Free Tote Bags and Toe Tags by Dorothy Howell

the CHP, and I’ll bring his clothes by your place tonight.”
    â€œThanks, Amber,” I said. “You’re awesome.”
    â€œHow are you holding up?” she asked.
    That was nice to hear. Amber thinks of everything.
    â€œRelieved he’s not seriously hurt,” I said. “I hope he was telling me the truth. You know how men are about medical things.”
    â€œI’ll double check with the hospital,” Amber said. “You said it was Palmdale Regional? What was he doing up there?”
    Okay, that was weird.
    â€œYou don’t know?” I asked.
    â€œAt about eleven this morning, Ty asked me to cancel all his afternoon appointments,” Amber said.
    Okay, that was really weird.
    â€œI’m sure it was something to do with business,” Amber said.
    â€œI’m sure you’re right,” I agreed. Ty seldom did anything that didn’t involve Holt’s in some way, shape, or form.
    â€œSee you tonight,” Amber said, and hung up.
    Through the glass panel in my office door, I saw people walking through the hallway and realized it was time to go home. Thank goodness. I’d had one heck of a day.
    As I reached into my bottom desk drawer to retrieve my purse, my office door opened and Adela walked in. She didn’t look happy.
    â€œI didn’t receive an e-mail announcement about tomorrow’s event,” Adela said.
    There was an event tomorrow?
    â€œYou’ve made the arrangements, haven’t you?” she asked, though it sounded like more of an accusation, like she thought I hadn’t done it, or something—which I hadn’t, of course, but still.
    Adela narrowed her gaze at me. “I assured Mr. Dempsey you could handle this position, Haley. Your résumé was very strong.”
    Jeez, what did I put on that thing? Maybe I should have reviewed it before I sent it in.
    â€œWas I wrong?” she asked, her eyes getting narrower.
    My future at Dempsey Rowland flashed in front of me—and not in a good way. Did I now have a double chance of getting fired? Once for not passing my security clearance, and again for bungling tomorrow’s event—whatever it was?
    â€œOf course not,” I said, giving her the same you-can-trust-me smile I gave Holt’s customers when I sent them to the other side of the store for an item we don’t even carry.
    Adela didn’t look relieved—obviously, she wasn’t a Holt’s shopper.
    â€œThe birthday club is extremely important,” she said. “It’s good for morale and, believe me, this office needs a morale boost after what we’ve been through. Kinsey Miller is relatively new with us, but I want her to feel as if her birthday is just as important as anyone else’s.”
    â€œI couldn’t agree more,” I said, channeling my mother’s I’m-better-than-you voice. “Here’s the situation, Adela. All the office decorations, birthday and otherwise, are locked up in the cabinets in Constance’s office, which is still sealed by LAPD’s crime scene tape.”
    Okay, that was a guess on my part. I’d seen the big cabinets in Constance’s office and I hadn’t found decorations here in the office I’d taken over from Patty, so I made a logical assumption—more like a wild guess.
    Sometimes my wild guesses work out.
    â€œI couldn’t possibly schedule Kinsey’s birthday celebration tomorrow without decorations,” I said. “It’s unacceptable. I simply won’t do it.”
    Adela’s expression shifted into back-down mode. “I’ll be right back.”
    She left my office. I logged onto the computer—luckily, Patty hadn’t set a password—and clicked on the calendar. Yikes! There were all kind of events scheduled.
    Jeez, if Patty did all of this, what the heck was Constance working on?
    From what I could see, Patty had made detailed notes of each event. I