Free Henry Wood Perception by Brian D. Meeks

him, and he declined a donut. He has never said no to baked goods. He said that he had been bothering you too much. What did you say to him?” Her foot was tapping.
    Henry knew he was innocent but decided to throw himself on the mercy of the court. “It was a misunderstanding. He asked if there was anything he could do to help; I said I didn’t…”
    “You did. Well, you have really upset him.”
    “You didn’t let me finish…just like Bobby.”
    Her foot stopped tapping, but her expression remained unchanged. “Okay, sorry, go ahead.”
    “I was going to say that I didn’t have anything today. That was all. Not that I didn’t want him to ever help us again.”
    “Well, you have hurt his feelings.” She handed him the box of donuts and pointed out the door.
    Ten minutes later Henry was back, two donuts lighter. “He's doing some research on the company who disappeared. If he can dig something up on them, it will be great.” The office smelled of brewing coffee.
    “Good. Now, who is dead?”

 
     
    CHAPTER TWENTY
     
     
    Lawrence was focusing on the directions he got from the security desk. He looked down and was thinking, left, then straight, left then right, third door. He said it a half dozen times before he bumped into a rather pretty woman with glasses, brown hair, and empty arms that used to hold a bunch of files.
    “Oh, geez, I'm sorry.”
    She had sort of bounced off Lawrence and now stood looking at the mess. “It’s okay; it was an accident.”
    Lawrence got down and started sliding papers back into their files and handing each one back to the still startled woman. He noticed that she had really nice ankles. “I'm trying to find the Human Resources office. I'm supposed to start a job today. I'm early because I sometimes get lost.”
    “Are you Henry’s friend?” She said.
    He looked up. “Yes. Are you Miss Silverton?” He handed her another small pile of folders.
    She crouched down a bit and helped him get the last few. “Yes, I'm. I don’t usually work over here, but, with the change in management, I had to pick up some files, obviously. I thought I would meet you up front and show you around. But you beat me here.”
    “I like to be early.” He stood up and straightened his jacket, which was a little too tight.
    She whispered, “I understand you're helping him with a case.”
    He whispered back, “Yes, I'm, but I'm supposed to work hard, too. I promise I'll do a good job.”
    She stuck out her hand and said, “I'm sure you will. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lawrence.”
    “It's nice to meet you, too, Miss Silverton.”
    “Please, call me Amy. Let me drop these off at the front desk. I can get them on the way out. I can show you where the HR office is, and you can finish up the paperwork. It won’t take very long. I had most of your information, so we just need a few signatures. After that, I’ll give you the tour and take you to meet your boss.”
    Lawrence offered to carry the files, and she let him. He felt strangely at ease around Amy. Most pretty women made him nervous, but she seemed nice. He guessed she was a few years older than him. As they walked along, she talked about the company while he thought of how much she reminded him of a girl he knew in school...a cheerleader, with long chestnut hair, who was a senior when he was a sophomore. The cheerleader was nice to him, too.
    Twenty minutes later, they were walking to production floor A. and Amy said, “Frank Pimpkin will meet us outside floor A. It’s a good idea to learn which buildings are which. A is the small floor, and also the name of the building, you'll be in building C, which has two floors, C and D. Frank will explain it to you. Are you confused yet?”
    “Not yet, but I'm sure I will be shortly.”
    Amy giggled and smiled at Lawrence. Lawrence felt ten feet tall. Frank chewed on a toothpick. He stuck out his hand. Amy left and the two of them walked through the door with an A on it. The sound of hard,