooden shelves above the work surface held porcelain figurines of bunnies and kittens painted in pastels. A snapshot showed a grinning woman, presumably Darla, shrouded in winter gear next to a Pawnee Pass sign on the Continental Divide. Several framed posters with inspira tional sayings and landscapes peppered the walls. “Looks like she planned on coming back,” Nora said. “She left a lot of personal things.”
    Fay walked into the office and peeked into the coat closet. She picked up a book from a shelf above the rod. Her voice had a cracked quality, as if she’d been yelling at a soccer match for two hours. “I don’t know Darla very well. She kept to herself.” She returned the book and picked up another. “ Actu ally, I thought she was weird.”
    Nora shrugged out of her coat. She didn’t want to gossip. “How long have you been at the Trust?”
    Fay wandered over to the decorative shelf and plucked a picture off. “I didn’t know she was a hiker.” She set it back down. “I’ve been here about five years. W ondering how long I’ll last.”
    Nora studied a bulletin board mounted behind the computer. It was strewn with multicolored sticky notes. “Why is that?”
    Fay retreated to the doorjamb and leaned against it, crossing her arms. Her voice croaked. “You’ll see. Used to be all the projects were important. But now a days we’ve got one star , and that’s all Mark can see.”
    Nora leaned her backside on the work counter. She wanted to dive into the mounds of paper. “If the board doesn’t like the job Mark’s doing as E xecutive D irector, they can replace him.”
    Fay’s laugh sounded like a rusty door hinge. “Right. Mark isn’t ED because he’s so brilliant. His daddy is on the board. Mark’s not going anywhere.”
    That answered the question of why someone so …