Fatal Greed Read Online Free PDF Page B

act. Then again, I’m just a mid-level IT manager…I had no clue. I only knew what I saw, and the horror would never leave my mind.
    I now had two more tasks on my schedule—contact Stu to learn more information on his murder investigation story and speak with Jeanne Greenberg.
    I wondered when I’d have more time to dig for details on the company acquisition. Life at J&W would soon change, and I felt certain, not for the better.
    For the employees who worked at J&W, a murder within a few feet of our office was unimaginable, but, on a personal level, not as frightening as losing their jobs, which would alter their lives forever.
    The connection I’d unknowingly developed with my colleagues kept the hunt for more answers about the acquisition at the top of my mind. A murmur of throbbing pain pulsated deep within my skull. I wasn’t sure if I could fix any of this crap.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Twelve
     
    The glare of the morning sun forced me to cup my hands against the murky glass as I looked through the window, searching for movement inside Greenberg & Associates. I turned away and saw the streets beginning to fill up, possibly eager shoppers getting an early start on their Christmas shopping. Having stopped by on my way to work, I heard the car engine click sporadically at the curb just a few feet away.
    Enough delays. I opened the metal-framed door, and the electronic bell announced my entry. Tiffany’s desk was vacant, cleared of personal items; only a phone, a clean notepad, and a pen remained.
    One of Jeanne’s associates came up to the front. Dabbing her trail of tears with a tissue, she told me about the shock she and her colleagues had felt when they heard the news only an hour before. She said they’d begun to worry about Tiffany when she didn’t show up for work. They called her cell phone several times, but it rolled to her voice mail. They were hoping she’d simply decided to go back home to see her family.
    “Where’s she from?” I asked.
    “Oklahoma. Someone said near Stillwater.” Interesting, isn’t that where Karina is from? “We’re just all stunned right now. I think a lot of us feared the worst. We were concerned something had happened to her. Tiffany was way too responsible to just disappear overnight.”
    She said the lead investigator, Carl Pearson, had set up an appointment to interview everyone at the firm later in the morning.
    Just then, Jeanne entered the front area, walking at half her normal pace. Her makeup was smeared. I’d never seen her look so vulnerable and shaken.
    “Michael, good morning. Let’s go back to my office and talk.”
    It’s unlikely her employees had ever bonded with Jeanne. And she was doing her best to maintain the emotional gap. From what I’d been told, she’d witnessed death up close as a youngster in Russia, watching her young cousin being mauled by a rabid dog. She had also heard horrifying stories from her parents who lived in Germany at the time of the Holocaust. I would imagine she had pushed those events far back in her memory, not expecting to revisit those demons in our suburban city.
    As she walked into her office, she didn’t bother shutting her door. She didn’t sit down. She just stood there and then put her hand over her face.
    “Michael,” she said softly.
    “Yes, Jeanne?” I hated to see such a strong-willed woman in so much pain.
    “How can a human being kill another person?” Jeanne’s eyes spilled tears.
    I grabbed a tissue from her desk and offered it to her. I noticed how the wrinkles in her face deepened with less makeup. I’m not sure she was looking for a response, but I felt a need to provide one. “I don’t know, Jeanne. It’s hard to fathom.” Visions of the dreadful morning polluted my mind.
    We stood in silence, both staring out through the metal blinds in her office. She reached out and grabbed my arm, catching me off guard. I tried to remain steady, physically and emotionally.
    “You’re a good man,