A Taste of Tragedy by Kim McMahill Page A

lab.
    She grabbed her smock and walked out the door. Stopping in front of Aaron’s desk, she folded her arms and waited until he ended the call he was on. He looked slowly up and their eyes met. “Can I help you, Ms. Hunter?”
    “I want the keys to my desk.” She held out her palm and waited.
    Maybe it was childish. Heaven knows she would never leave anything important, confidential, or personal in there again, but it was the principle. She had to establish boundaries or he would have to go.
    Aaron held her gaze for a moment, looking uncertain, but then slowly retrieved the small key from his drawer and handed it to her.
    “Anything else?”
    This time, his tone wasn’t quite as cordial, but she didn’t care. She was the boss, and the sooner he accepted that fact, the better.
    “Yes, if Mr. Hoyle calls, I want to know immediately. I can be reached on my cell or you can page me. I’ll be down in the plant.”
    Morgan got on the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor. She took several deep breaths to reign in her anger and realized she was clutching the key so tightly it left a red imprint in her palm. Slipping the key into her pocket, she rotated the stiffness out of her neck and forced a smile in greeting as a woman joined her in the elevator.
    Both women exited on the main floor but went different directions. When Morgan stepped inside the manufacturing area, she was surprised not to see Wiley on the floor among the workers as usual. She strode past the watchful eyes of the crew and entered his office.
    “Another visit? What do I owe the pleasure?”
    “Maybe I was just looking for a friendly face around this joint.”
    “Trouble already? You’ve only been here a few weeks. Usually it takes people longer to fall out of love,” he said in a joking tone.
    “How long did it take Stan?”
    Wiley cleared his throat, stood, walked over to the door, and shut it. He returned to stand in front of Morgan.
    “Ms. Hunter, the company really frowns on gossiping about former employees, especially Stan.”
    “Please, call me Morgan. I’m sorry to make you uncomfortable, but everyone’s refusal to talk about him only makes me more curious. Will you answer just a couple questions?”
    “If I can, but then I don’t want to talk about him ever again. They’ve been good to me here, and I can’t afford to lose this job.”
    “Fair enough. I’ll start with an easy one. Was he a good boss?”
    “Sure. He didn’t lay off too many of my people when he started, seemed to care about working conditions, didn’t get in my way much, and he kept his issues with management to himself.”
    “Did he mention what those issues were?”
    “No, but something was bothering him pretty bad a few weeks before he left. Or was fired, I’m not really sure what happened. Management never even told us that much. They just said Stan was gone and we’d have a new boss as soon as possible. Couple months later, here you are.”
    “Have you kept in touch?”
    “No.”
    “Do you know where I can find him?”
    “No.”
    “That wasn’t so bad, was it? I’ll keep my part of the bargain, and I’ll never mention his name again.”
    She could see Wiley visibly relax. Morgan felt guilty about putting him in an awkward position, but so far, she had found no one else to talk to at GCF. She was curious about whether or not Stan really had a drug problem, but without knowing the man, she felt uncomfortable soiling his image if it was a secret he had kept well hidden.
    “I appreciate it. You’re my direct boss, but Mr. Hoyle keeps a pretty tight rein on everything. I’m not saying that’s bad. This has been a great company to work for. The pay’s good, and we’ve got excellent benefits and decent working conditions. I don’t want to do or say anything to get me in trouble.”
    “I understand, and actually, I had another reason for stopping by. Mostly, I needed a break, but I also wanted to get a better grip on the quantities of